Tuesday, January 06, 2015

2015 Northern California Track and Field Distance Preview

2014 State Champions from Northern California
The 2014 girls' state 1600m. race victor was another NorCal athlete as Sarah Robinson (Gunn) survived a rugged field and last lap to win in 4:44.25. Nikki Hiltz of Aptos and Anna Maxwell of San Lorenzo Valley won the 2012 and 2013 races respectively to begin the three consecutive NorCal victories. The fastest returning 1600m. NorCal runner is Kendall Derry of Bella Vista who ran 4:52.00 at the state prelims. She finished in 5th place in the final with two fellow then sophomores (Destiny Collins Great Oak and Amanda Gehrich Tesoro) ahead of her. The other NorCal winner was Fred Huxham (Dave Waco photo) of Redwood in the 3200m. He beat a tough field that included Blake Haney of Stockton who was attempting to become the 2nd California runner to record double victories in the 1600m./3200m. in consecutive seasons (Roman Gomez Belmont1984/1985). Huxham is now competing for the University of Washington with the fastest NorCal returner being Steven Sum of Saratoga at 9:10.23.

The "Rookies"

It's a little unusual to call two seniors rookies but that will definitely be the case for Lizzie Lacy (Keith Peters photo above left) of Menlo School and Toni Finnane (above right) of Campolindo. Lacy recorded the fastest time at Toro Park at the 2014 CCS XC final, finished in 3rd place at the State Meet in Division IV and continued to the Footlocker National Meet where she finished in 10th place. Finnane was a true XC rookie this past season as she joined the Campolindo team for the first time as a senior. She finished in 2nd place behind Chloe Hansel of Las Lomas at the NCS and state meets (she lost to teammate Brighie Leach at DFAL). She also qualified for the Footlocker National meet and ultimately finished in 22nd place. She may have been the only runner to qualify for the Footlocker national meet and not record one victory the entire season. Both will make their debut this coming Track and Field season and it will be very interesting what event they will both focus on come championship time in May and June. The other rookie will be Rylee Bowen (Christopher Chung photo below) of Sonoma Academy who as a freshman may have more racing experience than Lacy and Finnane combined. Bowen has been well known in the club running scene prior to her freshman XC season. She recorded an impressive 10:47.58 for the full 2 mile distance at the Night of 2-Mile Madness in November. Bowen will see if she can reclaim her status as the top freshman in Northern California after finishing behind Caroline Gee of Cupertino and Elana Kamas of Homestead in the All-Norcal XC team. Finally, watch out for Trevor Reinhart of Marin Academy this coming spring season. Although not a rookie, Reinhart ran Track for the first time as a junior but his season was cut short due to injury. He recovered nicely this past XC season as he won the BCL West, NCS and state meet races in dominating fashion. He qualified for the Footlocker National meet once again where he improved to 7th place after a 12th place finish as a junior. I am sure there are plenty of nervous NCS distance runners who will have to wonder what Reinhart's primary event will be this coming season.


The chase for a sub 9:00 3200m.
Last season, along with state champion Fred Huxham of Redwood, Blair Hurlock also dipped under the 9:00 barrier (8:58.28) making Huxham and Hurlock the 18th and 19th NorCal runners to achieve that feat in the last 11 years. Here is the complete list below.
2014-Fred Huxham Redwood 8:54.24, Blair Hurlock 8:58.28
2013-John Lawson Sir Francis Drake 8:58.19
2012-None
2011-Trevor Halsted Davis 8:51.96, Luis Luna Piner 8:55.43, Ben Eversole Castro Valley 8:59.07, Chris Kigar El Camino 8:59.22, Dominic D'Acquisto Enterprise 8:59.58, Kevin Bishop Monta Vista 8:59.82
2010-Weston Strum Pioneer 8:56.42, Kurt Ruegg Napa 8:57.86, Erik Olson Novato 8:59.01, Reesey Byers Santa Rosa 8:59.89
2009-Erik Olson Novato 8:55.06, Garrett Rowe Mt. View 8:55.71, Dan Mitchell Del Campo 8:56.56
2008-German Fernandez Riverbank 8:34.23
2007-Brendan Gregg Davis 8:59.48
2006-Ben Sitler St. Francis 8:53.47
2005-None
2004-Yosef Ghebray James Logan 8:52.42

