Top Returning Track and Field Marks for Redwood Empire

Thanks to Jim Crowhurst and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, you can now view the top returning marks for all running and field events in the Redwood Empire.

What is the Redwood Empire you might ask?
"What we will be calling the Redwood Empire will include only the three High School leagues that compete in this area. They include the North Bay League (Mostly 3A schools), Sonoma County League (2A) and the Coastal Mountain Conference (1A)."

•Top Returning Track & Field Marks for 2008

Matt Duffy makes college decision (in his own words).

I have verbally committed and have also been granted admission to Brown University for the fall of 2008. The choice to move away from home and attend school on the east coast involved many factors. The main thing I looked for was a place that I would feel comfortable without running. I know I will spend a lot of time and energy studying in addition to pursuing my athletic dreams. Before I committed, I ensured that I could be successful athletically there and that academically I wouldn't fall through the cracks, the 97% graduation rate cleared me of any second thoughts I may have had. Another thing I had to clear was financial aid, in the beginning of the process I received a pre-read of my financial aid and they estimated that I would have to pay about 50% of the projected cost of college(tuition, room and board, books, fees, travel and personal). At that point I had almost given up on attending an Ivy League school but I decided to write an appeal letter which resulted in me only having to pay about 25% of the projected cost of college. When I realized I had this unique and rare opportunity I had to make the decision between Columbia and Brown. This decision weighed heavily on my shoulders for a few weeks until I decided on where I would truly be happy, and that was Brown University. As my final track season approaches I am excited to look at it as a launching pad into collegiate running and I wish everyone in the NCS good luck, may there be many PR's! GO BROWN BEARS!

-Matt Duffy (Photo courtesy of Joe Hartman and www.dyestatcal.com)

If you would like to announce your college of choice for next year, please email me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com

The Supermilers (1 of 5)

If you have never seen this great documentary, it is now up on youtube in five parts which I posted on here. They are courtesy of one of the best Track and Field posters on youtube, 1981aLaN.

The Supermilers (2 of 5)

The Supermilers (3 of 5)

The Supermilers (4 of 5)

The Supermilers (5 of 5)

U.S. Indoor Championships on ESPN2 (2-4pm)

•Official Meet Website

From the television preview:
Live, The U.S. Indoor Championships, from the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. The top two eligible finishers in each event qualify for the World Indoor meet in Valencia, Spain.

Central Coast Section Track and Field Preview

The preview is courtesy of Pioneer Track and Field coaches Darrin Garcia and Archie Ljepava. They do a great job taking a peak at every event (running and field) for both boys and girls. You can find the link on www.lynbrooksports.com or go directly to the link below:

•CCS Track and Field Preview

Nice article about Petaluma coach Jim Lynch

Paramedic Jim Lynch is a track and cross-country coach at Petaluma High

Thursday, Feb 21, 2008

By JOHN JACKSON
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF WRITER

In his work Jim Lynch saves lives; in his avocation he teaches life. Lynch is a paramedic who doubles as cross country and track coach at Petaluma High School.

In his coaching mode, he teaches as much about the importance of hard work, integrity and teamwork as he does about technique.

To say his approach has been successful would be an understatement. This season’s Petaluma boys cross country team not only dominated Redwood Empire distance running, winning the Sonoma County League and North Coast Section championships, but it went on to become the first Redwood Empire boys team ever to reach the podium at a state meet, finishing second. Last spring, in his first year as head track coach, Lynch’s Trojan boys won the Sonoma County League championship.

Lynch never grew up or prepared to be a coach. He was raised in Terra Linda and graduated from Terra Linda High School. After high school he attended College of Marin before switching to the Stanford pre-hospital care program.

