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By ERIC BRANCH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
BERKELEY Maria Carrillo senior Leanne Fogg, whose
high school career has been marked by triumph and personal crisis,
qualified for her first state track and field meet Saturday at the North
Coast Section's Meet of Champions.
Fogg qualified for next weekend's state meet in Sacramento by
finishing fifth in the 1,600 meters in a time of 4 minutes, 58.66 seconds.
The top four in each event advance to state, but Fogg qualified by meeting
the at-large standard time of 4:59.23.
After running a personal-best 4:58.07 and finishing fifth in Friday's
ultra-fast qualifying heat, Fogg figured hitting the standard would be her
best route to state.
I was just focusing on racing against the clock and racing with the front
pack to try to have them pull me to the time, Fogg said. It was a really
good race. I'm proud of it.
Fogg, who has earned a partial scholarship to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, is
the North Bay League cross-country champion, a two-time league champ in the
3,200 and has a pair of top-11 finishes at the state cross country meet,
including eighth this fall.
But the path to the prestigious state track meet had eluded her, thanks, in
part, to illness and tragedy.
As a sophomore, Fogg's track season was scrapped when she was diagnosed
with Graves' disease, which she now regulates by taking a hormone
supplement pill each day.
As a junior, she finished fifth in the 3,200 meters at the Meet of
Champions. She competed while her late brother, Garrett, was in intensive
care at UCSF Children's Hospital with bacterial meningitis. Garrett Fogg
died at age 15 on July 1.
Fogg has said her cross country and track seasons have been a tribute to
her little brother. And the trip to state was the only unchecked item on
her list of goals for the year.
So it was little wonder that she appeared unfazed a few hours later after
finishing seventh in the 3,200 meters in 11:03.93, more than six seconds
off her personal best.
I'm done, she said, referring to her weary legs.
Yes, she was tired. And she was smiling.
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