Sunday, August 30, 2015

The Power of Teamwork

Castro Valley, De La Salle, Northgate and Heritage scrimmage results

From Northgate coach, Peter Brewer
Thursday 8/27
Castro Valley hosted a scrimmage with De La Salle, Heritage, and Northgate at Canyon Middle School in Castro Valley.  This early season "friendly" was more of a time trial than a competition.  Teams were sorting out their squads, athletes were held out, uniforms were optional . . . so these results are not truly representational of team strength.   There were still some nice times, and coaches and athletes found out a little bit more about their teams this year. 

2.1 miles
Results can be found at this LINK

Boys' picture -- Benry Sheehan of Heritage stretches out his lead over Laurence Seabrook of Northgate at the halfway point.
Girl's picture -- Jessie Boucher of Northgate leads a trio of teammates early in the race.




Men's 1600 meter relay race video


At the very least, watch the last 400. Crazy backstretch and final 100.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Who will be on the MileSplitCA All-State Team? Eight Boys To Watch

Who will be on the MileSplitCA All-State Team? Eight Boys To Watch

Without looking, what NorCal runner made this list?

Healdsburg Running Company XC Night for Sonoma County

Faisal Javed, Czar, General Manager
Healdsburg Running Company
America's Wineiest Running Store
333 Center St.
Healdsburg, CA 95448

NORTH COAST SECTION TRACK AND FIELD ALL-TIME LIST THROUGH 2015

Thanks to Keith Conning.

You can check out the entire list of performances at the link below.
http://theconningtower.blogspot.com/2015/08/north-coast-section-track-and-field-all.html

Any thoughts on the best NCS record for either boys or girls?

Someone asked about the Hayward HS NCS course records so here they are courtesy of NCS site.
http://cifncs.org/sports/cross_country/files/INDIVIDUAL%20boys-girls%20all-time%20at%20Hayward.pdf
http://cifncs.org/sports/cross_country/files/TIME%20boys-girls%20all-time%20at%20Hayward.pdf

Also top 10 team times:
http://www.crosscountryexpress.com/2013/11/fastest-team-times-on-hayward-course-in.html

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Northern California incoming freshmen

Here is what I have so far as freshmen for the 2015/16 seasons. If you have any additions, please email them to me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com and I will add them to the list. You can also add their names, school for next year and their PRs in the comment section below. Also, feel free to list any students who will be competing for a different school this coming season. What about athletes from SJS, NS, SF and OAK?

Girls
Cassy Haskell - Miramonte.  4:44 for 1500m and 10:30 for 3000. Won Devil's Mountain 5K in 17:40 as a 7th grader.
Kate Tavella - San Ramon Valley. 4:56 for 1500.  5K in 18:35
Emma Tavella - San Ramon Valley.   5:19 for 1600  5K in 18:59.   Kate and Emma are twins
Jasmine Powell - Bishop O'Dowd. 2:19.3 for 800
Erin Hong - Piedmont 5:30 for 1600, 11:04 for 3000 and 19:36 for 5k
Lauren Cervantes - Monte Vista 5:07 for 1500 and 19:26 for 5k
Emily Perez - St. Joseph Notre Dame 5:19.83 for 1500 and 11:16.12 for 3000
Lila Roake - Santa Cruz 2:24 for 800, 5:10 for 1500 and 10:55 for 3000
Sasha Pickard - Saratoga 5:26 for 1600
Reina Garcia - Aptos 4:49 for 1500 and 10:30 for 3000
Cynthia Rosales - Piner
Jessica Kain - Scotts Valley 5:19 for 1600

