German Fernandez continues to AMAZE...

Stunning describes best what German Fernandez (pictured to the left by yours truly at the Artichoke Invitational as he torched the new course with a time that might last for a very long time) accomplished today at the California State Meet. Following his double at the SJS meet, predictions were made about what he could possibly run at the state meet but none of them came close to what he actually ran.

4:00.29 and 8:34.23!!

You can find videos of his races as well as all the other events at the following link:
http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=288&id=15905

He has a few more races left in his high school career. How much faster can he run when pushed?

Who as at the state meet or has seen videos of all the races? Best race of the day?

State Meet Coverage for Northern California

•Locals shine on big stage (San Mateo Daily News)

•CIF TRACK AND FIELD STATE MEET Bay Area storylines dot finals Henderson is 1st qualifier from S.F. Section in years (San Francisco Chronicle)

•Spencer looks at home with elite (San Mateo Times)

•Lodi high jumpers Ray Nikzat, Samantha Balentine leap into finals (Lodi-News Sentinel)

•Prep track: Marin contingent comes up just short at state (Marin Independent Journal)
•Mt. Pleasant's Thomas looks to rally in 100 finals (SJ Mercury News)
•Gordon, Quirke out strong at state track meet (SJ Mercury News)

•Vacaville's McMillan still in hunt for gold (Sacramento Bee)

•Campolindo vaulter in state finals (Contra Costa Times)
•De Anza's Rogers can breathe: He's in state finals (Contra Costa Times)

•Riverbank's Fernandez to shoot for state meet distance double (Modesto Bee)

More will be posted later.

CA State Meet Trials...

So any big surprises today besides the usual DQ's and dropped batons?

Who wants to offer some predictions for the Saturday finals? How many races will Northern California athletes take down?

Who will win between Fleet and Fernandez? Can either Derek Thomas or Sebastian Sam take down the 800m?

Newspaper articles covering today's trials will be posted tomorrow.

Clemente ends distinguished career

One of the best Cross Country/Track and Field coaches you may have never heard of is calling it a career as he is retiring after 34 years of teaching and coaching at Cunha MS. For many teams competing in CCS Division IV, one team that has been a consistent challenger for multiple CCS titles and state meet berths has been Half Moon Bay HS. Howard Clemente (pictured to the left) deserves a lot of the credit for HMB's success in cross country as he began the running careers of many of the Cougar runners.

You can read all about Clemente's final track meet at CSM at the following link:
Clemente ends distinguished career
Teacher, coach inspired thousands

Riverbank's Fernandez blisters distance field at section championships

Runner sets top 3,200 mark this season

By WILL DeBOARD
wdeboard@modbee.com

SACRAMENTO -- German Fernandez wanted to use the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at Friday's Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Track and Field Championships as a test.

The Riverbank High senior was hoping to compete well in both events, so that he'd be able to race them both again at next week's CIF State Meet.

He more than passed. He aced the course at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

To read the rest of this article, go to the following link:
•Riverbank's Fernandez blisters distance field at section championships

NCS Meet of Champions Coverage

•Livermore's George scores rare repeat NCS distance double

•NCS Track: St. Elizabeth's Purvis sisters prime for state spectacular

•Five H-DNC athlets head to state track meet

•Riggins: Fastest in North Coast (100m. winner)

•Taylor Duncan and Rebecca Cink heading to state track & field finals (Del Norte HS athletes)

•Prep track: Redwood duo qualify for state

•Runner picks up the pace (old article about Wyatt Landrum, Liberty winner of the 3200m. at MOC)

More to come as I find them.

NCS Results link

•NCS Meet of Champions Results
•Team Results

So those of you that were at the meet, what was the best race?

Let me throw out three races...

Boys' 1600m., boys' 200m., boys' 3200m... any others?

