Sunday, December 25, 2011

2011 Northern California Cross Country Awards

Now that the 2011 XC season is in the books, here are my awards for this past cross country season (here are last year's winners).  Feel free to share your comments below.

Most Valuable Runner (boys)-Aubrey Myjer Mountain View HS
Most Valuable Runner (girls)-Carrie Verdon Campolindo HS

Most Impressive Performance (boys)-John Lawson Drake HS at CA State Meet
Most Impressive Performance (girls)-Karlie Garcia Oakmont HS 5th at Footlocker National Meet

Most Impressive Performance (boys' team)-Carlmont HS 7 sub 16:00 at PAL Finals
Most Impressive Performance (girls' team)-Campolindo HS at NCS MOC Meet

Most Inspirational (boys)-Jordon Rushing Del Campo HS
Most Inspirational (girls)-Nicole Lane El Molino HS

Most Improved Runner (boys)-Alex Conner Sonoma Valley HS
Most Improved Runner (girls)-Sarah Robinson Gunn HS

Lifetime Achievement Award (boys)-Luis Luna Piner HS
Lifetime Achievement Award (girls)-Holland Reynolds University HS

Buster Posey (rookie of the year)-Trevor Reinhart Marin Academy
Buster Posey (rookie of the year)-Christine Bayliss San Ramon Valley

Shocker of the Year-Vanessa Fraser winning Div. IV state meet race.

Best Robin to Batman (best supporting actor)-Nick Ratto/Gabe Arias Sheridan St. Joseph Notre Dame
Best Robin to Batman (best supporting actress)-Clare Carroll Vista del Lago HS

Boys Coach of the Year (Directing)-Pam Borg Yreka HS
Girls Coach of the Year (Directing)-Jim Tracy University

Transfer of the Year (boys)-Blair Hurlock De La Salle HS
Transfer of the Year (girls)-Clare Carroll Vista del Lago

Best costume design (team uniforms)-Acalanes HS

Any other awards?

82 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shocker of the year- Nolan Tonkyn

Tony's Army said...

Tony Fong of SJND for coach of the year

Anonymous said...

Haha the only one I can really think of is shocker of the year. For that it would have to be either Aubrey Myjer (senior from Mountain View) for his performance at CCS and at the state meet and overall for an amazing XC season despite taking his junior year off, or it would have to be Vanessa Fraser (junior from Scotts Valley) for her incredible girls D4 win at the state meet. She's a fast runner, no doubt, but I don't think anyone was expecting her to win (although I knew she'd get a top 10 finish).

So yeah for shocker of the year, I would choose either Aubrey Myjer or Vanessa Fraser. What do you think?

ghpadd said...

Hiya Albert:
How about the best GHOST PERFORMANCE (who was that and were they really there) My male nomination would be 15 year-old soph Blair Hurlock. Had to run USATF this year but ran impressively:
3rd fastest Willow Hills HS all time (15:42)2nd is 15:40 and 1st was German Fernandez at 15:07.
11/5 PAUSATF race 6K, hilly with dirt trails, soft grass and hay bales at 18:21 (4:55 pace).
PAUSATF Open Men's Championship, 12th place, first time at 6 miles on a hilly SF course at 32:36.
Did we really even see this...or was it just our imagination.

15 years old. It will be interesting to see him run CIF next year in Nor-Cal and see what the blogs have to say about this wunderkid.

Skeptic of it All said...

Here are some nominations from the CCS Section...

Most Valuable runner:
Richard Ho - Amazing week in and week out. A real work horse!

Nikki Hiltz - Finally figured out cross country.


Most Impressive Performance:
Aubrey Myjer & Vanessa Fraser - State Champs, what else is there to say?


Most Improved:
Sarah Robinson - What an improvement over the last 3 races! Went from 19:06 to 17:12... wow!


Rookie of the Year:
Sean Davis - Didn't that guy play football?

Jackie Stranger - showed up for her first race and helps Aptos to a CCS title and over-all #1 ranking, not to mention a podium finish at State.


