St. Geme chases goal

Corona del Mar High distance-running star Annie St. Geme said she was poolside at her hotel early Thursday night on the eve of the Nike Outdoor Nationals track and field meet, which takes place today and Saturday at North Carolina A&T; University in Greensboro, N.C.

She said she was relaxing in the moderate heat of the Greensboro night, taking it easy before the last high school meet of her career.

The vision of St. Geme relaxing poolside is perhaps symbolic of the way she’s approaching the national championships. Normally faulted only for working too hard, St. Geme decided to let up a bit after failing to defend her 1,600-meter title at the CIF State championships two weeks ago at Cerritos College.

She finished fourth in the 1,600 that night, fading in the last 100 meters after holding a small lead for most of the race.

She earned a bit of redemption with a solid second-place finish in the 3,200 with a time of 10:18.91, behind Mission Prep freshman phenom Jordan Hasay (10:13.55).

But the sting of losing her 1,600 title, when she was going for a personal-best time, has prompted the Stanford-bound St. Geme to look at things differently going into the nationals.

“I’m just here to have fun,” St. Geme said. “I’m going into it relaxed. I’m a lot more relaxed now than I was for the state meet. I’m going in with the attitude that I have nothing to lose.”

Last year after the state meet, St. Geme competed in the 1,600 at the Golden West Invitational to prepare for nationals, where she helped the Sea Kings win the distance medley relay.

This year, she skipped the Golden West Invitational and has limited herself in workouts.

“At this point, I’m not doing a lot training-wise,” St. Geme said. “I’ve been taking it easy and doing shorter workouts.”

While her approach may be different, her goal remains the same.

“I’m not focusing on my time like I did in the state meet,” St. Geme said. “I’m going to listen to my instincts. I’m going for a national championship. That’s been my goal all season long. I just have to remind myself of all the hard work I’ve put in this season.”

St. Geme, named the Orange County Female Athlete of the Year, is slated to compete in the 1,600, the 3,200 and the distance medley relay. She’s slated to run against Hasay in the 1,600, and with teammate Sarah Cummings in the 3,200.

“I’m think I’m ready to produce some fast times,” St. Geme said.

St. Geme will team with Hilary May, Shelby Buckley and Claire Schmidt in the distance medley. Last year, Corona del Mar won the event with a time of 11:42.07 ? the fifth fastest high school time in meet history.

St. Geme teamed with Cummings, Allison Damon and Melissa Swigert to win the race, which consists of legs of 1,200, 400, 800 and 1,600 meters. St. Geme ran the anchor leg in 4:49 last year and will serve as the anchor again this year.

“Our medley relay is going for the national record,” Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner said.

May and Buckley also are scheduled to run in the 800 for the Sea Kings.

Slated to compete for Newport Harbor High are Allison Stokke in the pole vault and Bo Taylor in the shot put and discus. Taylor is coming off second-place finishes in both the shot put and the discus at the state meet.

Sunday, Taylor won the discus competition at the Golden West Invitational.

The UCLA-bound Taylor set a state-meet record in the discus in the preliminaries with a distance of 213 feet, 7 inches.

Stokke, the state champion in the pole vault her freshman year, was second in the state this year with a mark of 12-9.

Stokke holds the freshman record at the national championships (12-8).