As the leaders in the Division I State girls cross country championships turned the final corner for the 300-meter dash to the finish line, the announcer suddenly got very excited.
“Here comes Tessa Buswell!” he shouted.
Sure enough, the Poway junior closed what was once a 12-second gap between her and Clovis Buchanan’s Grace Hutchinson, roaring past with 75 meters remaining in the 5,000-meter race at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 26 to win by 5.3 seconds in 17:25.0.
It was the biggest upset of the day, coming one race after Liberty Charter’s Micah Sanchez romped to an 11-second victory in boys Division V at 15:13.8.
“I really haven’t processed it yet,” said Buswell, who is better known as a high-quality 800-meter runner in track. “I used that 800-meter speed and it helped. I was scared in the second mile and fell back a little bit but then I saw she was slowing down and the crowd really pushed me.
“One of my coaches, Ronnie Harris, told me to ‘squeeze it,’ which means push it. I could see her on the straightaway and I thought maybe I had a shot at catching her. This is just huge for me college-wise — by far my biggest win.”
Buswell gave some thought before the season of not even going out for cross country but talked herself into it because she knew it would help her in track.
Both Buswell and Sanchez are either going to run the Champ Western Regionals or the Nike Nationals next weekend.
Brand is a freelance writer.