Under the Radar Award:
Has anyone noticed that Saratoga has slowly been getting better the last few years? They girls have nearly made state the last two seasons and the boys got it done. They aren't the dark horse, under the radar team any more that's for sure.


Coach of the Year:
Dan Gruber. Last year it was a surfer who showed up last minute this year a water polo player. How does he do it? His assistant coach is Justin Bieber!

Check it out: http://www.aptosathletics.org/index.cfm?action=main.teamcoaches&id=5733

Anonymous said...

Since I'm from the North Bay I'll throw out a few from that area that may qualify for consideration.

Team Performance: Piner Boys @ NBL Championships. Their time of 76:59 was the fastest of all time at that course. They beat a record held previously by a very good Petaluma team set in 2008. The ave. time for top five was 15:24 with 6 of 7 runners getting under 16:00 and the 7th finishing in 16:01. I think it was a very Impressive performance.

http://running.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/985/north-bay-league-cross-country-finals/

Individual Performance: Luis Luna of Piner from race listed above. He broke the course record at Spring Lake with a time of 14:43. The previous record was 15:23 set by Ryan Mack in 1998. Luna obliterated a record that stood for 13 years!


Most Improved: Nicole Lane of El Molino. Last year Nicole wasn't even on anybodies radar she had a 5K PR of 19:11 set at at Woodward Park. This year Nicole won Sonoma County League, NCS D4, Clovis Invite DIV, Scott Bauhs Seniors, Ed Sias Small & Viking Opener, she finished 2nd at Stanford D4 and 2nd at Mt. Sac D4 Sweeps. She finished 7th at State (18:04) improving her previous PR by over a minute. She knocked a minute or more off her times at every course she ran last year including Mt Sac. She was undefeated in League and Broke two course records. Her improvement from 2010 was immense and should at least be considered I hope.

http://www.xcstats.com/indiv_career_report.php?runr_id=13368

Coach of the Year: Luis Rosales (Piner). The improvements these kids have made the last two years is amazing. All runners , boys and girls have improved dramatically and I'd have to give Luis a ton of the credit. The kids love him and work their asses off year round for him.

Supporting Actress: Melanie Rosales (Piner)While Luis focuses on the training for his team Melanie does all the leg work. She's the best organizer I've seen and she puts in endless hours to help Luis.

I realize there may be others just as or even more deserving somewhere in NorCal than these but it wouldn't be right in my mind if I didn't at least get their names on here for consideration. I look forward to seeing the list!

Anonymous said...

Shocker of the year: I'd have to say Vanessa Fraser D4 State Champ. I'm not sure you could have found even one person who would have predicted that she would beat both Cami Chapus AND Anna Maxwell. She was huge!

Albert Caruana said...

Some great nominations so far. Keep them coming.

Anonymous said...

Hope you don't have to shut this one down!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous in the Northbay - Mack's spring lake record was 14:50, not 15:23. Considering Mack was pushed by a couple of all time greats hitting 15:01 and 15:05 in his race, Luna's feat remains equally impressive, though.

Being another Northbay (and Panther) biased fan I'd say Michael Tomasi's NCS D1 win was a huge shocker.

Anonymous said...

How about Yreka becoming the first Northern Section boys team to win a state title? That's a pretty neat shocker.

Anonymous said...

Northbay stands corrected. Mis read the times. I agree still impressive.

Anonymous said...

Sarah Robinson could also be the shocker of the year... who would have thought she would drop so much time/become one of the top runners in the state?

Anonymous said...

For most improved i would say Alex Conner of Sonoma Valley. 47th place at NCS last year and 3rd this year. Not to mention a 2nd place Stanford finish i believe

O'Dowd Runner said...

Andrew Cheng of Bishop O'Dowd for Coach of the year.
2011 was his FIRST year coaching at Bishop O'Dowd, coming into the program during mid July. Their Frosh Soph, JV and Varsity for both Boys and Girls went undefeated in the HAAL and would win the Championships. something that has never been done in the school's history. at NCS the boys and girls dropped roughly 4 minutes off of their team time from last year. The boys 1:20.23 (boys time at NCS) is the fastest time in the schools history as well.
talk about turning a program around...

