Monday, July 03, 2017

Central Coast Section Cross Country Pre-Season rankings

The time comparisons by Walt Van Zant will be posted during July at www.lynbrooksports.com. In the meantime, you can comment on any of the divisions (team and individuals) and share your thoughts.

Who are the best teams? Individuals? Rising stars? Top incoming freshmen? Anything else?

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reposted from other thread

CCS Teams:
D1: Bellarmine, Homestead, Paly
D2: St. Francis, Willow Glen, Lynbrook
D3: SI, SHC, Riordan (WCAL sweep)
D4: PG, Greenfield, Palma
D5: CSUS, Nuevo, York

Individuals:
ROBERT MIRANDA Menlo (HT 7/3 poster)
MEIKA BEAUDOIN-ROUSSEAU Bellarmine
ALEX SCALES Bellarmine
SHYAM KUMAR St. Francis
COLTON COLONNA St. Francis
ZACH WALKER Willow Glen
HENRY SAUL Paly (based on 3200M times)

Menlo XC/Track Coach said...

The Freshman Class in CCS will be pretty deep on the Girls side:

Issy Cairns - St Francis
Anna Weinrich - Harker
Lucy Lambert - SHP

there are a few more depending if they do decide to run XC...

On the boys side I can't wait to see how this season turns out with a very deep Junior Class from last year (Meika B-R, Alex Scales, Rob Miranda, Shyam Kumar, Jorge Estrella and Zach Walker) and with Colton Colonna, Henry Saul & Sam Lavorato as juniors, these boys have been very consistent throughout...and Jason Gomez might join the XC scene after a very successful Track season.

The RACE TO WATCH for this upcoming season will be the Boys WCAL League Finals as the Bells take on St Francis! With the top 2 of each team being up there in the top 4...it'll be up to the 3rd-5th runners for the League Title...maybe 6th?!?!?! And who said XC wasn't a TEAM sport?!?!?

Have a great summer Everyone & Best wishes during the Fall!

Anonymous said...

Div V soon?

Albert Caruana said...

Working on NCS Division V...will be out in the next couple of days.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Menlo Coach, the WCAL final at Crystal should be the race to watch. The other WCAL league meets may not tell the story since the schedule will likely dictate either Bell or SF, or both, rest their top 7. Does anyone know what freshman boys are likely to come in to the CCS and make an immediate impact? There are a few teams that are 1 guy away from breaking out and a solid frosh could make all the difference.

Anonymous said...

From the South Bay, I would also add to Menlo Coach's CCS Freshmen girls list:

Jaqueline Chang - Cupertino
Teia Chou - Homestead

DVHS Distance said...

Will the NCS D1 pre-season rankings be posted soon?

Albert Caruana said...

There you go.

NCS Division I girls
1) Dougherty Valley
2) Castro Valley
3) James Logan
4) California
5) Berkeley
6) Freedom
7) Pittsburg
8) Deer Valley

NCS Division I Boys
1) Dougherty Valley
2) Castro Valley
3) Berkeley
4) James Logan
5) California
6) Pittsburg
7) Freedom
8) Deer Valley

Hank said...

1 Peattie. Colin 8 Fisher 4:37.32 (so Los Gatos?)
2 Kevin Andrews 8 Egan 4:46.27 (so Mt View?)

1 Jacqueline Chang 8 Hyde 5:28.23 (Cupertino HS?)
2 Pannell. Viveca 8 Fisher 5:39.35 (Los Gatos HS?)

1 Adams, Makenna 8 Rolling Hill 5:36.49 (Los Gatos?)

1 Cairns, Isabelle 8 Pinewood 2:21.29 (Pinewood HS?)

hank

vvvv said...

Do you mind compiling the individual rankings as well?
Thank you.

Rob Collins said...

