Tuesday, November 03, 2015

SCVAL Meet Preview courtesy of John Rankr

Live Results LINK

Pre-Prediction Rant:
How about a separate thread for league meets where I can post this stuff? By the way I was pretty close on the BVAL stuff; The favorites were all right there, though the big story is that the Prospect girls dominated and look really good heading into CCS. 

BOYS:
Another great dual today at Crystal Springs, this time between Kent Slaney of Palo Alto and Justin Robison of Lynbrook. This is the individual race of the week as two of the best in the CCS go at it one more time. Sandy is the favorite, Robison with the motivation to win as a senior. This is the race to watch. For the team title Homestead finally showed up at Mt. Sac and put 5 runners between 15:50 and 16:27 making them a strong favorite for the team title. Palo Alto has a solid 1-2 punch that could make things interesting. Throw in the Lynbrook front runners a kid from Los Altos and points may be at a premium. But do we even know if Homestead is even going to try? They very well could just cruise to a qualifying place and go for it at CCS. 

Individual Pic: Saney (Paly)
Team Favorite: Homestead
Dark Horse: Palo Alto wins the team title

GIRLS:
Meeks is the run away favorite for this one and honestly in another league. Though Gee of Cupertino and Jacob of Los Altos are stars in their own right. Escalera is expected to challenge as well. There will be some Homestead runners in there too. My bold prediction of the day: Gunn will run away with this one. There is just too much firepower up front. Combined with Homestead, the on-paper favorite, running hard in Mt. Sac I don’t think they have it in them to take down Gunn. But Homestead is tough and the favorite and it won’t be surprising to see them win (again, if they run hard). I am going out on a limb here and taking a gable. Also fighting for the podium: Los Gatos, Paly and Fremont all have an interesting battle for third.

Individual Pic: Meeks (Gunn)
Team Favorite: Homestead
Dark Horse: Gunn for the team title

For those of you that missed it, here is the BVAL preview also by John Rankr (click the headline above to view)

It’s League Week! I will do my best to preview the action at Crystal Springs this week, starting with the BVAL. 

Rain, rain, more rain. Will there even be a meet today? I remember when kids used to run and race whether it was “rain or shine.” With no rain for, oh about 6 years, my guess is that course is going to soak it up nicely. Though the top dust layer could get slick and cause some problems. Not sure when they would even hold a rain-out date as the course is booked through the week. Next Monday? Someone chime in and let us know.

Assuming there will be a meet today here are my picks. Be forewarned that I have been so off that if this were fantasy football I would be a 1-7 team. So take this all with a grain of salt.

Pre-Prediction Rant:
For the record I love the BVAL. They have 30+ teams on the starting line and let them sort it out the way it should, on the course. It is a shame that CCS doesn’t follow suit and allow all teams to compete. Section championships should be exactly that: represent the section. In our sport you can allow for large fields. BVAL does it right. 

Boys:
Of the 30 or so teams Willow Glen is the shining star. This group of blue collar kids are on a mission and by the chatter on the boards feel a bit slighted by some others in the area. They have a strong 4 but the one thing that could keep them from a section title is their #5. If that gap closes a section title is not out of the question. Lots of individuals including Yep from Evergreen Valley, Estrella and Saval of Andrew Hill, and a strong duo out of Mt. Pleasant. Dozier of Sobrato is the favorite for the individual but it won’t come easy as 4 other Willow Glen guys and a slew of others are also looking for the win. Dozier seems to be a lone wolf running many meets solo such as Mt. Sac last week. It is an interesting match up no less.

Individual Prediction: Dozier (Sobrato)
Team Prediction: Willow Glen
Dark Horse: Euerele (WG)

Girls:
The girls individual and team titles are up for grabs. Leland has a strong core of runners and is the favorite in the team title, Prospect, Piedmont Hills and Willow Glen could all challenge. While Leland enters as the team favorite it is runner-up Prospect has the best odds of making the State Meet in D3. The BVAL features a lot of strong individuals in contention of the individual title: Howell of Santa Teresa, Grant of Live Oak and Miller of Branham and Baron of Prospect are all in the hunt for the win.

Individual Prediction: Howell (Santa Teresa)
Team Prediction: Leland
Dark Hourse: Baron (Prospect)

9 comments:

Bing said...

