Following impressive solo effort at Mt. Carmel meet, senior is embracing competition at upcoming Dana Hills and Clovis invitationals in pursuit of becoming one of the elite runners not just in California, but the entire country

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Carlie Dorostkar was already pretty good.

The fifth-place showing by the Canyon Crest Academy CA standout in the Division 1 final at last year’s CIF State Cross Country Championships testified to that.

But Dorostkar’s run last Saturday at the 40th Mt. Carmel/ASICS Invitational at Balboa Park demonstrated an even greater level of potential, causing many in attendance at Balboa Park to wonder just how good the senior can be come November.

Dorostkar’s first significant invitational race of the cross country season served notice to the rest of the San Diego Section and to California. She won the Division 1 senior/invitational race in 14 minutes, 44.6 seconds, the No. 3 all-time mark for the 2.75-mile Morley Field course.

DOROSTKAR POST-RACE INTERVIEW AT MT. CARMEL | DOROSTKAR PRE-RACE INTERVIEW FOR DANA HILLS

Only the memorable 2010 showdown involving Rancho Bernardo’s Molly Grabill (14:36) and Torrey Pines’ Alli Billmeyer (14:43) produced faster times in meet history than Dorostkar.

That comes on the heels of how she ended last cross country season, winning an individual section title, before clocking 17:42.7 on the 5-kilometer Woodward Park course in Fresno to earn all-state honors the following week. She trailed only winner Tori Gaitan of Great Oak, Meagen Lowe of Buchanan, Mikaela Ramirez of Ayala and Chloe Arriaga of Walnut.

Of that top five, Lowe (Oregon State), Ramirez (Indiana) and Arriaga (UC Davis) graduated. But throw in two-time Woodbridge Classic sweepstakes winner and 2017 Division 1 champion Corie Smith of Buchanan – who missed last year’s state final with an illness – and you have a potential rock-star field again this year.

Dorostkar has more than shown she belongs in the conversation. Mt. Carmel only cemented that dialogue.

“When you’re dealing with high school kids, so many things can go wrong,” said Andrew Corman, the coach at Canyon Crest Academy in the suburban North San Diego County community of Carmel Valley.

“Yet with Carlie, so many things have seemed to go right in the last year and a half.”

And perhaps it’s her time to assume the mantle as the top San Diego Section runner. For the past few years, that role seemingly belonged to the now-graduated Kristin Fahy of La Costa Canyon, a freshman at Stanford.

For Dorostkar, though, it’s more about just seeing what she can do. At Mt. Carmel, she shaved a minute off her time each year, running in the 16s as a sophomore, 15s as a junior in 2018, and 14:44.6 last Saturday.

“I just felt like, ‘Oh, I’ve gotten all this strength this summer and I had done things a little differently,'” she said. “I thought, ‘Let’s just go out and push it, and see what happens and just take a risk.’ I have other races I can plan and have a plan for, but this one, I thought, ‘I’m just going to push it.’”

Yet, she wants to push more than herself, one reason why her 59-second margin of victory in the combined results doesn't show her limit. She wasn’t trying to make a statement, she said, because she welcomes the competition.

“I like to push my competitors and push myself at the same time,” Dorostkar said. “An interviewer asked if going out at Mt. Carmel, if I was trying to be intimidating. But no, I want other girls to know if you’ve got to race me, you’ve got to get out there.”

“I would’ve loved to see her go against some competition,” Corman said, “because I know that she can do more.”

Corman, who said her early season fitness level is one of her strengths, pointed to Saturday’s 46th Dana Hills Invitational and the 41st ASICS Clovis Invitational on Oct. 12 at Woodward Park.

Dana Hills offers some strong competition, where she’ll face, for the first time this season, Skyler Wallace of Sage Creek, as well as San Clemente’s Hana Catsimanes.

Dorostkar has also lowered her time one minute per season at Dana Hills the past two years, with her victory in 16:49.3 last season ranking sixth all-time at the annual invitational. She said her goal this weekend is to go “under 16:30, around 16:20,” and if she can go even faster, she could challenge the meet record.

In 2017, Capistrano Valley’s Haley Herberg ran 16:15.1, with Fahy second in 16:16.6 on the flat and fast Dana Hills course.

Dorostkar called it an “important” race, but the bigger one might be Clovis, where many of California’s top teams run in a preview of the Nov. 30 state race, with both meets held at Woodward Park.

Her biggest competition, though, comes internally.

“I think it’s more about challenging myself and just competing with myself and my past self,” she said. “And just growing and learning from doing well or not doing well.”

This year has offered a new dynamic for Dorostkar, as her twin sisters, freshmen Sammi and Nikki are running for the Ravens, joining Carlie and fellow seniors Allison Rios and Yerim Song.

Two years ago, with Carlie leading the way, Canyon Crest placed eighth as a team in the Division 1 state final. Although Dorostkar was the Division 1 individual champion last year, Canyon Crest placed third in the San Diego Section final and missed advancing to the state meet, since only the top two teams qualify.

That pushes her, as well.

“Our team’s goal is to win CIF, and for me, is to win CIF, as well,” Dorostkar said. “I really want to get my team up there and have us all go to state together this year.”

As for now, her plan is to run the Foot Locker races after the state meet. Although Dorostkar said she would certainly consider a Nike Cross Nationals berth should she earn it by being one of the top five overall individual performers on non-qualifying teams from all five divisions combined at the state final.

Corman wouldn't be surprised. The way he figures, the sky’s the limit for her.

“We’re going to see a lot more of Carlie,” Corman said. “Carlie is going to continue to improve. She hasn’t reached that (point), she’s not peaking. She’s at a lower mileage than some of the girls she’s racing at the level she’s at.”