Boys
Preston Norris - Las Lomas.   4:24 for 1500 and 9:26 for 3000
Sean Carrick - Amador Valley.   5:02 for 1600m
Tommy Murphy - Bishop O'Dowd.  2:29 for 800, 4:48 for 1500, 5:09 for 1600 and 10:05 for 3000m
Cameron Meier - Granada.  5:08 for 1600m
Ryan Ma - Homestead 4:42 for 1600m
Caleb Foster - Albany 4:52 for 1600m
Colton Colonna - St. Francis, Mt. View 2:07.07 for 800, 4:27.56 for 1500 and 4:48.10 for 1600
Miles Worthen - Jesuit 2:15 for 800, 4:32 for 1500 and 9:52 for 3000
Rusell Sullivan - Foothill, Pleasanton 4:45 for 1500, 5:03 for 1600 and 10:31 for 3000
Chris Anderson - San Lorenzo Valley 2:07.8 for 800, 4:39.8 for 1600 and 9:40 for 3000
Joshua Lee - Bellarmine 4:50.44 for 1600
Ross D'Orfani - Bellarmine 4:52.54 for 1600
Nitin Sagi - Mission San Jose 2:08.24 for 800 and 4:38.09 for 1500
Chris Solorzano - Del Mar 4:51 for 1600

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Northern California state ranked runners and teams

I will start to compile a list right here. In the comment section below, please add the runners and teams that you believe will be state ranked at some point this season.

Boys
Sean Kurdy Jesuit
Cooper Teare St. Joseph Notre Dame
Nick Downs Bishop O'Dowd
Salem Bouhassoun Mission SF
David Frisbie John F. Kennedy
Andy Ehrenberg Redwood
Kevin Lehr St. Ignatius

Girls
Chloe Hansel Las Lomas (Defending Division III champion)
Fiona O'Keeffe Davis (Defending Division I champion)
Cate Ratliff Santa Cruz
Morgin Coonfield McKinleyville
Rylee Bowen Sonoma Academy (Defending Division V champion)
Kiera Marshall St. Joseph Notre Dame
Beatrice Levy St. Joseph Notre Dame

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Coach Bob Larsen movie screening

I'm inviting everyone to this screening on Coach Bob Larsen. Bob was one of my mentors when I was the team manager at UCLA. He's done some amazing things in his coaching career, with Meb's success being one major highlight. Come watch this documentary on Friday, October 2 at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Link to buy tickets here: http://goo.gl/c3x9QY
$8 in advance. $11 at the door. 

Can you help spread the word - let your teams know, post on websites, share with coaches in your league, etc. I saw the movie in Eugene and it really is fantastic.

Andy Chan
Sacred Heart Cathedral

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

2015 Stanford Invitational High School information

Now posted at the following link:
http://www.gostanford.com/pdf9/3692107.pdf

You will be able to sign up your team starting on August 24th at http://ezmeets.com/index.html. The deadline for entries will be September 20th.

Monday, August 10, 2015

2015 Pre-Season North Coast Section (NCS) Division V Cross Country Rankings (Girls)

The NCS Division V girls teams and individuals can pit their accomplishments against any section in California. Aside from the incredible success of Jim Tracy and the University girls, multiple teams and tons of individuals have graced the podium since the first season with Division V competition, 1996. Just last season, the following individuals and team made their way onto the podium. 7 teams also qualified from the NCS MOC meet although this year, NCS did somehow lose a spot to the SDS which still leaves them with a whopping 6 teams heading to Fresno in 2015.

Girls Individual
1. Rylee Bowen Sonoma Academy 18:36
2. Kiera Marshall St. Joseph Notre Dame 18:44
5. Alyssa Goody Sonoma Academy 18:55
7. Bevin McCullough Marin Academy 18:58

Girls Team
3. Sonoma Academy 174 points

The favorite at this point has to be Sonoma Academy which may have reached a level of success ahead of schedule in 2014. Led by fearless freshman, Rylee Bowen, Sonoma Academy rolled to their first section title and as you can see above, finished in 3rd place at the CA state XC meet to win their first state plaque. Bowen (2:13.66/4:43.92/10:29.61) returns along with most of her talented teammates but a couple may be on the mend at the start of the season which leaves their season in question. Alyssa Goody missed last track season and Lilly Reinstein may miss the upcoming season as well. McKenna Sell (5:34.43/12:01.62) and Maddy Glenn (2:48/5:45) along with several young runners can also contribute during the key November races. 

