Anna Sperry After four years of constantly breaking her own records, Anna Sperry's long run as part of Simi Valley High's cross-country team will finally end tomorrow when she races in the CIF Southern Sectional Finals at Mount San Antonio College.

While at Simi Valley, Sperry has broken the record for the fastest time at the Marmonte League Finals twice.

During her junior year, Sperry ran the three-mile course in 17 minutes and 27 seconds. This season she broke that record by running a 17:23 time.

"It's hard to be chasing your old record," Sperry said. "The first time was a little more thrilling because I was trying to beat someone else's record. The second time was also a thrill but a little harder because I wasn't trying to catch anyone else. But at the same time, I knew that the time I was trying to beat I had done before, so that helped motivate me."

Roger Evans, the head coach at Simi Valley, said Sperry's records are a tribute to her work ethic.

"Anna is great when it comes to motivation and expectations," Evans said. "She will step it up at a high level and then step it up again. Sometimes you get a goal and you stay there because it's comfortable. But not her; she will just set another goal that is even higher.

"If I tell her during the day I want to see her run a 17:40 time and she runs a 17:42, she will take that personally," Evan said. "I will say that's a good job, but the next day she will set herself to run a 17:38 to make up for her not running a 17:40 time the previous day. She's like a freshman with her enthusiasm."

During her tenure at Simi Valley, Sperry's been ranked as high as fourth in the nation. She has broken records and been called Simi Valley's best runner by Evans. But just don't call her an elite runner to her face.

"My sophomore year people were watching me run and noticing that I was good, and they started to call me an elite runner," Sperry said. "I hated that word. I'm not an elite runner. I'm no better than anyone else is on my team. They do the same workouts and hard runs that I do; I just finish a little sooner. But everybody on my team runs the same race."

Sperry attributes a lot of her success to Evans and her parents, who she said have always supported her.

"During my time at Simi, I have seen a lot of parents really get on their kids," Sperry said. "My parents have been great. My mom doesn't even know how many laps are in a mile, but she cheers me on and can tell when I'm doing well. My dad is the same way."

Evans agreed that Sperry's parents have helped in her success.

"One of the things I like about Anna is that running is an important thing for her, but it's not the only thing," Evans said. "She is wellgrounded. She handles disappointments and failures very well, and I think she gets that from her parents."

Sperry said she has enjoyed this season more than any other because the team has never been better or more dedicated.

Last Saturday at the CIFSouthern Section Prelims, Sperry as well as her team qualified for the next round at Mt. SAC tomorrow.

Sperry will have more races to run after this Saturday, but they will be on her own and not as a Pioneer.

"This Saturday I'm going to give it all I can since it's my last race with Simi," Sperry said. "It will be kind of sad. I'll definitely miss running with these girls here. Everyone has told me that college is great as well, but I'll always remember running here the most. These girls are basically the ones I started running with, and I'll never forget that."

Sperry has not decided on a college, but is currently looking at a few including BYU, UCLA and Arizona State.

When Sperry eventually does go away to college, Evans said he'll miss having her on the team.

"I'm going to miss having someone like her perform at the level she did," Evans said.

"When she first started running here there was no indication she would be as good as she has become. It was easy coaching her. I never had to give her any pep talks. My role was just designing the workouts for her. Otherwise, everything she has done has been all Anna Sperry."