Annie St. Geme

Steve Virgen

She finished 13th out of 189 runners in Division III at the CIF State

cross country championships, but that wasn’t good enough.

She recorded a personal best, coming across the finish line at

18:40, but somehow that still didn’t do it for the Corona del Mar

High sophomore.

Greatness is sometimes measured by intolerance, never being

totally content with your last performance. Annie St. Geme has it.

She also has a few more things going her way.

“She has the potential for greatness,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said.

“Any great athlete in any arena, usually walks away not totally

satisfied. They usually walk away always hungry for more. Every game

is an unfinished piece of art; there is still a place where you can

touch it up.”

St. Geme’s masterpiece is certainly a work in progress. She began

the season with the same type of trouble she dealt with last year.

Hip pain plagued St. Geme’s freshman cross country season and the

ache and tightness returned earlier this fall. She was relegated to

training with the junior varsity runners, as she methodically worked

her way back to full strength.

Once there, St. Geme never looked back. She recorded personal-best

times in seven consecutive weeks to close out the season. She won the

Pacific Coast League individual title and maintained her momentum

toward the state meet.

“I was hoping to get at least in the top 10 this year,” said St.

Geme, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week. “I look back at that race

and I think in that last mile I could have done better. If I could do

it again, I would get in the top 10. I look at the girls in the top

10 and I think: Why am I not there?”

St. Geme doesn’t want to ask herself that question again. She has

started to train for the track and field season and in the back of

her mind she has goals already in place for next year’s cross country

season.

“I would like to be in the top three next year [at the state

meet],” St. Geme said. “I know it’s going to be hard, and there is

going to be a lot of work, but I’m willing to do that.”

To that end, St. Geme has adjusted her priorities. Last year, she

played soccer between the cross country and track and field seasons.

She grew up with soccer, but this year she will not play.

“I was on the junior varsity team last year,” she said. “I was

going to play varsity this year, but I wanted to focus on running. I

made that my final decision. No turning back now.”

To become great, there are sacrifices to be made. There also

standards and traits to be attained at CdM, where Sumner is helping

finish the St. Geme piece of art.

“You have to have passion,” Sumner said of what it takes to be a

great or special runner. “Perseverance. Talent. You have to do a lot

of hard work. We have this saying, ‘the harder you try the luckier

you get.’ ”

St. Geme credits Sumner for her rise in cross country and track

and field. She finished second in the CIF Southern Section Division

III finals in the 1,600 meters last year, and she wants to improve on

that performance, too.

St. Geme is also grateful for her mother, Ceci, who was the 1982

NCAA champion in the 3,000 meters at Stanford.

“I never even thought I would like running as much as I do,” St.

Geme said. “My mom has helped me. She never forced me to run, even

though she has ran all her life. Her running did have an effect on

me, but not in a forceful way.”