Distance Runners Aparicio, Auer Settle on College Choices

Maribella Aparicio of Fillmore High and Stacey Auer of Thousand Oaks, two of the top female distance runners in Southern California, have made oral commitments to attend Brigham Young and Auburn universities, respectively.

Aparicio, the runner-up in the 3,200 meters at last year’s state track championships, won the 1991 state Division IV cross-country title as a junior and finished third in the meet last fall.

“I just knew when I took my trip (to BYU) that that was where I wanted to go,” said Aparicio, who has personal bests of 4 minutes 55.67 seconds in the 1,600 and 10:39.08 in the 3,200.

Auer had her senior cross-country season cut short by a stress fracture in her right foot, but that didn’t seem to hurt her stock with college recruiters as she took trips to Auburn, Northern Arizona, Iowa State and Arkansas.

She narrowed her choices to Arkansas and Auburn before choosing the latter.

“It just came down to how I felt when I was on the Auburn campus,” Auer said. “I felt really, really comfortable there. It was very difficult turning down a school like Arkansas, which has a great chance of winning the national title (in cross-country) next season, but Auburn just felt right for me.”

As a junior, Auer finished third in both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters at the Southern Section 3-A Division track championships to help Thousand Oaks to its first team title. She has personal bests of 5:00.70 in the 1,600 and 10:38.63 in the 3,200.