MCAL XC Championships

The MCAL XC Championships was held today at Indian Valley College in
Novato.
Ideal weather conditions.
The course is a moderately hilly 3.0 mile course.

THE GIRLS
Individually, Theresa Devine, a junior at Marin Catholic, was extremely
dominant, leading from wire to wire in a winning time of 18:46. A front
runner for the NCS D-IV title, she had a superb race, looking strong, fit,
and controlled. Ellie Ryan, a freshman phenom from Drake had an
incredible 2nd half of the race, moving way up in the field to run 19:02.
She should be in the mix for a D-III State Meet berth. Courtney Madson, a
sophomore from Novato and State Meeet qualifier last year (19:24), Caitlin
Schmitt, a junior from Redwood (19:48), and Devin Patrick, a senior from
Tamalpais (19:56) rounded out the top five. Team-wise, there was a
titanic battle between Drake and Redwood. Drake had already won the dual
meet pennant. Redwood finished on top though today by a scant 7 points
(52-59). Look for both teams to battle for a D-III spot (Redwood has
qualified as a team the past two years and looks to 3-peat). New to the
scene were the Terra Linda girls finishing 3rd overall. These girls have
a great shot to make it on in D-IV as a team next Saturday with a strong
1st to 5th set of runners.


THE BOYS
Erik Olson, on his home course, showed he knows these trails intimately.
From the gun, he took the lead with an extremely fast first 1/2 mile and
never looked back. Just a junior, he has now won back to back league
titles. He simply decimated the field with a time of 15:20. Look for
Erik to contend for the NCS D-III crown next weekend. Following Erik,
with a more conservative style but great later race effort was Steven
Iglehart, a senior from Branson, in a time of 15:34. Currently ranked 2nd
in the State for D-V, he will be a front runner the next few weeks for NCS
and State Meet individual accolades. Dan Milechman of Tamalpais is only a
sophomore but showed tremendous poise and guts with a stellar 3rd place
run and time of 15:41. He has to be considered now the top seed for NCS
D-IV next week based on this effort. Peter Kissin, a senior from Redwood
was 4th (16:13, individual State Meet qualifier last year) and Brian
Hernandez, a senior from San Rafael was 5th (16:23). Team-wise, Redwood
showed incredible strength and won going away with 54 points. They look
towards next weekend to punch their ticket to Fresno in D-III. San Rafael
and Tamalpais had a close battle for the 2nd and 3rd place team standings.


Thanks,
--Jason Jacobson (San Rafael HS)