Croshaw crushes competition

Before the track and field season started, Lauren Croshaw set a number of goals for herself. None of them, however, involved a Peninsula Athletic League championship. But the Aragon High standout had a breakout sophomore season that left many onlookers shaking their head in amazement, including herself. The 2010 Daily Journal Girls' Track and Field Athlete of the Year, Croshaw won three individual events at the PAL Meet -- pulling off a grueling 800, 1600 and 3200 triple -- while also anchoring the Dons' 4x400 relay team to a first-place finish. The relay race proved to be significant on many fronts. As the last event of the girls' competition, Aragon basically needed to win to take home its first league title since the early 1990s. The Dons' first three legs -- Jessica Barney, Erica Bass and Candice de Sauvage -- gave Croshaw a healthy lead as she took the baton. With Croshaw running the final leg, the championship was as good as golden. Croshaw did have to rebuff a strong challenge from Menlo-Atherton's Tabetha Willems, who pulled up along-side Croshaw at the front of the back straight-away. But Croshaw did what she does best -- she kicked things into another gear. The race was never close after that, as Croshaw accelerated to the finish line to give Aragon a comfortable victory. Just as she did when she ran to dominating wins in the 800, 1600 and 3200, Croshaw was at her best when it counted the most. "It was very unexpected, but it was awesome," said Croshaw, who won the 3200 by a mind-blowing 14 seconds over Half Moon Bay stalwart Samantha Hamilton. "I practiced a lot and thank goodness it paid off." In fact, the 800, 1600 and 3200 all had the same order of finish, with Croshaw, Hamilton and Hillsdale's Melissa Hastings going 1-2-3. Croshaw said the fact she's raced against Hamilton for several years made the events all the more challenging. "Knowing Sammy and how much she wants to win was kind of scary," she said. Aragon track distance-running coach Frank Hunt said Croshaw's breakout season was a combination of talent and hard work coming together. Croshaw was under the proverbial radar as a freshman competing at the frosh-soph level in both cross-country and track. However, Croshaw started her sophomore campaign with a bang, finishing fourth in the PAL Cross-Country Meet and third in the CCS Meet Division II race. At PALs, Croshaw completed the race at Belmont's 2.95-mile Crystal Springs Course in 18 minutes, 55 seconds, then went 18:29 nine days later on the same course in CCS. "Cross-country really set Lauren up for track season," Hunt said. "Everything translated really well and Lauren was in tune for all the things she needed to do. She just showed the talent she had and you know she's going to put the work in to have a great junior year (in both cross-country and track)." Croshaw has a simple, tried-and-true philosophy when it comes to competition: Never look back. Like most strong runners, Croshaw focuses on maintaining a strong stroke while finishing strong. Besides, Croshaw has a way of knowing if another runner is sneaking up on her. "If I can hear them, that's when I know I need to go faster," she said. "I don't think I've ever looked behind me (to see where another runner is)." Croshaw's season ended on a disappointing note, as she dropped the 1600 and 3200 to focus on the 800 for CCS. However, Croshaw didn't qualify for the finals, finishing with the ninth best time in the trials. Much to Croshaw's credit, the 15-year-old said she let the magnitude of the moment get to her. "I think I did bad because I was (too) nervous," she said. Not all was lost at CCS, however. Croshaw anchored Aragon's 4x400 relay team -- the only difference from PALs was freshman Addy Eveslage replacing Barney -- and the squad went 4:03.74, smashing the previous school record by seven seconds. Despite not advancing in the 800 for CCS, Croshaw had a strong season in that event. She first gained head-way midway through the season at the CCS Top 8 Meet, where she finished third. The result came against many of the same runners who were in the CCS Finals, and it gave Croshaw confidence for the rest of the season. The amazing thing in all of this is the fact that Croshaw never thought about running the 800 until this year. She only took up the event early in the season on the recommendation from several people. On Saturday, Croshaw and her family are headed to Italy for a lengthy vacation. Croshaw's parents, Bob and Cathy, have taken Lauren on summer trips usually every summer since she was 2. Croshaw said she can't wait to visit Italy, but it won't be all fun and games. "While in Italy I'm just going to run whenever I can," said Croshaw, who has taken trips to Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Mexico, Tahiti, Turkey and the Dominican Republic. "I know there will be times when the streets are too busy and I won't be able to run, so I'll try to find a workout machine in my area to make sure I run a certain amount of time." Because while you might be able to take a runner like Croshaw to another part of the world, you can't take running out of her blood.