Section Coverage

Video coverage of all NCS races can be found at the following link:•NCS Meet of Champions Videos (courtesy of flotrack.com)

•CCS girls track and field championships: SLV's Johnson edges Aptos' Ferrante for 1,600 title (NEW)
• CCS TRACK He's finding his best field Top sport for Spencer isn't football

• NCS TRACK Carondelet sophomore hits the height Adrienne Johnson's 5-10 ties best state mark in high jump

•Spencer flies to 2 CCS titles

•Spencer leads locals at CCS boys track meet

•Mt. Pleasant's Thomas dominates at CCS

•Surprenant undeterred by wrist cast at CCS

•Jesuit High School clocks fast times in Masters Meet

•CCS boys track and field championships: Santa Cruz's Sanders, Aptos' Hunt advance

•Locals shine at CCS track meet

•CCS track and field championships: Aptos sends four to state meet, NMC gets one

•Prep Track: Drake's Cunnington vaults way to state meet

Pick the State Meet Qualifiers from NCS

Pick your top 4 for both girls and boys in the comment box below.

Event 17  Girls 3200 Meter Run
===============================================================================
Saturday 5/26/2007 - 3:38 PM
Sponsor: Les Schwab Tires
Top Four Qualify to State
National H.S:   9:48.59  5/24/1996   Kim Mortensen (Thousand Oaks, CA)        
 State Meet:   9:52.80  6/1/1996    Kim Mortensen (Thousand Oaks)            
    NCS MoC:  10:06.30  1978        Cheri Williams, Livermore HS             
          Name                        Year School                 Seed     Finals
===============================================================================
 1     66 sumpter, sarah                11 Healdsbrg/nc       11:21.13
 2    572 George, Diana                 11 Livermore/nc       11:23.19
 3     26 taylor, jacque                10 Casa Grnd/nc       11:24.74
 4    431 Raymond, Beth                 12 Washngtn/nc        11:32.75
 5    620 Houser, Kellie                11 Carondelt/nc       11:33.36
 6    621 Orders, Grace                  9 Campolndo/nc       11:36.15
 7    354 Santisteban, Kelsey            9 Castro Vy/nc       11:36.23
 8    618 Gregg, Abigail                11 Livermore/nc       11:42.32
 9    622 Smidebush, Anna               12 Concord/nc         11:43.81
10    429 Mitchel, Rachel               11 American/nc        11:45.80
11    355 Wummer, Elise                 10 Castro Vy/nc       11:46.30
12    427 Kearney, Samantha             12 Arroyo/nc          11:49.57
13    571 Smith, Rosie                  11 Cllg Prk/nc        11:51.04
14    430 Crinigan, Catherine           11 Irvington/nc       11:52.60
15    619 McVay, Elaine                  9 Calfrnia/nc        11:52.73
16    168 Davis, Michelle               12 San Rafl/nc        11:52.85
17    428 Spees, Kaitlyn                 9 B. O'Dowd/Nc       11:55.12
18    258 Furlong, Cecilia              12 Sn Frncsc/nc       11:55.71
19    171 Ripp, Kelsey                  12 San Rafl/nc        11:55.97
20    163 Schmitt, Caitlin              10 Redwood/nc         11:58.19
21     73 DiRado, Sarah                 11 Mra Crlo/nc        11:58.61
22     86 Fisher, Natalee               12 Marin Cth/nc       12:05.88
23    287 O'Connor, Morgan              12 Sn Frncsc/nc       12:19.70
24    286 de Souza, Alysha              12 Crystl Sp/nc       12:31.08

