Athlete of the Week

Exhibit A is the number 17:42 — as in Croshaw’s latest time last week at the Peninsula Athletic League Championships at the Crystal Springs course in Belmont.

In winning the PAL title for the first time in her career, Croshaw broke the 14-year-old school record of 17:43 held by a Dons legend, Nicole Portley, a multiple section champion who took second in the state in 1997.

"I knew the school record was some time around where I came in at,” Croshaw said, "but I wasn’t really sure. After the race, they were like, ‘you beat it by a second,’ and I was like, ‘oh cool, that’s a plus. I never really thought about it that way, but it sounds pretty awesome.”

Croshaw, who finished second last year in the same event, held off Kylie Goo and Sarah Shreck to capture her first individual title and pace the Dons to a spot in the CCS playoffs which take place Saturday at Crystal Springs. Her time of 17:42 was 11 seconds better than Goo and 14 better than Shreck.

For her efforts, Croshaw is the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week.

"I have a bad habit of going out a little fast,” Croshaw said of her strategy going into the race. "So I was trying to not set the pace that first mile. I just followed Kylie and Sarah, but their plan was to do the same thing to both of us, so all of us were trying to follow each other. So that definitely slowed down the pace a lot for the first mile. And then for the second mile, Sarah took it on, and so me and Kylie were following her for a while. I felt really good, so when I felt them getting tired, I just decided it was time to go. I was kind of scared they would catch to me so I just kept on going and going as fast as I could.”

It was a game plan that Croshaw admitted could have backfired on her — especially against two runners the likes of Goo and Shreck who have shown to be formidable competition during the PAL season.

"I was definitely scared about that,” Croshaw said. "I was scared that she would pull away and I’d want to give up. But that’s definitely a huge part of cross country, you have to get over that, and I guess I did. Once she (Goo) started pulling away, I stayed with her, so that was definitely a huge mental milestone because after she beat me a couple of times, it’s hard not to think better of her. But, during the race, you just have to forget about it and you have to know what you’ve done. And you have think about all the training you’ve done and how strong you know you are and let the rest of it play out.”

It played out very well for Croshaw, especially in the latter part of the race. The dynamic trio stayed well ahead of the pack for the majority of the course, and it was at about 1,200 meters that the Don decided to make her move.

"I felt like we were moving a lot slower because it was so cold outside,” she said. "I felt kind of numb at beginning so I definitely didn’t have a feel for the pace we were going. I ran the last 1,200 (meters) pretty fast so that probably played a part in it. After I broke away from them I could still hear them behind me. But I could see the finish line so I decided to go all out and that put some distance between us.”

The distance was considerable. And it was that decision to finish strong that gave Croshaw the school record.

Looking ahead, the Dons have the CCS championships to look forward to. Croshaw said after the PAL race that the goal for the Dons is to make the state meet. It would mark the first time an Aragon team makes it there.

"This week, everyone ran really great races, everyone PRed by a lot,” Croshaw said. "So we’re hoping we can stay somewhere around that. Everyone’s goal is to pick off as many people as they can because every one you pick off is a step closer to state. Personally, I’m trying to keep it within myself and think of it as another race and I need to do what I can.”