Anonymous said...

most improved hands Down Dillon Read of Miramonte...
the kid who didn't run varsity last year finished 11th at NCS.

Anonymous said...

Alex Conner of Sonoma Valley High for most improved. 47th at NCS last year to 2nd at Stanford (15:22 5k) and then 6th at state after not even making it there last year and being only one spot behind Luna at Stanford and State.

NCS Fan said...

Here are the top 5 most improved from NCS DIII.
Karsten Kaufmann (17:41-16:03)(1:39)
Alex Conner (16:47-15:17) (1:31)
Keith Geiger (16:47-15:28) (1:19)
Andrew Melendez (16:48- 15:42) (1:06)
Jamie Silva (16:24-15:21) (0:57)

Anonymous said...

check keith geigers state meet improvement.

NCS Fan said...

Improvers from NCS DIII at Woodward
Keith Geiger (17:05-16:02)1:03
Jamie Silva (17:15- 15:59) 1:16
Alex Conner (NO DATA)
Andrew Melendez (NO DATA)
Karsten Kaufmann (18:44-16:21) 2:24

Anonymous said...

In CCS DII's race this year, I saw a field of many talented runners. But what made me smile was that I believe I saw Archbishop Mitty (the girls team) in metallic gold uniform tops (spandex). Definitely going to nominate them for "best costume" for looking professional while at the same time adding a little excitement with the gold uniforms. Other than that, I think Gunn's Robinson is eligible for many of these titles.

Anonymous said...

Shocker of the year for me was Joyce beating luis Luna at NCS...

Luna was on a roll the entire season, coming off a great track season with exceptional times of 4:14 and 8:55, and while Joyce had a great track season (4:24,9:18), I wasn't expecting him to be any where near Luna at NCS. I thought Luna was going to be well under 15 and possibly challenge the CR, but then Joyce had to win with 14:58...

Anonymous said...

MVR (boys) = Luis Luna
MVR (girls) = Carrie Verdon

MIP (boys) = Aubrey Myjer at state
MIP (girls) = Karlie Garcia at FL nats

MIP (boys team) = Piner at State
MIP (girls team) = has to be campo at NCS

MIR Boys = Estifanos with 14:59??
MIR Girls = Sarah Robinson

LAA (boys) = Luis Luna
LAA (girls) = Carrie Verdon

BP (boys) = Trevor Reinhart
BP (girls) = Christine Bayliss

Shocker = Joyce over Luna at NCS

BCY = SJND Coach Tony Fong
GCY = Campo Girls Woolridge

Anonymous said...

Best Girls BP: Christine Bayliss as an individual. Mary Orders and Miranda Myers as freshman providing a "key" part to their overall team's success at finals and state.

Anonymous said...

The thing about these awards is "most improved" is not necessarily the biggest time jump. For girls going from 18:00 to 17:20 is a bigger jump than say 21:00-19:00.

And "Most Valuable" doesn't always mean the "fastest." It means most valuable. Who was a key contributor on their team week in and week out, not necessarily the best in just one race on one day.

Obviously the NCS / CCS voice on here is huge and they really don't know much about each other than a few highlights. But is there anyone on here from SJS or the North that wants to chime in on the good things happening over there?

Anonymous said...

Another BP Girls "team contributer" that I forgot to mention - from SJS: Frosh Sierra Jaeger. Like Orders and Myers was critical to helping her team. Probably not always as noticeable as others since she runs for Vista Del Lago that has tons of talent. But was key during the season when Clare Carroll was injured.

Anonymous said...

Alot of Great Choices of awards But I would have to disagree with Coach Gruber as Coach of the year, after hearing you just posting How does he do it, well you just finally stated it, two years in a row he pulls someone out to win at all cause, where majority of the schools would love to do that, but they follow the rules or there respected schools don't allow two sports at the sametime! With Do all Respect with Aptos Being the Largest School By far in the SCCAL then what is up with their Boys Team they haven't done anything in awhile and didn't even crack top 20 in CCS and usually a Great coach should at least have both teams be competitive, Example Campo, Carlmont, Mt View, San Benieto and Gunn and many more, My Vote Coach of the year Chuck Woolridge!

