PREP PREVIEW ’92 / GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY : Dahlberg Hopes Her Mind Won’t Stop Racing

ORANGE — Since there was no one who could keep up, Kristina Dahlberg ran with the boys. She held her own, too.

Training at high altitude, Dahlberg covered more than 70 miles in the eight days that El Modena’s cross-country teams camped at Idyllwild.

“The boys were nice,” Dahlberg said. “I probably wanted to beat them more than they wanted to beat me.”

That she whipped a few members of the boys’ varsity over the uneven mountain trails shouldn’t come as a surprise. Dahlberg, a senior, has been one of Orange County’s top girls’ distance runners for three years. Most likely this will be her fourth season as the Vanguards’ No. 1 cross-country runner.

She led the team to Southern Section Division II-A and Century League championships and a seventh-place finish at the State championships last year.

On the track, she has bests of 2 minutes 17 seconds for 800 meters, 5:04 for 1,600 and 11:32 for 3,200--times that only a handful of runners in the state bettered last spring.

In the classroom, she has a 4.6 grade-point average and plans to study veterinary medicine in college.

It sounds as if she’s got her act together, right?

Perhaps the only thing missing on Dahlberg’s resume is that all-important mental edge. When the going gets tough, Dahlberg said she tends to back off.

“I guess I’m kind of wimpy,” she said.

Is she being too tough on herself?

She allows that she’s run some fast races, but never one that has lived up to her expectations. Often, she can pinpoint where she eased off the gas in a race.

Teammates know better than to approach Dahlberg after meets. She’s usually too disgusted with herself to accept their congratulations in good humor.

Dahlberg figures her body will tell her when she’s finally gone all out. She’s hoping that elusive gut-wrenching, wobbly-legged, head-spinning effort comes this fall.

“I’ve never run a race and died at the end; where I’ve run my very hardest,” Dahlberg said.

El Modena Coach Tom Weber has no complaints, however. He likes what he’s seen from Dahlberg over the years.

“She never misses a morning workout, never complains about anything,” Weber said.

It was that way from the start. Dahlberg came to El Modena with a spotty running background. She ran an occasional five-kilometer road race in junior high and joined an age-group track team briefly. But her interest in the daily grind of six-mile runs or 440 repeats waned quickly.

Soccer was her sport as a youngster, but she was far from the best player on her teams.

Only when she entered El Modena did she find her athletic niche. It wasn’t long before she moved to the No. 1 spot on the cross-country team, recording a best of 18:30 for a three-mile course.

Put one foot in front of the other and do it quickly. Yeah, this could be all right, Dahlberg told herself.

“I didn’t know what I was doing, but I did it well,” she said. “The trouble started when I started thinking about it.”

There she goes again.

Weber said some of Dahlberg’s self-doubt stems from last track season. Taking several advanced placement classes, Dahlberg seemed to be “burning the candle at both ends,” according to Weber.

Hoping for a spot on the starting line for the State meet 1,600 final, Dahlberg advanced only as far as the 3-A final where she finished sixth in 5:07.31.

“She had an excessively hard spring academically,” Weber said. “She was up late studying, then coming to morning workouts. I think she was real worn out.”

Certainly, there was nothing wrong with a 5:07 clocking for 1,600. But runner and coach each hoped to crack the 5-minute barrier.

“She was disappointed because she was doing the workouts that indicated that a 5-minute 1,600 was possible,” Weber said. “The desire was there, but she just couldn’t go.”

The two have talked at great length about how to avoid a repeat performance.

“We want to put her in a position to have a good senior year,” Weber said.

To that end, Dahlberg has decided to take a different approach to running this season.

“I don’t know if I enjoyed cross-country as much last year because I was worried about me all season,” she said. “This year I going to worry about the team more.”

In other words: Run, don’t think.

Girls’ Cross-Country at a Glance

Top runners: Barbara Boisvert, Orange Lutheran, So.; Kristina Dahlberg, El Modena, Sr.; Heather Davidson, Newport Harbor, Sr.; Katie Durham, Woodbridge, Sr.; Christie Engesser, Ocean View, Sr.; Janna Evans, Edison, Sr.; Janndee Evans, Edison, Jr.; Jeannie Formosa, Edison, So.; Jennifer Formosa, Edison, So.; Laura Flatauer, Canyon, Jr.; Bree Frigo, El Toro, So.; Carrie Garritson, Buena Park, Jr.; Jennifer Gillis, Irvine, Jr.; Taryn Lawson, Ocean View, So.; Heather McGlone, Laguna Hills, Jr.; Meghan Mayes, Capistrano Valley, Jr.; Mayra Medina, Laguna Hills, Sr.; Kim Nelson, Canyon, Jr.; Amber Parkinson, Orange Lutheran, Sr.; Kelly Roda, Irvine, Sr.; Heidi Sickler, Laguna Hills, Sr.; Gwen Twist, Newport Harbor, Jr.

League favorites: Century: El Modena; Empire: Esperanza; Freeway: Buena Park; Garden Grove: Rancho Alamitos; Olympic: Orange Lutheran; Orange: Valencia; Pacific Coast: Laguna Hills; Sea View: Irvine; South Coast: El Toro; Sunset: Edison.

1991 final poll: 1. Canyon; 2. Corona del Mar; 3. Edison; 4. El Modena; 5. El Toro; 6. Irvine; 7. Newport Harbor; 8. Ocean View; 9. Orange Lutheran; 10. Woodbridge.

Key dates: Woodbridge Invitational, Sept. 19; Laguna Hills Invitational, Sept. 26; Dana Hills Invitational, Oct. 3; Central Park Invitational, Oct. 10; Orange County championships, Oct. 17; Mt. San Antonio College Invitational, Oct. 24; Southern Section preliminaries at Mt. SAC, Nov. 14; Southern Section finals at Mt. SAC, Nov. 21; State championships at Fresno, Nov. 28.

Notes: This looks like another standout season for local girls’ teams. Barring serious injury or other unforeseen happenstance, Canyon, El Modena, Edison, Irvine, Laguna Hills and Orange Lutheran can make reservations for the State meet. . . . Garritson should emerge as the county’s top individual once she’s eligible following her transfer from Sunny Hills to Buena Park. The State Division II runner-up in ‘91, Garritson is coming off a county-record of 10 minutes 28.95 seconds for 3,200 meters. . . . Next week’s Woodbridge Invitational should give a better hint of what’s to come.