Event 18  Boys 3200 Meter Run
===============================================================================
Saturday 5/26/2007 - 3:55 PM
Sponsor: Les Schwab Tires
Top Four Qualify to State
National H.S:  8:41.10  5/13/2000   Dathan Ritzenhein (Rockford, MI)          
 State Meet:  8:44.9h  6/7/1975    Eric Hulst (Laguna Beach)                 
    NCS MoC:  8:58.50  1979        Rob Wentworth, Livermore HS               
          Name                        Year School                 Seed     Finals
===============================================================================
 1    627 Beach, Nate                   12 Acalanes/nc         9:24.52
 2    625 Landrum, Wyatt                11 Liberty/nc          9:26.84
 3    125 lockert, sterling             11 Petaluma/nc         9:36.10
 4    108 Olson, Erik                   10 Novato/nc           9:38.23
 5    624 Kanzaria, Bhavik              12 Monte Vst/nc        9:39.45
 6    623 Summers, Alex                 10 Granada/nc          9:40.08
 7    134 yungert, cole                 12 Petaluma/nc         9:41.38
 8    157 Kissin, Peter                 11 Redwood/nc          9:41.85
 9    628 Pulford, Robert               11 Campolndo/nc        9:41.94
10    626 Johnson, Eric                 12 DeLaSalle/nc        9:45.06
11    116 felipe, brandon               11 Petaluma/nc         9:46.31
12    289 Thomas, Skyler                11 Mendocino/nc        9:47.49
13     83 Williams, Grant               11 Mra Crlo/nc         9:47.67
14    629 Drosky, Greg                  12 Las Lomas/nc        9:47.90
15    121 griepenburg, bjorn            12 Petaluma/nc         9:48.55
16    288 Iglehart, Steve               11 Branson/ nc         9:51.49
17    424 Leng, Jack                    12 Castro Vy/nc        9:53.84
18    290 Ho, Victor                    12 Chinese Chrst/nc    9:54.88
19    421 Duffy, Matt                   12 St Mary's/nc        9:58.92
20    426 Synder, Austin                11 Berkeley/nc        10:00.57
21    423 Miller, Martin                12 Arroyo/nc          10:07.77
22    348 Borjon, Augie                 12 Newark M/Nc        10:08.09
23    425 Rich, Ben                     10 Washngtn/nc        10:08.30
24    422 Maxwell, Dan                  10 St Mary's/nc       10:08.37 

More newspaper articles as we head in Section Championships

Castro Valley junior surpasses father's footsteps

Seven Warriors qualify for Meet of Champions (high jump picture alone is worth a peek)

Eight track Dragons reach MOC after NCS Area efforts (Sonoma Valley High School)

Three Braves triumph at NCS track and field championships (Justin Siena HS)

Lawson clears yet another hurdle (St. Mary's Berkeley)

Castro Valley deposes Logan

Weiler, Quirke out to defend their titles at CCS track meet

Sizzling into finals (CCS athletes)

On top of her game (Tracy HS pole vaulter)

NCS and CCS Performance List and web page change alert

You can view all the NCS marks for Friday and Saturday (3200 and several field events) at the following link:
•NCS/Les Schwab Tires Meet of Champions Entries (tentative pending errors)

•CCS Entries and all marks from Semi-Finals

For those of you that visit Jim Crowhurst's page at the Press Democrat, the link to all his great stats have changed from www.pressdemocrat.com/running to www.northbay.com/running/

Anybody want to throw out any predictions for the NCS MOC??

Tons of Newspaper Coverage from this past weekend

•Davis Enterprise article

• CCS TRACK AND FIELD Spencer wins 3 events on hot Gilroy afternoon

• NCS TRACK AND FIELD Few surprises among best of the Bayshore

•Miller clears personal best, wins title (California Pole Vaulter, Justin Miller)

•Litwiller uses heat to win boys 1,600 meters

•Clear Lake's Green wins triple jump at Class A meet

•State meet steppingstone Roseville's Blair Wallingford seeks a Master-ful performance

•Preps Plus: Three Masters Meet athletes worth watching

•The heat is on (HollisterFreelance.com CCS Coverage)

•Running for respect at CCS

More to be posted as I find them. If you have any to share, please do so in the comments box below.

Northern California Section Results

•CCS Trials at Gilroy HS

•NCS Class A Meet at College of San Mateo (Complete results)

•NCS Redwood Empire at Rancho Cotate HS

•NCS Bayshore at Castro Valley HS

•Tri-Valley at Granada HS (qualifiers only)

•CIF-SJS Division I
•CIF-SJS Division II
•CIF-SJS Division III

More will be posted as I locate them.