If Sonoma Academy is not quite at full strength then the next best teams may be Branson, College Prep and Lick-Wilmerding. Branson finished in 6th place at last year's NCS meet but that was due to the loss of lead runner, Grace Dailey (2:20.80). Along with Dailey, 6 runners return (including Ashley Delgado 2:22.60) from last year's team along with a talented freshman. College Prep finished in 5th place last year and looks to be on the rise with the improvement of front runner Brianna Bourne (2:23.65/5:16.02/11:13.33). She will have a solid pack behind her and may be in the hunt for their 2nd NCS title since 2007. Lick-Wilmerding has been one of the most consistent teams in this division and this year won't be any different. They will be led by Jill Reilly (5:20.24/11:32.06). 

The University girls missed their first state meet since Division V started in 1996. That appears to be a momentary setback as they rebounded nicely during the Track and Field season. They will be led by rising sophomore Claire Jackson (2:29.92/5:30.80). Urban and Athenian finished in 2nd and 3rd place respectively at last year's NCS meet. Urban do lose their top 2 runners from last year but appear to have a solid pack back for this coming season led by Coco Ocker (62.28). Athenian will be led once again by Grace Brown (2:19.77/5:17.02) along with 4 of their top 5 runners from last season. St. Joseph Notre Dame will have best duo in NCS with Kiera Marshall (5:19.00/11:24.28) and Beatrice Levy (5:19.64/11:29.88) but lose the rest of their 2014 state qualifying team.

Individually, Rylee Bowen will be the strong favorite after winning both NCS and state titles last year. She has proven to be a tough competitor and will be tough to beat. SJND teammates Kiera Marshall and Beatrice Levy will keep her honest along with Sonoma Academy teammate Alyssa Goody, Athenian's Grace Brown, College Prep's Brianna Bourne, Lick-Wilmerding's Jill Reilly and Branson's Grace Dailey.

Division V Girls (Top 6 Advance to state)
1) Sonoma Academy-Health will be an important factor in them repeating.
2) Branson-Looking to rebound from disappointing 2014 NCS meet.
3) College Prep-Solid team looking to improve their 2014 5th place finish.
4) Lick Wilmerding-With inspired team running, could move into top 3.
5) University-6th place gets them to state but they are aiming higher.
6) Urban-Team always under the radar that gets it done in November.
7) St. Joseph Notre Dame-Very talented duo up front but will need help.
8) Athenian-May be dark horse to make the state meet at this point.
On the bubble: Head RoyceMarin AcademyConvent

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) and 2014 NCS meet time:
Rylee Bowen (1) Sonoma Academy 18:46
Alyssa Goody (3) Sonoma Academy 19:02
Kiera Marshall (4) St. Joseph Notre Dame 19:23
Jill Reilly (5) Lick-Wilmerding 19:33
Beatrice Levy (6) St. Joseph Notre Dame 19:45

Please feel free to chime in on the rankings above. I won't be offended if you strongly disagree as the above rankings are meant to be a launching pad for conversation. Fortunately section titles and state meet berths are decided by the runners themselves. Did I miss any teams or individuals? Any other impact freshmen that we should know about?

Up next: NCS Division IV pre-season rankings

Sunday, August 09, 2015

What It Takes To Be A Champion

In the beginning a world class or world champion type of athlete must have the ability above the average but not necessarily be at the top of his age group or other classification.


Indeed, even above inherent natural ability it is important that innate worth be born with the athlete. He will be found to be persistent not easily discouraged (indeed, set-backs will be a spur and goal), intelligent, self- reliant and ambitious once he sees the road ahead and the means to get to his destinations.
I myself believe that nature does not fool us. If we feel within ourselves real potentiality, abilities, we can reasonably attain to any goals that we may conceive of for ourselves, and when these ideas or feelings about ourselves persist. We all know the youth and man who is going to do something but in a week or month has forgotten all about that goal, completely abandoned all goals or switched to others, most equally fatuous. But if the feeling of ability to achieve in something, sometime, somewhere, persists with us, becomes part of us, we can be assured of results mostly beyond our earliest dreams. To cleave to your ambitions, have faith in yourself and believe that if you do the work results must be achieved. But also believe that if work alone did things, then all good laborers would end up rich. We know that many don't.