Are you kidding me? said...

Chucks Army at it again, trying to stir up the pot. Fact is they were the favorites and couldn't get it done. Not coach of the year worthy.

Aptos' coaching was far superior and it showed in the results.

Mt.View underperformed, Carlmont bombed at State again (constant let downs in the "big game" leads to being fired in the pros, not "coach of the year worthy), San Benito bombed at CCS when it counted most, Gunn really didn't do much either considering where they have come from the last few years.

Aptos got it done! Are you really complaining about Aptos being the "largest school in the SCCAL" with around 1300-1400 students? Who cares if they do another sport, just shows that they are that much more superior to a school like Campolindo.

Sorry Chucks Army, not this year.

Albert Caruana said...

Instead of disparaging other programs, please focus on why your nominees are deserving. That way we can stay away from the sniping that is starting to take place once again.

That is not what this blog is all about. It's about highlighting the success of athletes, coaches and teams in Northern California.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Anonymous said...

Rookies of the year, three impressive times by CCS freshmen:
Mark Vingralek 15:37
Chris Foster 15:40
Steven Sum 15:41

Anonymous said...

Kaila Gibson from Soquel, hands down frosh of the year for girls... maybe not rookie of the year but to frosh.

Chuck's Army said...

you are correct sir, we must immediately invalidate all impressive performances by Campolindo athletes past and present. I recognize the error of my ways and will never say anything positive about them ever again. I hope you can forgive me in time.

fact of the matter is said...

All-time team course records at hayward for both the boys and the girls went to woolridge this year

Anonymous said...

SI's boys definitely had the best uniforms. The script "Cats" looks so awesome, plus they are actually running uniforms now as opposed to the "Cats" ones Varsity teams used to wear.

Anonymous said...

Dillon Read gets my vote for biggest improver of the year. Last year he ran 11:40 at the DFAL meet. After PRing at 4:45 for track, he amazingly runs 10:26 at Ed Sias (same course as DFAl meet) and 16:02 at the Clovis Invitational. Last year there was no way he could have run better than 19:00 for a 5k.

Other great improvements:

Keith Geiger
Karsten Kaufman
Andrew Melendez
Nolan Tonkyn
Alex Conner

Anonymous said...

blair hurlock should get something...

Albert Caruana said...

He is certainly the transfer of the year on the boys side.

HAAL Fan said...

Andrew Cheng for coach of the year, 2 of his runners made the NCS D3 top 5 most improved list. He brought a program from 0 league titles last year to 6 (jv, f/s and var, boys a girls) this year. His team's times plummeted in every division consistently too. Other teams should be on alert for O'Dowd for years to come. It is the Cheng Dynasty now.

Anonymous said...

Best robin to Batman for boys seems to be pretty easy, although it depends on the day.

I'd say Nick Ratto deserves the Robin Award, although he actually beat Arias-Sheridan at BSALs and state. If not Ratto, then you have to pick Arias-Sheridan.

Anonymous said...

Maybe there could be a sort of "Dynamic Duo" award.

Bill Cirocco said...

I would nominate Jim Tracy as coach of the year: third year in a row for the girls winning the State title; dominated D 5; for a school of under 500, they compared favorably to the larger elite schools; 3 girls in the top seven in D 5; and the boys fared well taking sixth at State

Anonymous said...

@ Chucks Army, 12:36
I am glad you have seen the error of your ways.

Cats uni's nah... Maybe the Aragon girls though, those were pretty nice!

Anonymous said...

Coach of the year Dan Gruber. If you look at Aptos collective team time both at the CCS and CIF State meet it shows that they were the fastest team in the section. CCS champs and 3rd in State. Seems like they are doing something right down in Aptos! Also congrats to Nikki Hiltz for CCS runner of the year!

Anonymous said...

worst quote of the year:

"We beat Dublin!"

Anonymous said...