Azalea Groleau will be a incoming freshman at SLV! She has ran 800m in 2:21, 1600m 5:12 and 3200m 11:05! In 7th grade she ran 800m 2:23 and the 1600m in 5:17.15. Extremely talented runner who's not afraid to push herself! She has broken a very impressive school records held by some great SLV runners at SLV Middle school over the last 3 years!

vvvv said...

Sorry to bother, but do you happen to have any time to post the individual rankings for D1 like you did for the other schools?

Anonymous said...

Top 10 CCS D1 returners using 5k times from last year:

1) 15:09.70 MEIKA BEAUDOIN-ROUSSEAU
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
2) 15:14.10 ALEX SCALES
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
3) 15:54.90 HENRY SAUL
Palo Alto High School (CC)
4) 15:58.30 LUKE PINKEL
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
5) 16:06.30 JORGE ESTRELLA
Andrew P. Hill High School (CC)
6) 16:10.30 OWEN MACKENZIE
Los Altos High School (CC)
7) 16:12.90 NEERAV GADE
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
8) 16:14.50 MAXIMILIANO CHAVEZ
Cupertino High School (CC)
9) 16:16.60 SAM CRAIG
Palo Alto High School (CC)
10) 16:19.60 ROSS D'ORFANI
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)

Anonymous said...

In the D2 post above, #7 is from Westmont which moves to D3 this season. Move everyone from 8-10 up one and insert the new #10 below. As you can see, the SF/WG battle will continue deep into 2017. Should be fun!

10) 16:20.00 MUSTAFA ABDALLA
Willow Glen High School (CC)

Anonymous said...

CCS D2 returners using 5k from last year (corrected):

1) 15:29.10 COLTON COLONNA
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
2) 15:36.50 SHYAM KUMAR
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
3) 15:38.10 ZACH WALKER
Willow Glen High School (CC)
4) 15:56.70 NICK DINSDALE
Willow Glen High School (CC)
5) 15:57.90 DANIEL SKAHILL
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
6) 16:07.00 BRANDON GUTIERREZ
North Salinas High (CC)
7) 16:07.70 NAREN KARUR
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
8) 16:19.80 ANTONIO MACABANTAD
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
9) 16:20.00 MUSTAFA ABDALLA
Willow Glen High School (CC)
10) 16:28.80 DANIEL FREES
Mountain View High School (CC)

Anonymous said...

What about predictions for each league meet? Individual and team winners.
MBL
MTAL
PAL
PSAL
SCCAL
SCVAL
WBAL
WCAL

Anonymous said...

MBL:San Benito, Salinas High, Alisal
MTAL: Pacific Grove, Greenfield, Carmel
PAL: Carlmont, Mills, Aragon
PSAL: Nueva
SCCAL: Aptos, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley
SCVAL: Homestead, Cupertino, Palo Alto
WBAL: CSUS, Kings Academy, Eastside College Prep
WCAL: St Francis, Bell, SI

Anonymous said...

MBL(Gabilan) Brandon Gutierrez...San Benito
MBL(Pacific) Sam Lavorato........Palma
MTAL(MTAL) Jake Alt............Pacific Grove
MTAL(Coastal) Adam Shapiro........York
PAL Ryan Wilson.........Carlmont
PSAL Caleb Dittmar.......Nueva
SCCAL Chris Anderson......Aptos
SCVAL(EC) Henry Saul..........Los Altos(returning 6, paly only returning 3)
SCVAL(DAL) Gabe Rosado.........Homestead
WBAL Robert Miranda......Crystal Springs
WCAL Meika B-R...........St.Francis/Bellarmine(can't decide yet)
BVAL Zach Walker.........Willow Glen

Changes?

Anonymous said...

For SCVAL DAL - Rosado had a superb freshman year with a very strong season finish. Teammate Ryan Ma seemed to have some apparent health issues and did not finish as strong. Overall Ma is a stronger runner (800: 2:00.93 1600:4:21.55 this past track season) compared to Rosado (800: 2:06.49 1600: 4:30.94). I would give the edge to Ma over Rosado as a pre-season pick. Homestead can go 1-2 with these 2.

