Monday, March 28, 2016

Stanford Track and Field Invitational Preview

Later this week, I will post a preview of the high school events at the upcoming Stanford Invitational this weekend. For now, here is all the pertinent information.

Stanford Invitational Schedule
Stanford Invitational High School Accepted Entries
Stanford Invitational High School Information

One of my contentions with the Stanford Invitational is that the best competitors don't always end up in the same heats due to the entry times. I can only hope that that fastest runners will race each other but keep in mind that some of the faster times/performances may come out of the "slower" heats. For now, who are the favorites in the running events? What teams are going to win the relay races (400, 1600 and DMR)? What is going to be the most competitive event? 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The distance events look stacked, the mile and 3,000 will be barn burners, with Madera South's Herrera and Villar joining a good crop of the best of Northern California. Wonder how recent Colorado commit Herrera will fair after an incredible double at the Azusa Pacific MOC where he ran a 4:04.95 Mile (good for 3rd place) followed up by a 9:02.95 3,200? Depending on who doubles up, the boys DMR should be a great race, I would expect to see Davis, Bellarmine, Armijo, Madera South and Jesuit near the front of the pack. The girl's mile should be one to watch, with Christina Aragon leading a strong field. Unfortunate that Rylee Bowen, Fiona O'Keeffe and Cooper Teare are missing this one.

Anonymous said...

How do you know who is running in the relay races like the DMR? Do the teams have to declare at some time before the race? If not, how can you handicap the race?

Anonymous said...

Stanford says it will verify times, but one girl got in the mile with a best of 5:18 1600 (and 4:58 1500, which is about equivalent), while two of our girls with 5:08-5:09 1600s this season and last did not get in. That's frustrating. I wonder if they thought her 1500 was a 1600?

Unknown said...

Stanford Track Invite is always an interesting meet...1) Because many kids don't go big there since Arcadia is the following weekend & 2) Because of 1) many of the distance kids run in different events than their specialty since again Arcadia is the following weekend...So I always enjoy Stanford as just a meet, not a BIG EVENT...And it's fun to watch the college races too! This is unlike Stanford XC Invite since in XC it's early on in the season so athletes do tend to use it as a showcase so they do GO BIG there...Either way, ENJOY!!! :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with a previous poster. Every year I go through who got in after one of my runners does not get in only to be frustrated that people got in with slower times, or like is said, a 1500 time. I conclude that Stanford doesn't care. But to kids who have faster times, they do care. The entries have a notes section, I don't believe they read the notes. I entered a full mile time and made a note of it. Didn't get in even though the conversion was faster than others 1600 time. Only thing a coach can do is stop sending athletes to the meet. I'm about there.

Anonymous said...

With things like a DMR, you don't know, since the kids that would make a successful one are obviously outstanding individual performers in open events. I feel the following teams will do well in the DMR because of their outstanding depth in the distance events. You don't need a state finalist in the 400 or even 800 to have a good DMR, but you do need to get top performances from your 1,600 and 1,200 legs to really compete. Davis has Vernau, Browning, Borowitz and Hall, Madera South has Herrera, Villar and Ochoa, Jesuit has Kurdy, Holland and Jones, Armijo has Grijalva, Wahid and Woodson, Bellarmine has Beaudoin-Rousseau, Avila, Doblar (or another dozen or so they could throw in). There just aren't that many teams with the depth of the above mentioned ones. At the end of the day it's who shows up, but as Lalo Herrera of Madera South and Vernau of Davis have shown, they are more than capable of running two ridiculous races in the same day.

Anonymous said...

What is a good time for the 1200? That's not a regular distance. Do you have your best 800 or best 1600 guy run that leg?

Albert Caruana said...

I think since the 1200 is the first leg, as a coach, you want to put your most solid runner leading off. Whether that is your 800 or 1600 runner is going to depend on who else you have to run your other legs. I would say sub 3:10 to 3:15 is a very good leg and should have you near the front.

Coach Tim said...

The thing to remember about Stanford meets (including xc) is that they're college meets first, and they also offer high school races. Their process isn't going to be the same as a pure high school meet, because we're not their first/only priority. I would venture to guess that their verification process is exclusionary (Who can we weed out to get down to our posted number?), whereas a meet like CCS Top 8 is inclusionary (Did this kid really hit this mark so I can include him?). And it's their sandbox, so their rules. It's really frustrating when an athlete doesn't get in ahead of athletes with slower times (happened to two of mine this year), but it's also really special when they do get to have the experience.

I can relate to the previous poster mentioning being almost ready to stop sending athletes there, but there isn't really a good replacement for the professional manner in which the meet is run (re: clerking, etc.). It's a great benefit for section- and state-bound athletes to have that experience before the championship season.

Anonymous said...

I am the distance coach at Del Oro (Kevin Ostenberg). This is my 30th year. Our four senior boys were not accepted into the DMR and did not get to race today. They were entered at 10:59 because that is what they had run and I refuse to lie. Based on fitness I believe they would have run 10:52. That would have meant nothing to anybody else but running at Stanford would have meant the world to them. Seven teams ran slower than 10:59 and eleven slower than the 10:52 I project we would have run. Congratulations to those coaches that got their teams in. I obviously have a lot to learn from you.

Coach Tim said...

One of the contributing factors to the DMR is that Stanford has that clause in their rules regarding no shows - if an athlete fails to show for an event, you're blacklisted forever. In a different meet, if my top guy gets accepted into the mile, 3k, and DMR, I'll probably pull him from one of the three. But at Stanford, he's got to be there or I'm out of the meet forever. Perhaps they should accept a few alternates for those three events, and allow coaches to scratch at the clerk to avoid the penalty.

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess we'll see next year about the "Blacklisted" theory. Since they don't seem to verify marks, I doubt they will blacklist anyone.
Taking a look at the "finishers" of the boys and girls distance events.
Girls Mile: 28 finished
Girls 3k: 29 finished
Boys mile: 32 finished
Boys 3k: 28 finished

According to the info sheet, there were to be 36 entries. So either they didn't let in 36, or there were scratches. I like the idea of being blacklisted. But not sure they will. But I get it, their meet, their rules.

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