So the question now is who are the NorCal runners aiming to join the above elite company.  Here are the fastest returning 3200m. runners and their personal records:
Steven Sum Saratoga (CCS) 9:10.23
Paul Zeiss Granite Bay (SJS) 9:11.62
Chris Foster Los Gatos (CCS) 9:16.12
Matthew Schumann De La Salle (NCS) 9:16.40
Edward Chance Del Campo (SJS) 9:20.49
Drew Childs Bella Vista (SJS) 9:22.98
Colin Burke Bishop O'Dowd (NCS) 9:23.36
Ben Haderle Los Gatos (CCS) 9:24.07
Jackson Crose Livermore (NCS) 9:24.30
Remington Breeze Vista del Lago (SJS) 9:24.95
Jose Pina Lincoln, San Jose (CCS) 9:26.20
Sean Kurdy Jesuit (SJS) 9:26.25
Daniel Hill Sacred Heart Prep (CCS) 9:26.75
Andy Ehrenberg Redwood (NCS) 9:26.97
Nolan Dozier Sobrato (CCS) 9:27.03
Justin Robison Lynbrook (CCS) 9:27.33
Samuel Blake Westmont (CCS) 9:28.21
Who from the above list will dip under 9:00?  Who else will join the chase that is not listed?

Top NorCal Boys under 16:00 at 2014 CA State Meet
2 Trevor Reinhart SR 95 5 Marin Academy NCS 14:58.5 4:50
12 Christopher Foster SR 82 2 Los Gatos CCS 15:16.4 4:55
13 Steve Sum SR 86 3 Saratoga CCS 15:16.7 4:56
15 Sean Kurdy JR 39 1 Jesuit SJS 15:17.9 4:56
20 Edward Chance SR 86 2 Del Campo SJS 15:19.5 4:56
23 Colin Burke SR 65 3 Bishop O'dowd NCS 15:22.4 4:57
24 Andy Ehrenberg JR 46 2 Redwood NCS 15:24.3 4:58
36 David Frisbie JR 45 3 Jfk - Fremont NCS 15:29.0 4:59
46 Sean Burke SR 66 3 Bishop O'dowd NCS 15:33.4 5:01
48 Jackson Crose SR 75 2 Livermore NCS 15:35.7 5:02
55 Hassen Hassen SR 29 2 Willow Glen CCS 15:36.8 5:02
57 Matt Schumann SR 26 1 De La Salle NCS 15:37.7 5:02
61 Moshe McCarter-Ribak SR 60 3 Placer SJS 15:38.9 5:03
77 Cooper Teare SO 98 5 St. Joe. Notre Dame NCS 15:43.1 5:04
82 Ross Walker SR 92 2 Del Campo SJS 15:45.0 5:05
88 Ben Osipow SR 14 3 St. Ignatius CCS 15:46.5 5:05
89 Jose Pina SR 1 2 Abraham Lincoln CCS 15:46.6 5:05
94 Drew Childs SR 44 1 Bella Vista SJS 15:48.3 5:06
97 Paul Zeiss SR 35 1 Granite Bay SJS 15:48.6 5:06
100 Edgar Bonilla SR 65 4 King City CCS 15:49.9 5:06
101 Johain Ounadjela SR 26 1 Carlmont CCS 15:49.9 5:06
106 Justin Robison JR 90 2 Lynbrook CCS 15:50.7 5:06
110 Alex Sasser SR 18 1 Bellarmine CCS 15:50.9 5:07
116 Moses Wolfe-Polgar SR 00 2 Del Oro SJS 15:52.6 5:07
118 Kevin Lehr JR 15 3 St. Ignatius CCS 15:52.9 5:07
120 Tucker Meijer SR 21 1 Bellarmine CCS 15:53.4 5:07
125 Peter Schlachte SR 31 1 Amador Valley NCS 15:54.4 5:08
127 John Ross JR 02 4 Scotts Valley CCS 15:54.4 5:08
129 Ben Zaeske JR 74 2 Los Altos CCS 15:55.2 5:08
130 Michael Bereket SR 28 1 Carlmont CCS 15:55.4 5:08
132 Roc Johnson SR 22 1 De La Salle NCS 15:55.7 5:08
135 Kellen Browning JR 73 1 Davis Sr. SJS 15:56.2 5:08
140 Alex Garcia SR 58 3 Placer SJS 15:57.4 5:09
142 Logan Taggart JR 48 2 Oakmont SJS 15:58.0 5:09
144 Revanth Nagurla SR 91 2 Lynbrook CCS 15:58.2 5:09
147 Jordan Scobey JR 86 2 Maria Carrillo NCS 15:58.7 5:09
149 Jacob Garrissere SR 85 1 Santa Teresa CCS 15:59.0 5:09