Anonymous said...

Can SJS have a thread as well? I feel as if is the forgotten NorCal section on this website with all the focus being on the CCS and NCS.

Anonymous said...

The WCAL Final will surely be an incredible race to watch. Bellarmine v St. Francis, along with 4 standouts (Meika, Scales, Kumar, Colona).
As of now, St. Francis seemed to have an impressive track squad- better than Bellarmine's. I believe St. Francis will win by a close margin. As for the individuals, I believe Scales will win, followed by Meika, Kumar, then Colona.

Top 7 returners (1600 times)
SF
10 Colton Colonna 4:18.46a
10 Daniel Skahill 4:28.20a
11 Shyam Kumar 4:28.24a
11 Naren Karur 4:28.68a
9 Juan Pablo Garcia 4:28.68a
10 Mason Elefant 4:30.78a
10 Eric Eng 4:32.34a

Bells
11 Alex Scales 4:13.39a
11 Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau 4:19.66a
11 Daniel LeClair 4:26.94a
10 Luke Pinkel 4:34.21a
10 Ross D'Orfani 4:36.06a
11 Charlie Logan 4:38.72a
10 Derek Cech 4:40.72a

Albert Caruana said...

I will have SJS rankings as well once the divisions are posted on the section website.

Anonymous said...

@1:52 any way you slice it: using 1600, 3200, 5k, or 3m results from last year, Bell and SF are neck and neck. It will come down to Bell relying on a great start from their top 2 over SF's top 2 (3 points vs. 7 points, BTW that is not certain) and SF relying on the 3,4,5 guys making up those 4 points. If either Kumar or Colonna can grab 2nd, then SF is almost assured of making up the 2 points. In a tie, the sixth man probably goes to SF. It is really that close between them. BTW, the reason it can be that close is that at least the first 10 finishers (5 scorers from each) are likely to finish before the first finisher from another school. That makes for some physically close racing and a lot of drama. Should be fun to watch.

Anonymous said...

It will not be a Bell/SF only in the top 10. I promise you that.

Anonymous said...

I feel like Willow Glen could really surprise this year. They are deep. With depth, any number of these guys could really break out. Plus, 7 on this list were freshmen. Coach Santamaria does a great job of getting the most from his alerted. Watch out for the Rams!

Returning runners (1600M times)

1. Zach Walker 4:18.28
2. Marco Dal Canto 4:28.77
3. Mustafa Abdalla 4:32.27
4. Julio Cerda 4:34.41
5. Devon Nutti 4:36.14
6. Aidan Choy-Marshall 4:38.79
7. Nic Dinsdale 4:38.81
8. Alex Asch 4:43.90
9. Lucas Clark 4:44.90
10. J.T. Pappadakis 4:47.66
11. Seran Gemechu 4:48.27
12. Joshua Grzymala 4:49.28
13. Nathan Koketsu 4:50.24
14. James Wilkinson 4:52.13
15. Julian Virrhueta 4:53.32

Anonymous said...

@6:14 I hope you are right but the data do not reflect your promise. Below are the returning 5k times. The Crystal times tell a similar story. And these times don't reflect a few rising soph guys who had breakout track performances. Paulbitski or an unknown freshman is the best chance to break up the Bell/SF sweep. Let's hope that happens.

1 15:09.70 MEIKA BEAUDOIN-ROUSSEAU
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
2 15:14.10 ALEX SCALES
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
3 15:29.10 COLTON COLONNA
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
4 15:36.50 SHYAM KUMAR
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
5 15:57.90 DANIEL SKAHILL
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
6 15:58.30 LUKE PINKEL
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
7 16:07.70 NAREN KARUR
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
8 16:12.90 NEERAV GADE
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
9 16:19.60 ROSS D'ORFANI
Bellarmine College Prep (CC)
10 16:19.80 ANTONIO MACABANTAD
St. Francis Mountain View (CC)
11 16:35.50 TREVOR PAULBITSKI
Archbishop Riordan (CC)

Anonymous said...