Any results posted anywhere from BVAL finals?

By the way John, I did not see your BVAL preview. Is there a link?

Albert Caruana said...

Hank has not posted the link to BVAL finals yet. I added the BVAL preview to this post. Click the headline above to view it.

John Rankr said...

BVAL Results: https://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/9177.html

Anonymous said...

Merged results for the boys.

Justin Robison (12) Lynbrook 14:59.2
Ben Zaeske (12) Los Altos 15:06.7
Kent Slaney (11) Palo Alto 15:14.5
Brent Mogensen (12) Monta Vista 15:29.2
Chris Reed (12) Homestead 15:33.6
Sanjay Mohan (12) Los Gatos 15:34.5
Daniel Graves (12) Homestead 15:35.2

Anonymous said...

Merged results for the girls

Gillian Meeks (12) Gunn 17:27.2
Elena Kamas (10) Homestead 17:47.4
Caroline Gee (10) Cupertino 17:53.0
Lauren Jacob (12) Los Altos 18:08.8
Illi Gardner (11) Gunn 18:22.6
Lindsay Allen (11) Homestead 18:27.5
Serena Myjer (10) Mtn View 18:28.3
Maryam Jawid (11) Lynbrook 18:29.6

Anonymous said...

What about WCAL tomorrow?

John Rankr said...

My WCAL predictions are coming out tomorrow. Times have been blazing fast with the Monday rain and cooler temps. Will the trend continue? Let's hope so!

Robinson's 14:59.2 is unreal. And the fact it rounds up to 15:00 is tomorrow's rant of the day.

John Rankr said...

League Week Continues… Viva WCAL!

First though, my pre-prediction rant:
Lynbrook’s Justin Robinson had a statement race running the Crystal Springs course in 14:59.2 yesterday. With today’s technology of chip timing we should measure to the nearest tenth. Instead it rounds up to 15:00 where it will sit in the record books as such. I know it is “the way it has always been” but not too long ago we also did hand timing in track. But as technology improves so should the accuracy of measurement. Cross Country is more about place, I get it. Courses change, I get that too. But I also get that 14:59 sounds a whole lot better than 15:00. #SaveJustin’sSub15

BOYS:

The smallest of all the league competitions to hit Crystal Springs this week also has some of the heaviest hitters. The Bellarmine juggernaut will continue to steam roll this league and the rest of CCS. The only criticism anyone can ever come up with is they have not won the state meet. In D1. In California. The fact that this division sends multiple teams to the national championship every year I think they are doing just fine.

Seriously though, how deep is this league? We very well could see multiple runners from multiple teams run in the 15’s in the JV and Frosh-Soph races. That is insane to me. But lets talk about something more interesting: the Saint Ignatius vs. Saint Francis feud. This race matters to these programs and I absolutely love it. League is a different beast for these teams than CCS. In this league with 8 teams just 56 runners toe the line, so points are at a premium. Lets start with Saint Francis. They have depth, to emphasize such their 8 & 9 guy ran 16:15 and 16:25 this year at Crystal. But only five guys score and that is where SI has a slight advantage. SI dominated in WCAL #1, looked beatable in WCAL #2. As debated here earlier *if* Olivero ran at WCAL #2 Saint Francis *might* have won. No matter where you stand on that debate it will be settled today and then a redux at CCS.

Individual Pic: Xander Olivero (Saint Francis)
Team Prediction: Bellarmine
SF vs SI: Saint Francis

GIRLS:

In my WCAL #2 Preview I called it a dual meet. And outside of a few sprinklings from other teams this holds true again. WCAL #1 went to Mitty by a few points. Saint Francis got the one point win in WCAL #2. So roll the dice on this one. Both teams are good. Both programs take pride in winning the league title. This is so close that it very well could be decided by how the “others” do. What do I mean? Seven of the top 10 were from these two teams. Where athletes from other teams place in the top 10 could be the one or two points that separates these two. Regardless of the outcome they get to go at it again at CCS. How can you not love this sport?

Individual Pic: Julia Lemak (Mitty)
Team Prediction: Mitty (I literally flipped a coin)
Dark Horse: Jackie Fonti (Sacred Heart)

Anonymous said...

Just for the kids sake: Nolan DOZIER, Kent SLANEY, & Justin ROBISON.

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