It is intelligent work that does things --  intelligent training methods, new ideas, especially when proved, that can work miracles.We must be receptive to the new ideas, be prepared ourselves to march into the future, and either discover new methods, new training concepts or find someone who has done so. 


Seek, and you do find, in time. Ask, and you do get the information, but perhaps not from the sources you thought. Knock and some superior person, coach or teacher will take you in, but you may have to try many doors.


Summed up: You can become what you think you can become. But you must find the teacher or discover new methods for yourself, as did Parry O'Brian:

Remember: Work does do things, but it is superior work, highly intelligent work, often exhausting, soul killing work that gets one out of the rut, makes one a world figure, no matter in what field. Never entirely give up when discouraged, frustrated.




Every difficulty carries within itself the means of its own solution. The test for you is to find that means, that teacher. There is a teacher, a way-shower, at every cross road in life. You never know that until you reach the cross-road. He is not available while you are on the journey to his place in life.
  
You cannot be taught until you are ready to be taught. And you cannot function until you are ready to function.


In the ultimate, if you are to succeed, you must believe in the worth whileness of your goals, find the means to attain them and do the essential work, make the personal effort. No one can do it for you. No one can travel the road for you, do your training and your thinking. At the best you can only find a way-shower and teacher. I hope you will feel, in reading this small exposition, that you gain something to help you to your ends, your goals, your successes.


I would have it so-- so it merely remains for you to do your part.

You can, if you but will.
May all success be yours. It can!
Percy Wells Cerutty
Portsea, Victoria
Australia February, 1959

Thursday, August 06, 2015

SJS XC 2015 Boys predictions by Julie Taggart


Julie is a cross-country/T&F parent at Oakmont High School.  She has put together predictions for each of the SJS divisions ((Varsity) Boys only!) which you can find at this LINK.
  • I used mostly 3200m and some 1600m data from this past track season, ignoring graduating seniors.  For those 1600m runners who skipped the 3200, I calculated their 3200 times using a fudge factor (these are indicated with "< >" characters).
  • These predictions assume that those 3200m and 1600m kids who ran track will also do XC, and will run with the same relative performance in XC as they did in track.
  • These predictions also assume that these kids will attend the same school this fall as they attended during track.
  • The predictions are formatted like XC results, specifically, what the SJS section finals would be, just based on those track times.  The school year is the year that each athlete will be this fall.
  • I calculated the team scores using cross-country-style scoring.  The "results" also show who transfers to the CIF State meet, both the teams and the individuals.

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Assistant Cross Country coaches needed

Crystal Springs Uplands School (CCS) is looking for two cross country assistant coaches for the 2015 fall season.  CSUS competes in Division 5. This is for the 2015-2016 school year. A passion for distance running, a positive attitude, and running experience is a plus.  Practice will start at the end of August and will run until the end of November. Stipend is available. Interested individuals should send a resume with references to Albert Caruana at albertjcaruana@gmail.com.

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

2015 Pre-Season North Coast Section (NCS) Division V Cross Country Rankings (Boys)

Sorry for the delay on these rankings but I was traveling the past four weeks. But enough about me. This division has been one of the more successful ones for the North Coast Section at the state meet level with individual and team hardware. At last year's state meet, the following NCS athletes/teams made the podium by finishing in the top 10 as an individual and in the top 3 as a team.

Boys Individual
1. Trevor Reinhart Marin Academy 14:59
5. Cooper Teare St. Joseph Notre Dame 15:44
10. Michael Murphy St. Joseph Notre Dame 16:10
Boys Team
2. St. Joseph Notre Dame 99 points

This coming season could be equally as successful with lots of returning talent for many teams. We will start off with the boys and the team competition. St. Joseph Notre Dame has won the last 4 team titles which is the 2nd longest winning streak in NCS Division V history trailing only University's 7 in a row from 1999-2005. Livermore also won 7 team titles in a row in Division III from 1990-1996. SJND will contend this season but may be hard pressed to continue their winning streak. They do return the top runner in this division in Cooper Teare (4:21.53/9:15.65) but will have to find a way to replace the Murphy twins (Michael and Matthew). Along with Teare, SJND will need major improvement from Willie Mein (2:02.05), Daniel Ratto (2:00.02) and Gavin Hill (17:04 at Hayward).