If we are considering coaches who turn things around, what about Cirocco at Urban? Before he got there Urban was usually at the bottom and hardly even had a team. This year his girls team was second at NCS, losing only to the powerhouse of University, and were fifth at State. Last year they were fourth at State. This year they didn't even have a front runner but ran consistently well as a pack. He has certainly turned Urban into a team to contend with.

Rob Collins said...

Well Looking at all these Post, I'll just have to represent our League, Dan Gruber hands Down for Coach of the Year!

Anonymous said...

acalanes team uniforms this year were white/blue striped like a referee or something

Anonymous said...

Best running video award:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSqAGwn2bqo

Anonymous said...

Bill Cirroco certainly has a talent for turning normal kids into great runners, and has totally turned Urban's program around in the past two years. His track accomplishments at Urban are even more impressive. Coach of the Year is a stretch though, seeing as Urban did not actually win any titles this year-we'll just have to see what they do in the future.

NCS fan said...

For Boys Coach of the Year, I would nominate Phillip Hadley from Athenian HS. At Div 5 NCS, they went from 19th in 2009, to 10th in 2010, to 3rd in 2011. Thats a tremendous improvement over the years, even if they weren't the most outstanding team out there. What other school made this big of an improvement?

Anonymous said...

I agree with NCS fan. The steady improvement of Athenian's Boys team over the past 3-4 years are a testament to Phillip Hadley's great coaching abilities. Even though they are not an "elite caliber" (as many would say) team right now and are not extremely well known, there improvement trend has been outstanding.

Anonymous said...

Ed Sias Improvement:
Dillon Read 11:40-10:26 (1:14)
Karsten Kaufmann 12:25-10:45 (2:20)
Andrew Melendez 11:18- 10:44 (0:34)
Keith Geiger 11:12- 10:54 (0:18)

Anonymous said...

Kaufmann 1:40*

Anonymous said...

Andrew Cheng of O'Dowd for coach of the year, He has taken that program from entirely irrelevant on both sides to being incredibly close to making states. He took them from 0 league titles to a complete sweep of all 6 (boys/girls, f/s, jv, and var). In terms of individual improvement, he had two runners in the top 5 list for most improved at NCS in D3, and his team times at Ncs were 4 minutes faster on each side. An improvement that large is impressive and is a testament to good coaching. So Andrew Cheng for coach of the year, and the Bishop O'Dowd program as a whole for most improved.

Anonymous said...

You Might want to check your history of Bishop O'Dowd program because they traditionally have been Good!

Anonymous said...

BOD had everyone returning in their Varsity team last year and Andrew Cheng just had to happen become their coach the following year.

Anonymous said...

Looking at State Results any of these Schools Coaches should all be considered Coach of the Year that had all placed in the top4 at State that represented Northern Cal! Div3 Boys Piner 3rd, Campo 4th. Div3 Girls Vista Del Lago 2nd, Aptos 3rd and Campo 4th. Div4 Boys SLV 4th, Div4 Girls SLV 2nd. Div 5 Boys St. Joseph Notre Dame 3rd. Div5 Girls University State Champions and College Prep 3rd! But Just My opinion!

Karsten said...

Success was not relevant for the Varsity teams at O'Dowd. As mentioned before, the Dragons went undefeated in league in EVERY division. i don't see how this can seem like some sort of coincidence.

Anonymous said...

Piner's Uni's were sick...

Karsten said...

just relevant...*

O'Dowd Runner 2 said...

First at anonymous 10:18, O'Dowd has always played second fiddle in HAAL to CV until this year. This was the FIRST TIME that they SWEPT ALL 6 DIVISIONS. That is very hard to explain away especially since it was not only varsity who performed but everybody. They also not had a finish better than 7th place at NCS from 2006-2010. They also have not had a runner run sub-16 at Hayward since Ben Gutierrez ran a 15.12 in 2005. This year they had two runners do that at NCS and had a 3rd runner run a 16.03. This 3rd runner, Karsten Kaufmann, and one of the runners who broke 16, Andrew Melendez both dropped over one minute at that course as well. Finally, @ 11:18, O'Dowd did not return everybody from their varsity team last year. Their number 2 guy from 2010, Calvin John quit, as did their number 4 guy Jake Schwartz. So in end, I agree with Anonymous 8:48, Andrew Cheng for Coach of the Year. Bishop O'Dowd's entire program for most improved.