@6:07, what is so bad about sf/bells sweeping?

Anonymous said...

@11:13 there is nothing bad for the two dominant teams but it is not great for the league Overall. Greater parity among the teams would push everyone forward, especially on the track during duel meets. Right now, the distance races are treated more like training days because Bell and SF have so much depth at every level. Looking at the FS classes, it doesn't look like anything is going to change in the next 2 years, with a slight edge to SF over Bell developing.

Albert Caruana said...

Edited from a earlier poster.

There are kids who were hurt last year in addition to younger runners who are going to be in the mix. Never said it was bad, just saying that at league finals it is not going to happen. Here's my observation. SF is so obsessed with beating Bell and they will peak for this race and then lose in CCS. Willow Glen has to be loving this. Walker will be CCS champ in XC. Hit those intervals hard in July boys. First place at WCAL #1 is up for grabs!

Anonymous said...

@11:34 Interesting observation about peaking for League ahead of CCS but for veteran WCAL watchers that is nothing new, especially on the track. With a ridiculous 2 auto spots up for grabs in the WCAL, at league finals distance runners are peaking not only for position but for nailing the CCS AL time, with two weeks of CCS meets in front of them. As for being obsessed with winning, I would hope every team and every league would have the same level of competition and desire to win as these two teams. Isn't that what they run all those miles for anyway?

Anonymous said...

Considering 6 WCAL teams took 8 team spots in D 1-3, I'd be surprised if nailing the CCS AL time was much of a concern. With SF and Bellarmine the clear favorites, everyone else just has to run a solid race, and get ready for CCS.

Anonymous said...

Willow Glenn to Saint Francis is the Utah Jazz to the Chicago Bulls, the Cincinnati Bengals to the 49ers... A qualified adversary worthy of respect, but destined to their shadow...

Anonymous said...

@4:33 as the dad of a St. Francis runner, I can tell that the boys do indeed respect Willow Glen and in no way take their rivalry for granted. CCS coming down to a tie breaker 6th man last year is all you need to know about how close the two teams are in both talent and drive. Nothing will change that at CCS and State this year. Rivalries like Bell vs SF, and WG vs SF is what everyone should hope for and is what makes the boys better competitors.

Albert Caruana said...

From another poster. I just edited out some unnecessary name calling.

Hey people. Enough with the Bell vs St. Francis talk, let's talk about the WCAL D3 dominance. You have three programs (Riordan, SI, SHC) just dominating the field and destroying all these other public schools. I don't see in the future (except possibly Aptos) any other school overtaking one of these schools for CIF State Meet spots. SI has already been established and dominant, SHC has incredible coaching (ala Shannon Rowburry), and Riordan has brought unforeseen success out of literally nowhere (was the second best team for the past two years in D3). I understand Bell vs SF, but look at the SF WCAL schools.

Anonymous said...

The WCAL D3 schools will be very competitive at the state level. An early poster picked them to sweep the CCS so I think they do get respect. Albert, keep in the name calling (unless it's about a particular kid). A little trash talk is what XC needs.

Anonymous said...

Let's just remember that the SF section might not be so weak if most of their kids weren't in D3 CCS.

Anonymous said...

Why is everyone so interested in WCAL? It seems like we have some WCAL parents/athletes/coaches looking for attention.

Seriously, there seems to be no talk at all for the other leagues, even SCVAL or BVAL.

Anonymous said...

All are welcome to join in. Someone should start a conversation about the other leagues. A lot of emphasis is placed on WCAL right now because they have the better teams. That is not to say there aren't other good teams in the CCS (Willow Glen) and other fantastic individuals in other leagues. I am just happy that people are discussing the prospects of the teams without falling back into the old tired public vs. private arguments. I think Homestead is gong to have a good year, as well as the previously mentioned WG and Paly. I also think the WBAL is going to have one of their better years for individuals, especially those in D4 and D5. Others?