The favorite at this point may be Marin Academy which will be chasing their first NCS boys' XC title. Although they do lose defending NCS/state meet champion and team leader, Trevor Reinhart, MA will return 6 of their top 7. Among those 6, MA will field three runners who all recorded sub 10 clockings in the 3200m this past track season, Henry Fleming (9:33.57), Jack Williams (9:54.34) and Connor Montgomery (9:59.45). That gives MA 3 top tier runners in the section and with the addition of a talented frosh runner, it will be championship or bust for them in 2015.

Along with SJND, another team chasing MA will be the College Prep Cougars. They will be led by senior Alex Glavin (4:24.37/9:22.80). While MA may have the best top 3 runners, CPS might have the best top 4 runners with Glavin, Ethan Ashby (9:59.76), Steve Sloan (4:47.84) and Trevor Soule (17:28.0 at Stanford Invite). Lick-Wilmerding has demonstrated some of the best depth in this division and will need that depth to show this coming season. They will be led by Jackson Vachal (16:34 at Woodward Park). Rising sophomores Sean Laidlaw (16:35 at Woodward Park), Erik Stein (4:35.89/10:04.53) and Alex Martinez (4:53.81) give the Tigers three talented runners with lots of room for improvement. Brian Ebisuzaki (4:43.25/10:09.31) will also allow the Tigers to contend once again despite losing 3 of their top 5 runners.

University seems to be trending up once again after a very solid Track and Field season. They will be led by junior CJ Dowd (1:55.10/4:29.55) along with Spencer Ferguson-Dryden (1:59.72), Spencer Small (4:38.54), Henry Hongo (17:47 at Woodward Park), Wyeth Coulter (2:02.95) and Raiden Meyer (2:05.31). A wildcard for University is Marco DaCunha (10:09.71), an impressive rising sophomore who played Soccer last year but might make the switch to XC in the fall. Sonoma Academy will be led by Caleb Richards (4:35/9:54.28) along with Joey Johnson (4:43.95), and rising sophomore Kheva Mann (4:45). Danny Aldridge will once again coach at SA which gives them one of the top coaches in the section. Athenian will have their own dominant runner in rising junior Dawson Reckers (4:24.02/9:40.54). He will solid depth behind him with Anthony Ottati (4:46.25/9:50.68), Connor Ottati (5:10.14), Jeremy Lahr (5:00.94), Ira Norton-Westbrook (4:48.70).

The favorite for the individual title should be Cooper Teare of St. Joseph Notre Dame. He has been a top tier runners since his freshman season and continued to improve during this past Track and Field season. He will be challenged by fellow BCL East runners Alex Glavin and Dawson Reckers. Henry Fleming and CJ Dowd. Caleb Richards will be the best runner from outside the BCL and won't be afraid to join the lead pack on the Hayward course.

Division V Boys (Top 5 Advance to State)
1) Marin Academy-In the hunt for their first section crown on the boys side.
2) Lick-Wilmerding-Deepest team in this division with very solid sophomore class.
3) St. Joseph ND-Following 4 straight NCS titles, they are an underdog once again.
4) College Prep-Much improved team following terrific track season.
5) University-A team on the rise that can break into top 3.
6) Athenian-Program on the rise but will be dealing with a coaching change.
On the bubble:  Head RoyceRoseland University PrepSonoma AcademyStuart HallUrban

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) and 2014 NCS meet time:

Cooper Teare (2) St. Joseph ND 15:55
Dawson Reckers (4) Athenian 16:26
Caleb Richards (5) Sonoma Academy 16:26
Henry Fleming (7) Marin Academy 16:30
Alex Glavin (8) College Prep 16:34

Comments? Feel free to chime in the section below.

Monday, August 03, 2015

2015 Pre-Season North Coast Section (NCS) Division II Cross Country Rankings

Courtesy of Northgate HS Cross Country coach, Peter Brewer (left), you can find his handy work at this LINK.

Comments? Express yourself below in the comment section.

Popular Posts