Anonymous said...

REGARDING O'DOWD: I don't believe that no runners under 16 at Hayward from 2006-2010 and a high finish of 7th in that time frame means success. Also they did not return everybody, Calvin John and Jake Schwartz did not run this year for them. As a program they deserve most improved and as a coach Andrew Cheng deserves Coach of the year.

Anonymous said...

The Piner love is almost as bad as Chuck's Army. This must be an occupy XC Express movement.

I see the eggnog take over has failed though.

Albert Caruana said...

I think we are getting a little carried away here. Campolindo and Piner are two good programs who promote this website so that is the reason why you see more talk about them.

Keep the peace said...

Lets spend our time talking about the awards at hand rather than putting down other programs.

Nick Ratto said...

I agree with anonymous 8:48 Am, Andrew Cheng has really turned that program around, and another coach who deserves some love is Tony Fong of SJND. He really had his team ready to run.

Christopher said...

The coach of the year should belong to Coach Tony Fong of SJND. As a pilot it has been an honer to run under Tony. He has us ready to run before every race and motivates to strive for greatness in the classroom and on the course. As an individual I contribute our success to him. Thank you coach Fong. (Second goes to coach Cheng of O'Dowd just because my brother likes him as a coach.)

Duncan Calvert said...

I feel like teams get unequal amounts of consideration depending on whether their team members follow and comment on this page or not. Scrolling through the comments, I see only a handful of teams being repeatedly mentioned (and in this particular thread argued over), and many equally deserving programs passed over. Just an observation.

Albert Caruana said...

Duncan you are absolutely right. I try my best to spread the word about this blog to as many teams as possible but I obviously need help.

So any help would be appreciated.

Rob Collins said...

Hello Albert and Merry Christmas, By looking at your message Board it's looks like another award between the Coach of the year and Most Improved Team/Coach. Even though there is alot of Great Coaches mentioned and programs, Unfortuantely a lot of Coaches or athletes don't know all Coaches at these repsected programs and don't pay attention to some unless The program is already established and Don't see New programs making some remarkable approvements, some coaches like yourself would or other coaches who pay attention!You Do a great Thing here Albert ! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and the Rest of you Coaches and Athletes out there!

Nick Ratto (the real one) said...

I find it absolutely hilarious that people have nothing better to do then pose as other people on these threads lol. The "Nick Ratto" who posted at 6:39 is imaginary and pay no attention to him.
My feelings on the coach of the year awards are directly opposite of the other "Nick Ratto." While coach Cheng may be a great coach, neither of his teams made state. This means that he may have had his teams peak too early.
I think the awards should go to Jim Tracy from university on the girls side and Pam Borg from Yreka on the guys side. State titles speak for themselves.
And I'd also like to say that my coach, Tony Fong, will forever be the coach of my heart <3

Anonymous said...

I don't think not making it to state automatically justifies the, "they peaked too early" reasoning.

Yes, neither teams qualified, but both teams ran nearly 4 minutes faster than they did the previous year. The boys actually set a school record for team time at Hayward.

The boys team would have qualified to state in every other division in the NCS this year, except their own, which was the dreaded D3. And the girls would have done very well for themselves outside of their division as well. Besides D1 (where they still would have taken 4th), they would have qualified for state in all the other divisions.

When all the race results were combined, the boys team was the 7th fastest team in all of the NCS while the girls team was the 9th fastest.

Historically speaking, the boys would have qualified to state every single year since the NCS championships were moved to Hayward High in 2004 while the girls would have made it to state 5 out of the last 7 years (excluding this year).

So I don't think you can sit there and say they "peaked too early"... you could actually make the argument that they peaked just at the right time, but they just happened to be in the toughest division in the NCS and ran in one of the most competitive races in NCS history.

