One Lompoc Valley high school graduate has been there before. The other will be a first-timer.

Hancock College sophomore Ariana Fabing (Lompoc High School alum) and freshman Oscar Torres (Cabrillo graduate) will run in the California Commission on Athletics State Cross Country Meet at Woodward Park in Fresno Saturday. Fabing ran there last year. Torres will make his state meet debut.

“That wasn’t my best race last year,” at the state meet, Fabing said with a rueful chuckle. She’ll hope to finish off her junior college cross country career in style there this time. Fabing’s three-mile women’s race starts at 10 a.m.

Torres said, “I’m getting excited,” about his first junior college state meet appearance. Torres’ four-mile men’s race begins at 11.

The two have divergent goals. Torres wants a top-14 finish that will get him Junior College All-American honors. Fabing wants simply to improve on her 2007 state meet finish.

Hancock coach Louie Quintana said, “If she gets in the top 50, I’ll be the happiest guy in the world. We’re hoping for All-American honors for Oscar.”

Torres is hoping to re-gain the form he had early in the season.

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“My season was going really well early,” said Torres. “Things haven’t been going as well lately.

“I think I peaked too soon, put in too many miles before the season started. I’ve been training since June, and I’d been doing 80-to-85-mile weeks before the season began.”

For his runners to have the best chance to get the results they want, “The most important thing for them both is to run a smart race,” said Quintana.

“We want Oscar to be in the second pack, then make his move in the third mile. We want Ariana to stay in the pack, then make a move in the second mile, maybe a little sooner if she has the energy, because everyone else will be making their move in that second mile.

“We always have a race plan for Ariana before the race, and she always does really well.”

Quintana chuckled. “We can tell them how we want them to run, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes the adrenaline takes over.”

Torres and Fabing have been the top runners for their teams all season. Fabing is picking up where she left off after a solid freshman year. In fact, “I think I’ve done a little better this season,” she said.

Torres has been the Hancock men’s team’s leader after being a big part of Cabrillo’s successful cross country tradition during his time there.

Fabing and Torres are happy the state meet is taking place again at the Woodward Park course, which features rolling hills.

“It’s a really nice course,” said Fabing.

Torres said, “I like it better than Mt. SAC because it’s more flat.” The course at Mount San Antonio College, where top high school and junior college races are run every year, has three storied big hills.

Besides being flatter, Fabing said the Woodward Park course has less of the boredom factor for Torres and herself than the Mt. SAC one. “We don’t run it as much during the year.”

Fabing, not exactly by choice, has trained almost the same way she did last year. “It’s been mostly on grass,” she said.

She had to do ALL her training on grass last season. Quintana said last year that, after Fabing suffered two stress fractures while she was in high school, doctors had advised him to keep her on the grass. Thus, Fabing ran the same turf around the perimeter of the soccer field on the southwest end of campus all season.

“This year I’ve run mainly on the roads when I’ve trained on my own,” said Fabing. “Since I don’t live here, though, finding time to train on my own can be hard.”

Torres said, “I train a lot on my own.”

Quintana said he hoped his urgings to ease off on workouts has had an effect. “I think they did peak early — those double workouts will do it,” the coach said. “We’ve told them that.”

However, he’s confident that Torres and Fabing can both have strong races — if they run SMART races.

The two hope to use the state meet as a good launching pad for their respective track seasons. Fabing said her best races are the 800 and 1,600 meters. As for Torres, he’ll go in for the long stuff.

“The 5,000 meters, even the 10,000 meters,” when the longer distance is available in a meet, he said.

As for Fabing, “I want to run the steeplechase and the 10,000 at least once,” she said. She chuckled. “Hey, you’ve got to give it a try once.”

November 22, 2008