Strangio domination tour rolls thru Capital Cross


Our Daniel Tyree visited with Matt Strangio following his record-setting run at Capital Cross on Saturday.

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The course record at Sacramento's Capital Cross Challenge was previously set by a sophomore from nearby Jesuit named Matt Strangio

Two years, later, a senior by the same name, on a 2019 tour of course and opponent domination, crushed that mark from his former self by 43.3 seconds, running 14:39.9 on Saturday over the Arcade Creek XC 5K layout.

It was the third course record in as many races for Strangio, who last week took down the Newhall Park course record at the De La Salle Nike Invitational (14:42.26) on a 3-mile course previously traversed by such luminaries as Redwood's Liam Anderson and St. Joseph Notre Dame's Cooper Teare. Before that, it was the 4K course at Oakmont, where he rolled it in 11:54.10 (U.S. No. 1).

"I was just looking to get under 14:40," Strangio said in the post-meet interview inserted above. "It's a really fast course so (I) wanted to get a fast time."

His winning time ranks No. 1 CA and No. 4 U.S. for 5K as of results posted through late Saturday night.

Strangio (pictured) said he approached the meet with the mindset that, while it was a fast course, he did go hard the previous week, had a recruiting trip to the University of Portland that spilled from the weekend into the week, and he ran in a league meet on Wednesday.

"Crazy week leading up but I really wanted to take advantage of how fast the course is, the great weather we had, and it being about 20 minutes from my house," he said. 

While Strangio was doing his thing last weekend in Concord, Newbury Park's Nico Young was stealing headlines from coast to coast with his jaw-dropping 13:39.7 national record 3-mile run on the fast track at Woodbridge.

Young, who was fourth at Nike Cross Nationals last December and Colorado's Cole Sprout, who was third -- the top two returners from 2018 -- are generally considered the top two runners in the U.S. But Strangio, who was eighth at NXN and the No. 4 returner, is aware that he hasn't been in the conversation.

"Seeing Nico run, as crazy fast as he did, I really wanted to make sure people knew that I'm still here," Strangio said.

"At the end of the day, people can talk as much as they want about them being (No. 1) and (No. 2), ya know, I'll show them at NXN," he said. "I don't need press, I'm just going to run fast."

He and Young are scheduled to take line for the only time before NXN on Oct. 12 at the Clovis Invitational on the CIF-State Meet 5K course at Woodward Park in Fresno.

"I'm excited for that," Strangio said. "We're definitely going to take it out and do something crazy."

Speaking of being mistakenly overshadowed ... Westmont senior Garrett MacQuiddy was second to Strangio in the Seeded Varsity Boys race at Capital Cross, running a 15:16.0 time that also eclipsed the previous 15:23 record.

Whitney senior Austin Vasquez was third (15:17.8) and Ronan McMahon-Staggs was fourth (15:21.3) in leading Long Beach Poly to the boys team title (by 30 points over a Jesuit).

In the marquee girls race, Alexandra Klos, a sophomore at Folsom Vista del Lago, covered the course in 17:20.7 to beat Riley Chamberlain by 8.4 seconds. Chamberlain, a sophomore at Loomis Del Oro, won the State Division III title and earned MileSplitCA Girls Freshman of the Year honors in 2018. 

Los Altos freshman Lauren Soobrian was third in 17:49.3. 

Vista del Lago won the team title by 44 points over Rio Americano led by Klos (pictured above) and junior Anna Vogtmann, who placed eighth overall and fifth among scoring runners in 18:22.0. 

More Capital Cross Challenge Coverage

Photos by James Leash.