Links to NCS and CCS meets this Saturday

Here are all the NCS Meets taking place today (Saturday) with the 24 advancers going on to the trials that take place next Friday at Cal Berkeley.

•NCS Class A Meet at College of San Mateo (top 3 advance to NCS MOC)

•Redwood Empire at Rancho Cotate HS (top 7 advance to NCS MOC)

•Bay Shore at Castro Valley HS (top 7 advance to NCS MOC)

•Tri-Valley at Granada HS (top 7 advance to NCS MOC)

As for CCS, everybody is at Gilroy HS with the advancers coming from the multiple heats there.

•CCS Semifinals at Gilroy HS (advancers noted for each event)

Filling a fast lane for San Francisco

I know this is not an article about Track and Field but it is by John Crumpacker who is one of the best Track and Field writers in our area. The article is about Ben Wildman-Tobiner who swam as a prep at Lick Wilmerding HS. I was still coaching swimming at the time and saw Ben compete throughout his HS career but I never fathomed that one day he would become a world champion.

You can view the article at the following link:
•Filling a fast lane for San Francisco

BCL Finals Results and Class A Meet Heats Posted online

You can find the results of the BCL Final from this past Saturday at Chabot College at:
BCL Final Results

You can find the heats and flights for this Saturday's NCS Class A Meet at CSM at the following link:
NCS Class A Meet Heats and Flights
(Top 3 athletes and relay teams advance from this meet will advance to the NCS MOC)

The meet programs for the 3 NCS area meets (Bay Shore, Redwood Empire and Tri-Valley) will be posted shortly. I will add those links as I get them.

Good luck to all participating athletes this Saturday. It's going to be HOT! Hydrate!

Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Newspaper Coverage

Pictures above are courtesy of Nathan Mollat and the SM Daily Journal

From the San Mateo Daily Journal
•Westmoor back on top
•M-A repeats as champs

From the San Mateo Daily News/Times (same article)
•Familiar team tops at PAL track and field
•Williams helps Westmoor pile up the points

Results from the 3 day meet are at the following links courtesy of www.recordtiming.com:
•Day 1
•Day 2
•Day 3

Dublin track star Attarian breaks foot

The bad news is that James Attarian has an injury that won't allow him to compete at the DFAL finals this week. The good news is that there is a good chance he would hardship through to the next meet. We'll see.

The following is from the Contra Costa Times and Phil Jensen.
"Dublin High School boys track and field star James Attarian will not be competing in the Diablo Foothill Athletic League championships this week due to a broken foot, he confirmed Tuesday.

Attarian broke the fifth metatarsal of his left foot while stepping on the inside rail to avoid a fallen competitor in the mile run at the Stanford Invitational on April 5. He proceeded to amazingly kick to a victory in 4 minutes, 15.76 seconds, a time which converted to 1,600 meters (4:14.27) is currently ranked sixth in the state by DyeStatCal.com.

Attarian competed in two more meets, including a third-place finish in the boys invitational mile at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational, before he realized that his foot was broken, he said. He then went to see a doctor, and he found out about the injury.

"When I found out it was broken, I was disappointed. It isn't something you want in the middle of your season," he said. "I can't run on it ... I just found out today I have to wait another two-and-a-half (weeks). The doctor said that in another two-and-a-half weeks, it should be good."

Attarian said that Dublin coach Mike Goldstein is presenting Attarian's case to the DFAL to see if Attarian can hardship through the league championship meet."

The link to the story is here:
•Dublin track star Attarian breaks foot

Caped Crusher collects

So which number is more impressive for the athlete to the left, a 4.75 GPA or a 1:56.8 800 meters?

Vintage cross country/track star Molinari nabs section scholarship

By MARTY JAMES, Executive Sports Editor

Dominic Molinari is pretty easy to spot on days that Vintage High School has a cross country race or track and field meet.

