There are 44 girls from Kern County who will run at this weekend's state cross country meet but few have the journey of South senior Angie Ronquillo.

At Thursday's valley championships in Fresno, her 18:38 time earned her the title "best in the valley" and won the individual crown in D-III. "It wasn't really surprising," she said. "It was just like 'Yes! Finally I did it!"

Her first valley title came after a journey unlike most runners. Her freshman and sophomore years she played volleyball and ran track. If not for the pestering of second year head coach Ryan Lucker last Thursday might not have happened. "I just saw untapped talent," he said. 

Her junior year she finally started discovering that raw ability but right when she was finding her form, a stress fracture in her tibia caused her to miss the end of the season. "I knew I was hurting but I was just being stubborn," she said.

That battle to get healthy made Thursday's win all the sweeter and now given her the chance to make even more memories at Woodward Park this Saturday. "I've been training hard this season," she said. "We've been putting in work and so it's going to pay off."

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