Albert Caruana Carlmont’s Justine Fedronic closes in on her second straight Central Coast Section title.

“I really hate it,” she said. “By the end of this year I was glad it (the cross-country season) was over.”

The Daily Journal’s 2007 Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year for a second straight season, Fedronic had another memorable fall campaign, repeating as the Central Coast Section Division I champion at the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs Course in Belmont.

For Fedronic, winning the section title last year was nice. Winning it this year was even better. Nine days earlier at the same course, a sluggish Fedronic finished sixth at the Peninsula Athletic League Meet, crossing the finish line in tears and visibly shaken.

She wanted badly to repeat as PAL champion, but this showed that even the best runners have off days. Capturing the section championship was not only redeeming but gave Fedronic’s confidence a much-needed boost.

“(What happened at PALs) was really bad for my mental strength,” she said. “In the race I kind of gave up on myself too early, and once you do that, you’re screwed. I started to give up on myself towards the end of the season.”

Give up on herself? Say what? The candid comments reveal an intriguing side to Fedronic, the rare star athlete who isn’t afraid to show her insecurities from an athletic standpoint. Maybe that’s why she’s an elite-level runner, one of the top 800-meter runners in the state and a force in cross country. Doubt often creeps in Fedronic’s head, but it keeps her focused and sharp, and prevents her from getting complacent.

That’s why she’s such a terrific competitor and someone who has accomplished so much in a short amount of time. After all, Fedronic missed most of the cross-country season in her freshman year due to injuries. Fedronic sets extremely high expectations; she rated this season as merely “OK.”

“I actually don’t think it was one of my better seasons,” she said. “I had a lot of trouble getting through it. I took four months off (because of a calf injury that ended her track season in the spring), and I basically missed all of summer. I had to get back into shape, but it was mentally hard to trust myself because I was afraid of getting hurt again. I had to build up my confidence level.”

Geez, one can only imagine what Fedronic will do once she gets to the point where she feels she’s supremely confident in her abilities. Now that’s a scary thought. Fedronic was part of a Carlmont squad that set the a girls’ team record for the fastest time at Crystal Springs in a Oct. 25 meet.

After winning another section title, she finished 26th in the state meet, 12 spots off her 14th-place mark a year ago. But a week later in the Foot Locker Western Regional at Mount San Antonio College, Fedronic won the junior race (separate from the elite seeded race), a nice accomplishment considering she didn’t even finish the race last season.

“I was really lucky to win it,” she said. “Because it was raining all that weekend they (race organizers) had to move the race around campus. It was a road course and all speed, so it was a lot of fun. It was basically speed and a track runners’ race, which I liked.”

Like all the great athletes, Fedronic makes a living overcoming adversity. She runs cross-country not for the love of it, but for the team camaraderie and it allows her to prepare for the track season — physically and mentally. That she won CCS was pure nirvana.

“It was great because PALs took a lot out of me,” she said. “Right around league finals I got sick and halfway through that race my body was breaking down. To be able to come back and win CCS and the fact that I led for much of it was big because usually I just sit on people (and overtake them at the end). CCS was really to prove to myself that I was the runner I was before.”

Although Fedronic is her own worst critic, she took some satisfaction out of this season. For the first time in her high school running career — cross-country or track — she went through an entire season injury-free. For someone who has suffered every gamut of the injury bug — including stress fractures, torn calves and various other ailments — Fedronic deserved to go a season without added pain.

Running is suffering enough.

“This year I suffered so much in practice,” she said. “It’s really tough for me. I do a lot better with less mileage. I’d rather race shorter and faster than longer and slower. I have more natural speed. Also, you have to concentrate a long time in cross country. In track, everything happens a lot faster and you endure pain for a lot less time. It’s a torturous process. Cross country is really not my sport.”

Try telling that to her competitors.