However, I do agree on the selections of Jim Tracy and Pam Borg as coaches of the year. State titles do speak for themselves. But for the sake of discussion, I'd toss Chuck Woolridge (Campo), Tony Fong (SJND), Patrick McCrystle (Bellarmine), Bob King (Del Campo), Alex Mansoor (Vista Del Lago), John DuCray (St. Francis), Luis Rosales (Piner) & Rob Collins (SLV) into that mix as well.

Anonymous said...

I still think Bill Cirocco should be in the mix on the girls side. Urban lost their top two runners and still came in second at ncs and fifth at state, and I don't think they were even ranked at the beginning of the season.

Anonymous said...

Most Impressive Performance (boys): Thomas Joyce (Campolindo)

Most Impressive Performance (girls):Nicole Lane (El Molino)

Most Impressive Performance (boys' team): SJND at NCS

Most Impressive Performance (girls' team):University at states

Most Inspirational:Jim Tracy (university) (He may be a coach but he still is most Inspirational)

Buster Posey (rookie of the year): Trevor Reinhart (Marin Academy)(also unquestionable)

Buster Posey (rookie of the year):Christine Bayliss (San Ramon Valley)

Shocker of the Year: Nolan Tonkyn (Albany)

Best Robin to Batman (best supporting actor): Gabe Arias-Sheridan (SJND)

Boys Coach of the Year: to close to call but Pam Borg (Yreka),Luis Rosales (Piner), and Tony Fong (SJND)should be front runners

Girls Coach of the Year:Jim Tracy(university)(hands down)

Best running accessory: heart

Peter Brewer said...

Lots of Candidates:

Coach of the year -- My favorite candidate is Pam Borg of Yreka, who took a group of ordinary guys and got them fired up all season. The State title was a surprise to everyone, but maybe we should have seen it coming.

Just a note about Bishop O'Dowd -- yes, the program has a very rich history; yes, they did return a solid core of boys and girls; yes, they did sweep all the league titles; and yes, Andrew is a dynamic young coach. What impresses me most is how enthusiastic his team is, regardless of anything else. That's the type of energy that a coach wants to have. I don't know if that is an award yet.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to vote for my Coach Rob Collins here at SLV on the Boys side who seems to never get recognition at all, But last year we didn't make it to state and took 3rd at CCS Last Year and Won CCS this year Comfortably and took 4th at State this Year and for us Being a Small school we competed very well in overall with everybody and cqn't wait till next year if you look at our freshman from Crystal spring invite! Go SLV!

Pam Borg said...

Thank you for the your recognition award as Coach of the year. I'm honored and appreciate being named among all these other wonderful coaches that sacrifice their time to better the lives of student-athletes. My roots are part of the NCS as I graduated from American HS and ran competitively for them and the San Jose Cindergals. I went into coaching because of the wonderful experiences I had as a athlete. Coaches are special people with big hearts and lots of passion. This year I was fortunate to have a team of very dedicated young men who were ready to trust me and each other in order to reach their dream of being in the top 3 at State. Heart, had a lot to do with them winning the state crown,it was them. I was happy to help guide them to it. So to all the athletes and coaches out there, keep dreaming,keep working hard, keep the passion going, because some day, you may fulfill a dream. And if you don't, the journey along the way can be just as rewarding.

Anonymous said...

blair hurlock isnt fast

Katie Berge Fan Club said...

I warmly endorse the decision to give Acalanes the Costume of the Year award.

Also Anonymous said: "blair hurlock isnt fast"

May I offer a rebuttal: "Is too."

Anonymous said...

Lets see pics of Acalanes... We should have had nominees Albert. Plus a sentence or two about why they earned the award. Most outside of their section don't know these kids or what they did to win.

Albert Caruana said...

You can see for yourself at this link:
http://www.sportsimagewire.com/2011%20Photo%20Albums/2011%20NCS%20XC%20Division%203%20by%20Margaret%20Gallagher/album/index.html

Anonymous said...

How did those win, they don't stand out from any others...

Acalanes High School students did seem to have a good time planned on their trip to Utah though. Maybe add best party to the list?

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