Monday, October 17, 2016

HOKA ONE ONE Postal Nationals - NorCal Flagship

For one day only, we're stepping away from the hills and dirt and (hopefully!) rain, and toeing the track to see how your team measures up with others all across the country. For one day only, it's all about 8(and change!) fast laps around the track!

Regardless if you're a JV runner who's season just ended or putting final prep into your legs before the CIF State Championships, the HOKA ONE ONE Postal Nationals is for you. Like other big XC Invites, you'll be competing against a couple hundreds of your closest friends. Like other big T&F Invites, you'll be seeded by times, so that you get to race against those in similar fitness to you. And like every XC race, it's a team thing. That's right, the times of your top 5 athletes will be totaled, so you can compare your team against teams all over the country.
As far as the meet itself, we're looking to end around 8:30pm, so the exact start time is TBD, depending on entries. Tentatively we're looking to start around 4pm, but there will be a better estimate as we get closer to race day. Heats will run slower to faster, so the meet is a constant buildup to the fastest 8(and change!) lappers around. There will also be a community/coaches race, with on-site registration, so that your athletes can watch you coaches and their long-graduated teammates try to relieve their glory days on the oval.
All entries are to be done on Athletic.net, so that we can easily seed heats ahead of time. A full schedule with entries will be posted by Wednesday before the meet. All athletes will be accepted. Cost per team (unlimited entries) is $100, with individual entries being $15 for those smaller schools wishing to bring athletes. All payments will be done on site, with checks being made payable to Maria Carrillo Puma Athletics Boosters.
The entry cost is $100 per team or $15 per individual.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why would any coach want to do this leading into championship season? Does it help or detract from the team?

Albert Caruana said...

Most NCS schools get 2 weeks between their league championship meet and the North Coast Section meet. What would you think would be more taxing? A 3 mile/5k cross country race or a 2 mile race on the track?

Anonymous said...

This is a very strange season so far with most teams being lightly raced. This is why a lot of the current rankings are tough to do and not necessarily predictive of the league and section finals. The only question is what happened to the season and the team schedules to make it so strange? The toro fire? Stanford pushing back a week? Other?

Albert Caruana said...

From a coach in CCS, I can tell you those were two big factors in the scheduling this year.

Anonymous said...

Is this race open to high school athletes who are not running with their teams? For example, a track athlete who is not running cross country and wants to compete individually in this meet?

Hal Schulz said...

I think it's a good idea if you aren't burned out from racing all the other big meets. A short flat fast race leading up to the NCS shouldn't tire an athlete like a hilly 5k. Hopefully, it will get the athletes legs and mind ready for a faster pace. Brian Schulz and ElMolino will be there. I hope some of the other top runners will be there.

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