The 2015 "At-Large" Standards:  You can check out all the "At-Large" standards here.  Just as a reminder, the state meet qualifiers from each section is as follows:  CCS (3), NCS (3), SJS (3), NS (1), OAK (1) and SF (1).  The 2014 at-lark mark is noted in parentheses so you can compare the mark from the previous season.

Boys ("toughest" to "easiest")
1:52.84 (1:52.98)
4:14.78 (4:14.24)
9:07.38 (9:08.64)

Girls ("toughest" to "easiest")
2:12.15 (2:11.80)
4:55.89 (4:55.15)
10:36.17 (10:35.79)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Minor correction - Finnane beat Hansel but lost to her teammate Leach at DFAL.

Albert Caruana said...

You are correct. Will fix.

Bill said...

I don't think anyone will dip below 9:00 but I think there will be a logjam around 9:10 to 9:20.

The order of last year's track times is a good indicator of the upcoming season, but there was quite of bit of re-ordering that can be done based on state XC results.

Anonymous said...

Davis runner Fiona O'Keeffe isn't mentioned (due to late-season injury last spring?) but should be a favorite in 1600 and 3200.

Anonymous said...

@12:41 agreed anyone 16:10 or faster at Woodward should be able to run 9:25 or faster this outdoor that's a lot of names not in the list.

Albert Caruana said...

I am hoping to add more the article including Fiona who was indeed injured at the end of last track season but rebounded nicely this past XC season.

No question that there will be other runners who will join the mix of the best 3200 runners in NorCal. Feel free to add other names if you feel they belong as well.

GHPADD said...

Excellent list and I am sure lots of hard work Albert. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Agree with Bill no one under nine.

Albert Caruana said...

Based on history, somebody will once again break 9 this coming season. Just a matter of being in the right race at the right time.

Bill said...

I think Trevor Reinhart of Marin Academy would probably have the best chance of going sub-9 given that he was the only Norcal athlete at state that went under 15.

But he has only done Lacrosse in the spring, so I don't think the chances are likely he'll do Track.B

Nils said...

My apologies if this seems out of place, but can anyone point me to photos or video of the 2014 XC Championships at Fresno? I have only found one video, and a pretty random selection of photos. I'm looking for DIV V, especially boys.
Thanks very much!

Coach Ozzie said...

I would be shocked if no one in NorCal ran under 9:00 this spring. I'd be more surprised if there was no one to do it than if there were five guys to do it, but I guess I'd expect the number to be two or three. There are too many talented kids pushing each other for no one to do it this year.

Anonymous said...

Reinhart had decided to run track last year, but only thing that stopped him was an injury so he decided to sit out and prep for xc.

Bill said...

Anyone know when Arcadia starts accepting entries for its invitational?
That might be the best chance for to go sub-9 this year. Hopefully they take a bunch from Norcal.

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