To read the entire article, check out the following link from the Argus Courier:

•Saving lives and teaching life

Team USA/Jacque Taylor

From her proud dad (and rightfully so). Another great achievement for one of the finest runners in NCS history:

Jacque competed in the USA Cross Country Championships this pass weekend (6K) in San Diego and ran a incredible race to qualify for Team USA (Junior Team). A field of than 170 athletes representing 16 national federations will compete on March 1st at the fourth annual North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida. The NACAC Championships will contest races for the open men's 8 km, open women's 6 km, junior men's 6 km and junior women's 4 km. Jacque will be running representing the USA. Jacque will receive her Team USA uniform this week (COOL)... we will keep you all informed as everything progresses..

Go Team USA, Jim

•http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/NACACXCChampionships

More about Jacque from Joe Hartman:

Jacque Taylor took off her Santa Rosa Express uniform for one race and raced for the Buffalo Chips Running Club of Sacramento at the US Cross Country Nationals in San Diego. We know she's very very good, but we were still surprised by this race. She snuck into the top ten in a very strong albeit small field in the Junior Women's race and took 8th place!! She was asked to be on the US national team at the NACAC race which is against North and Central American teams in Orlando on March 1st. It's like a pre-world meet that the US has to qualify for to go to Scotland.... runners 1 through 6 in San Diego get to go to Scotland and race at worlds on March 30th. So anyhow below is the press release from the race. She also became a team national champion with the Buffalo Babes as the girls won pretty easily against 5 other teams. Thanks for any coverage.

Joe Hartman
Buffalo Babes
•http://www.eteamz.com/buffalobabes

Running From Despair

Great article from the New York Times featuring native american cross country runners.

•Running From Despair

Tyson Invitational on TV (ESPN)

You can check out the Tyson Invitational Indoor Track and Field meet right now (2pm-4pm) on ESPN. If you completely missed the meet, it will be replayed on February 24th on ESPN2, also starting at 2pm.

All Empire Teams (with pictures)

This was posted earlier this month but now the following links include pictures of most runners that were selected to be part of the All Empire teams in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

Check out the following links for the boys and girls teams:
•2007 All-Empire Boys
•2007 All-Empire Girls

Most Extreme (and inspiring) Race

I just discovered your blog and thought you (and the lovely readers of Cross Country Express) might be interested in hearing about one of the world's most extreme (and inspiring) races, the Mt. Cameroon Race for Hope, happening this Sunday the 17th of February.

This marathon-length race traverses over 10,000 vertical feet up a live volcano, one of the tallest on the African continent. The racers, mostly local farmers, compete for the equivalent of four years' salary, but to win they must overcome altitude sickness, temperature fluctuations of 50 degrees, and loose volcanic rock— many wearing only plastic sandals.

Runners/filmmakers Steve Dorst and Dan Evans just released a beautiful film about the race, called Volcanic Sprint, focusing particularly on the story of Sarah Etonge, winner of the women's race in the last 5 out of 7 years and a 39 year old, single mother of 7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Etonge). She is known locally as the "Queen of the Mountain." The filmmakers are presently back in Cameroon shooting the 2008 race and donating 400 running shoes to the local athletes with their charity partner Soles4Souls.

If this strikes a chord, I'd love for one of you to write about the film (www.volcanicsprint.com) on your blog and/or post the trailer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =F_YTDBqxd_Y) to help spread the word to the ever-more-connected international running community.

Kate (runner from DC)

P.S. If you're interested in digging deeper, I've posted some additional links below:

You and your readers can help spread the word about Volcanic Sprint:

• Filmmakers Steve Dorst and Dan Evans hope to make more films like this: stories that you won't find anywhere else!
• Buy a Volcanic Sprint DVD. At $19.99, it's a great gift for any runner. You may even want to get your friends together and host a screening party!
• Let us know when you post about Volcanic Sprint, and we'll link back to your blog from http://www.volcanicsprint.com/partners.
• Our charity partner, Soles4Souls, is donating 400 pairs of running shoes to the athletes at this year's Mt. Cameroon Race. We are donating 5% of DVD sales to Soles4Souls and hope to make an even bigger donation next year.

