The first time Sumner said in four years that top-ranked Oak Park beat No. 3 CdM and he never recalls seeing No. 2 Orange Lutheran above his Sea Kings in 25 years. Being on a team with only two returnees, including senior Allison Damon, Buckley understood why the younger, inexperienced runners refrained from speaking up.
Can’t now. The results are nowhere from last year, a first-place showing at Stanford. In the big race of all things, not the non-seeded one as Sumner calls it. Buckley expected a slow start, compared to previous years, No. 1 at state the last two years, Southern Section, any championship event the Sea Kings were usually winning.
Granted four runners graduated, going to Division I colleges and leaving Buckley with a challenge. Get the young runners ready by the time postseason arrives.
“She’s on fire,” Sumner said of Buckley. “She’s probably good to go, but she can do better. I expect more out of her. She is Shelby Buckley.”
Teammates notice Buckley’s presence, despite her being 5-foot-3 and 97 pounds.
Buckley has been a regular at the sectional finals, knowing Fresno’s Woodward Park as if it she jogged it each week. She won a section title in Fresno as a freshman, back when she ran for Rosary of Fullerton and before transferring to CdM. The next two visits, fifth, followed up by second.
She has a lot in store for her. Getting freshmen Amanda Bastien and Taylor Hebb and sophomores Marisa Cummings and Sarah Keddington to run with confidence. All of this while trying to pick a college to study at and run for next year, lots to juggle, but Buckley sounds cool, taking everything in stride.