He’s the one wearing a burgundy and gold cape around campus.

“It’s just something that I’ve been doing since freshman year and is kind of a tradition,” Molinari said. “It keeps me in the spirit.”

Molinari lettered his first year at Vintage, but instead of purchasing a letterman’s jacket to wear to school and around town, he got creative and decided to show off his school pride by dressing up in a colorful cape on game days.

To read the rest of this article, check out the following link from the Napa Valley Register:
•Caped Crusher collects

Flanagan's Splits In Her American Record 10K

The following splits are from Shalane Flanagan's impressive run yesterday and they are courtesy of www.trackandfieldnews.com

Just amazing consistency for 25 laps.

Laps
69.6 [69.6]
74.5 [2:24.1]
72.9 [3:37.0]
73.8 [4:50.8]
73.4 [6:04.2]
73.8 [7:18.0]
74.1 [8:32.1]
73.9 [9:46.0]
74.0 [11:00.0]
74.5 [12:14.5]
72.9 [13:27.4]
73.7 [14:41.1]
72.5 [15:53.6]
74.5 [17:08.1]
74.5 [18:22.6]
73.3 [19:35.9]
73.2 [20:49.1]
74.8 [22:03.9]
73.3 [23:17.2]
74.1 [24:31.3]
74.6 [25:45.9]
73.4 [26:59.3]
73.1 [28:12.4]
72.8 [29:25.2]
69.3 [30:34.49]

average: 73.38

Kilos
3:00.7 [3:00.7]
3:03.5 [6:04.2]
3:04.9 [9:09.1]
3:05.4 [12:14.5]
3:02.9 [15:17.4]
3:05.2 [18:22.6]
3:04.3 [21:26.9]
3:04.4 [24:31.3]
3:04.5 [27:35.8]
2:58.7 [30:34.49]

average: 3:03.46

Halves
15:17.4/15:17.1

Rowbury On Olympic Pace

Another notable Bay Area alumni effort goes to Shannon Rowbury (formerly of Sacred Heart Cathedral and Duke University) who won the fast heat of the women's 1500. She just missed the A standard of 4:07.00.

The link to the story in the San Francisco Chronicle is here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/04/SPQH10GQ8A.DTL

Chico State's Bauhs sets Division II record in 10,000

From the Chico Enterprise Record (www.chicoer.com)
The following is the complete article and the link is listed below. Great run by Scott Bauhs of Chico yesterday at the Payton Jordan Invitational to break the Division II record at the 10000 meter distance.

Chico State junior Scott Bauhs broke the NCAA Division II record for the 10,000 meters Sunday at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford, running the fastest time for an American this year.
Bauhs ran the race in 27 minutes, 48.06 seconds, reaching the Olympic A standard, meaning if he places in the top three at the Olympic trials this summer, he'll be in the Olympics.
He finished seventh in a star-studded field of 33 that included international runners.
No other Division II runner had ever broken 28 minutes.
http://www.chicoer.com/sports/ci_9154749

Interesting to look at his personal records from high school at San Ramon Valley High School. You can view their top list at the following link:
http://www.srvhstrack.clickoneforus.com/Top10Boys.html

Alitta Boyd -- an athlete for all seasons

Really nice article about Moreau Catholic ATHLETE Alitta Boyd in today's San Francisco Chronicle. She is one of the top track and field athletes (triple jump) in NCS as well as the state. She is also an outstanding volleyball and basketball player (a now rare three sport athlete).

•Alitta Boyd -- an athlete for all seasons

Sarah Sumpter: Back on Track

Check out the following video which depicts the return of Sarah Sumpter of Healdsburg to the Track and Field racing scene following her battle with anorexia.

We definitely wish her the best of luck the rest of this season.

•Sarah Sumpter: Back on Track

Accompanying article by Bob Padecky
•Running on courage-Healdsburg's Sarah Sumpter is a state champion. But what matters more to her these days is telling others that they are not alone