St. Geme ready for her final run

st geme pre for footlocker champsCorona del Mar star looking to capitalize on “home field advantage” during Footlocker National Championships.One week after dealing with muddy, wet conditions in Portland, Ore., Annie St. Geme returns to Southern California for one last high school cross country hurrah, with one last chance at individual stardom on the line.

The Corona del Mar High senior, who recently captured the CIF State Division III cross country title, will compete in the Footlocker National Championships this morning at San Diego’s Balboa Park. Race time is 9:15.

“This is the first time all season where I’m competing solely for myself,” St. Geme said. “This is the first time where I’m really thinking of my race, whereas in the past, it has always been secondary to what the team plan was.”

Competing with her high-powered teammates last Saturday at the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, St. Geme evaded potholes and mud pits on her way to finishing second, while leading her team to a sixth-place showing.

Ranked No. 1 in the nation for the majority of the year, the Sea Kings slightly struggled in the non-Southern California conditions. Still, St. Geme was just four seconds behind first-place finisher Betsy Bies of Yankton (S.D.) on the five-kilometer course.

With the conditions slated to be exponentially better in San Diego today, the Stanford-bound St. Geme said she is confident she can improve on her performance from a week ago.

“This is like having home-field advantage,” she said. “The conditions last week were like nothing I had experienced before. It was a lot of fun, but I know for a fact that [today] will be completely different.

“You look around at the other runners and they’re the cream of the crop, but you have to think, ‘What does she have that I don’t have?’ I’m really confident I can place high.”

A title today for St. Geme would be another accomplishment added to her long list of accolades, which also includes a 1,600-meter state championship she notched at the state track and field finals last spring.

St. Geme has led the Sea Kings to back-to-back CIF Southern Section Division III team cross country titles and recently led CdM to the CIF State Division III title in Fresno, while becoming the school’s first individual cross country state champion.

She said her team is driving down this morning to warm up with her.

“It would be strange if they hadn’t volunteered to come down and I couldn’t warm up with them,” she said.20051210UI1LS86ENo Caption20051210iofch0knKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)Corona del Mar’s Annie St. Geme will run in the Footlocker National Championships today at San Diego’s Balboa Park.