Chapus Triumphs at State Cross Country Meet

Sophomore Paces Harvard-Westlake Girls to Team Title

In cross country, it is not how you start, but where you finish that counts. Just ask Palisadian Cami Chapus, who overcame a 20-second lead with a mile to go and won the girls’ Division IV state championship last Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. The sophomore from Harvard-Westlake High caught Marin Catholic’s Theresa Devine inside 600 meters and won by seven seconds, completing the 5,000-meter course in 17:59 and leading the Wolverines to the team title in a California Division IV record 95:63, breaking the old mark of 95:53 by Corona del Mar in 1999. A team consisting of one senior, one junior, three sophomores and two freshman, Harvard-Westlake finished with 92 points to run away with the trophy. Junipero Serra was second with 129 and La Reina was third with 137. Chapus didn’t have to wait long to greet her teammates. Fellow 10th-grader Amy Weissenbach was fourth overall in 18:24. In becoming her school’s first state individual champion, Chapus cut a full minute off of her time at last year’s state meet, in which she came in 12th place. The victory capped a magical season for the Wolverines, who had won the program’s first Southern Section title in Walnut the week before. Chapus was a standout athlete at St. Matthew’s, winning league championships in track, soccer and softball. She also plays club soccer for the Westside Breakers. Although she has trained hard to reach the level she is at, Chapus has running in her blood. Her mother Victoria was a three-time Kinney National cross country finalist (1979-81) in high school while her father Jean Marc ran the 400 meters at Harvard University. Palisades High freshman Jacklyn Bamberger finished 55th in the girls’ Division I race in 18:56, fractions of a second behind Venice senior Jaclyn Walles, whom she beat at the City Section finals. Both Bamberger and Walles finished ahead of City champion Laura Delgado of San Pedro, who clocked 19:10 for 77th place. Molly Grabill of Rancho Bernardo won Saturday’s race in 17:06.