A year ago, Elijah Changco finished fourth overall in the Monterey Bay League Cross-Country Championships at Toro Park in Salinas. Elli Kliewer wasn’t even on the course—she was playing volleyball. On Saturday, the two were crowned MBL champions for the first time in their careers.
Kliewer, a sophomore, finished the 3.0-mile course in 20 minutes, 3 seconds, which was 27 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and teammate Samantha Cortes. Changco, a senior, ran away from the field as well, posting a time of 16:25, 18 seconds faster than runner-up Freddy Torres of North Monterey County. Kliewer and Changco highlighted another superb performance from the San Benito High program.
The girls won the team competition in runaway fashion, easily outdistancing second-place North Salinas, 18-68. The girls actually took the top three spots, with freshman Mariah Changco finishing in 20:36. The boys came in as the defending champions, but finished second to North Salinas, totaling 67 points to North Salinas’ 48.
“It feels great in some ways, but not in others,” Changco said. “The individual title is sweet because I’ve been working really hard for it, but I feel bad because we won’t be able to celebrate as a team since we didn’t win the team title. And running at San Benito, we’re always about the team thing.”
And producing winners. Kliewer is the latest example of how the Haybalers churn out outstanding runners every year. At the beginning of the season, Kliewer didn’t have the fastest times on the squad. But the sophomore has seen her times drop as the season has gone on, and Saturday’s performance showed San Benito’s future has arrived.
Even though Kliewer didn’t run last year, she entered the season believing she could win the league championship. That’s a type of confidence usually shown by seniors, not sophomores. Kliewer had a big goal in this race: to beat Salinas’ Kayla Clayton, who ran away from Kliewer in the last league meet on Oct. 21 by 17 seconds.
“I wanted to pass her this time—that was my goal for this race and I achieved it,” said Kliewer, who was playing on the Balers’ junior varsity volleyball team last year. “This year I decided to run because I’ve always liked running and was pretty good at it. I wanted to give it a try and see what I could do.”
Kliewer had the lead at the halfway point and extended the advantage from there.
How dominant were the San Benito girls? All seven runners—only the first six runners count for scoring unless there is a tiebreaker—finished in the top 11. It was a vintage performance from a program that is looking to earn a state berth in two weeks at the Central Coast Section Championships in Belmont.
The Balers are ranked No. 8 overall in the section and second in Division I. Only the top two teams from Division I advance to state.
“I want us to go to state,” Kliewer said.
“Right now we’re really in a good spot, but by no means will it be easy,” said Ryan Shorey, who is the co-coach of the program along with Leanna Morgan. “We will have to go out and perform.”
In addition to Kliewer, Cortes and Changco taking the top three spots, freshman Hailey Cross finished in fifth, sophomore Kira Emma placed seventh, senior Katherine Monteon took ninth and junior Brianna Martin was 11th. Cortes, who was the team’s fastest runner for the first half of the season, said the team displays teamwork and a strong bond.
“I love running with my team,” she said. “It’s an amazing feeling whenever we run together on days like this. It makes me excited and happy.”
On a day when the daytime high hit 82 degrees—not exactly conducive for running a personal-record (PR)—Elijah Changco’s effort was all the more remarkable. In much cooler conditions last year, Changco finished fourth in 16:26. Even though Changco had virtually the same time on Saturday, the conditions were a lot tougher.
Twenty yards past the finish line in the runners’ tent, Changco lay on the ground, hands over his forehead, sweat dripping from his body.
“Today my stomach and body kept asking for more water,” he said. “Once I got on the course, I already felt dehydrated. The heat just gets you because there’s not much shade here.”
Kliewer approached running in the heat with a great attitude.
“I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” she said. “I know I’m racing against the clock. But it was tough.”
Changco took the lead at just beyond the one-mile mark and maintained a healthy advantage to the finish. Even though Changco’s times are similar to last season, he’s a more confident runner now, having completely changed his running style. In past years, especially during the track season, Changco had a habit of taking things out too fast and fading at the finish.
This season Changco has worked on running the last half of his races as fast or faster than the first half, what is referred to as a negative split. Most of the world records that are broken at the professional level are run this way.
“I realized after talking to professional runners, college runners and college coaches, that you don’t need to take and try to win the race from the beginning,” Changco said. “The race starts at the one mile, two mile mark. So I was running the wrong (strategy in races) in previous years pretty much. I had to change something or keep being inconsistent.”
The change of pace has resulted in Changco winning three league meets this season, giving him an extra dose of confidence. In addition to Changco, teammates Juan Gutierrez and Nolan Sanchez finished sixth and seventh, respectively. It was a strong performance from Sanchez, who ran the exact same time (17:16) in last year’s event. Freshman Nico Tapia placed 19th, Angel Cortes 34th and Luis Mendoza 43rd.
“Nolan stepped up a lot, and I’m really proud of him,” Changco said. “He pushed us at the start, which inspired us to go faster.”