Anonymous said...

What happened to the PAL?

Anonymous said...

Collin Pettie will attend Bellarmine.

MV Moose said...

I took the 2016 CCS results, removed the Seniors, then rescored the meet. With the exception of Monta Vista, all teams in the "new" top 20 had five or more returning CCS competitors. For Monta Vista, I took the time of their 8th runner at leagues and plugged it in. As we all know, a single freshman can greatly improve a teams outlook, and this ranking cannot take that into account.
1 Aptos
2 St. Francis
3 Santa Cruz
4 Homestead
5 Mountain View
6 Gunn
7 Valley Chr.
8 Monta Vista
9 St. Ignatius
10 Presentation
11 Los Gatos
12 Palo Alto
13 San Benito
14 Scotts Valley
15 Soquel
16 Carmel
17 Menlo School
18 Lynbrook
19 Menlo-Atherton
20 Carlmont
A couple of thoughts: Willow Glen's #1 had a bad day at CCS, they could be on this list if I adjusted her time to be closer to her other times during the season. SLV, although they finished 8th last year, only has four returning runners and I couldn't find any results to plug in that moved them up much - a frosh on their team this fall could move them way up.
Nueva finished 12th last year and likewise has only four returning runners and I couldn't find any results that move them into the top 20.

MV Moose said...

I did the same with the boys...
1 Bellarmine
2 St. Francis
3 Willow Glen
4 Homestead
5 Los Altos
6 Cupertino
7 Sacred Ht. Cath
8 Santa Teresa
9 Pacific Grove
10 Lynbrook
11 Riordan
12 Half Moon Bay
13 Greenfield
14 Crystal Springs
15 Monta Vista
16 S.L.V.
17 Mitty
18 Los Gatos
19 St. Ignatius
20 Palo Alto
Everyone past #11 (HMB and below) have fewer than five returning runners. I somewhat arbitrarily ranked them based on the position of their returners, e.g HMB is returning 1, 2, 3, and 5; so is only losing a single scoring runner - PA loses all but #2.
Note: Using my formula, Bells score 80, SF scores 82, then WG is way back with a score of 224.

Anonymous said...


If Colin Peattie is going to attend Bellarmine, that could be
a game changer for Bellarmine.
Peattie was the National JO Champion in cross-country, and had
a fantastic track season.
He could definitely break into the top 5 at Bellarmine as a freshman,
and potentially as high as #3 if he stays healthy.

Anonymous said...

Why do some of these middle schoolers train so hard? It won't make them any faster later on and it is just gonna be demoralizing to barely improve. I have heard of success stories of people starting as late as junior year

Anonymous said...

@10:09 I think you will find that many of the elite MS runners come in with a lot less training than you imagine. Usually there is plenty of room for them to grow. They just measure their success in seconds not minutes, and in the ability to move up the rankings, make it to CCS and State, etc. Sure, there are many kids who start running in HS and do very well but so many of the kids who excel have already identified their talent in MS. The key is to bring these kids along slowly and not burn them out by the time they are Juniors and Seniors. That has a lot to do with their MS coach and, more importantly for the elite guys, their club coach's philosophy.

MV Moose said...

@10:11am
Are you saying that the elite guys (gender neutral term?) usually have club coaches? Otherwise, I think your response to @10:09pm is spot on.

Anonymous said...

@MV Moose, a lot of the young elite guys and girls are in running clubs mainly because there are only a few school races during the season and the JOs, Footlocker, and other "off season" races are not associated with schools. So, yes most of them have club coaches.

Hank said...

http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/XC/2017/comparsn.htm

Walt VanZant came up with his CCS "Comparisons".

hank

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