Running to the top

Four years ago in Fresno, Alex Crawley made a vow that would change her cross-country future at Laguna Beach High.

It was at Woodward Park when the then-freshman watched the top 10 finishers in her division take the medals podium at the 2003 state cross-country championships. Crawley watched the awards festivities that followed the state meet, which Laguna’s girls’ program had reached for the first time since 1995.

“Watching that inspired me to really want to work harder and become better in the sport,” Crawley said. “I wanted to be top 10 at state as a sophomore.”

But for an athlete who favored playing soccer and club volleyball prior to her arrival at Laguna, placing top 10 in her division at state in a sport she says her mother encouraged her to give a try, seemed a distant reality. She said she didn’t “really train hard” or attend all practices the summer before her freshman year.

Come race time on meet day, however, she was at her best and always managed to finish among the top runners. Still, she knew there was room for improvement. Over the next three years, Crawley, now a senior, has blossomed into a record-setting performer for the school.

“That state meet my freshman year really had an impact on me,” said Crawley who, a year later as a sophomore, made her vow a reality by earning a top-10 placement at the state meet. “I started to put in a lot of work and train hard leading into my sophomore year, and it was really exciting to reach my goal of making it to the podium that year.”

Crawley was injured throughout her junior season but still placed ninth at state and fifth at CIF. On Saturday, she’ll run the CIF-Southern Section Division IV finals at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, looking to help run the Breakers all the way to Fresno again for the state meet on Nov. 25.

The Mount SAC course is nothing new to Crawley, who on Oct. 20 placed second in the Mount SAC Invitational girls’ Division IV sweepstakes race. Also this year, she placed second at the Bell-Jeff Invitational and last week, won the Orange Coast League girls’ cross-country title by finishing first in the varsity girls’ race.

Other past top finishes for Crawley include finishing second in Division IV at CIF finals and 10th at the state meet in 2004, and placing 16th among all division runners at the 2005 championship race of the Woodbridge Invitational. In that race, she ran the second-fastest time (17:55) in the history of the Laguna’s girls’ program.

Crawley is the school’s time record holder on the Mount SAC course (18:31), at Woodward Park and is the school’s league finals course record holder at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa, Laguna girls’ coach Earl Towner said.

“Alex is the most accomplished runner in Laguna Beach cross-country history since the introduction of the state meet in 1987,” Towner said. “Since she arrived on the scene, she has lifted Laguna’s running program to a level it had not attained before by getting to the state meet three years in a row. She is a natural team leader, not just for her fast times, but also for her dedication to the sport and her attention to doing all the little things right.

“She sets very high goals and does everything necessary to succeed as a person and as a top-tier athlete. She’s highly competitive, hard-working and an excellent student. She will be severely missed for she has been a pillar of strength and the cornerstone of this program for the last four seasons. I know that she will continue to do wonderful things in the future.”

Crawley, who reserves some of her time to do community service, said she will run in college and has talked with coaches from several schools, including Princeton and Penn of the Ivy League and Duke.

For now, though, Laguna’s team captain said she’s focused on Saturday’s CIF finals race.

“I think we have a good chance as a team to win our division,” she said. “We have a lot of talent on this team and we’re looking to have a breakthrough race.”