For more information, visit:

• About Volcanic Sprint: www.volcanicsprint.com
• About Soles4Souls: www.soles4souls.com
• Volcanic Sprint trailer: http://www.volcanicsprint.com/trailer/
• Soles4Souls-Volcanic Sprint partnership trailer: http://soles4souls.org/volcanicsprint.htm
• Press release on Soles4Souls-Volcanic Sprint partnership: www.volcanicsprint.com/pressRelease.pdf
• Endorsements of film by elite American runners: http://www.volcanicsprint.com/partners/
• Director's Statement by Volcanic Sprint Producer Steve Dorst: http://www.volcanicsprint.com/story/directors_statement.pdf
• Volcanic Sprint photos with captions: http://picasaweb.google.com/dorstmediaworks/VolcanicSprint (click "Slideshow" on top left to watch slideshow. To download high-resolution photos, click on the photo you want, then click "Download Photo" on right).

For interviews, contact:

• Producers of Volcanic Sprint, in Washington, DC, 202-530-0002: Steve Dorst (steve@dorstmediaworks.com) and Dan Evans (dan@dorstmediaworks.com).
• CEO/Founder of Soles4Souls, Wayne Elsey; elseyw@soles4souls.org, (866) 521-SHOE
• Head of the Fédération Camerounaise d'Athletisme, Ange Sama, Director of Mt. Cameroon Race: 011-237-95.29.11.67; fedecam_athletisme@yahoo.fr.
• Sarah Etonge, "Queen of the Mountain," and star of Volcanic Sprint. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Etonge, or contact Volcanic Sprint's Unit Producer, Moki Charles: 011-237-99.91.03.99 or moki_charles@yahoo.co.uk.

CA High School Track and Field Sites

Below is a list of websites that will keep you abreast of the Track and Field scene in Northern California as well as a few more that should be visited daily.

•North Coast Section Website
•Central Coast Section Website
•San Joaquin Section Website
•San Francisco Section Website
•Oakland Section Website
•Northern Section Website

•California Interscholastic Federation

•Dyestatcal.com

•Lynbrooksports.com

•Flotrack.com

What other websites do you visit that are a must for high school athletes and coaches?

Runnerspace.com

If you are a runner and looking for a new site to visit, check out www.runnerspace.com

You can find training articles, videos, photos, blogs, results, motivation...etc etc.

Check it out.

All Empire Cross Country Teams announced

After a long arduous delay, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat finally announced their All Empire Teams. You can check out the 1st and 2nd teams for boys and girls, the two coaches of the year as well as the runners of the year.

All Empire Teams Link here

The Greatest Races: 5000 Meters

From the magazine Running Times, check out this great link to the author's (Roger Robinson) favorite 5000 Meter Olympic races at the following link:

The Greatest Races: 5,000 Meters

Looking back over a lifetime of watching Olympic distance races

Barry Spitz: Want to run in the 2008 Dipsea this summer? Get your registration plan ready

The 98th annual Dipsea race will take place once again this year on June 8th (always on the 2nd Sunday of June). For many local runners who have participated in this race, it is THE RACE. The history of this race includes runners and coaches from the North Coast Section including Marin Academy's Alesandra Roger, her coach Liz Fagan-Gottlieb (she had the fastest female time in 2007) and Casa Grande's Jacque Taylor (was the first high school finisher in 20th place), the black shirts (first 35 runners win the famed black shirts), the Dipsea Demon (the amazing Jack Kirk who ran the race each year from 1930 to 2002) as well as many other legendary runners who have run in this race. If you are interested in running in this race, you better get on the ball now and check out the following links on how to enter which includes the continuous coverage of the race by the Marin Independent Journal's Barry Spitz (Entering the race is NOT EASY):
•MIJ Article on how to enter the race

•Dipsea Official Website

•2008 Application Process

•Dipsea Race Course

The start of the 2008 Track and Field season

The official start of the NCS Track and Field season is this coming Monday. The CCS schools started this week. The San Joaquin Section begins on February 11th.

What are you most looking forward to this coming season? Any specific meets? Any matchups?

What is everybody's first race of the season?

Best of luck to all teams.