Tuesday, June 29, 2010

2010 North Coast Section Cross --CC-> Country rankings Division III by Peter Brewer

Boys

    Defending NCS champion Petaluma appears to be holding all the cards again this year.  The Trojans return 5 of their 7, led by senior Forrest Schaeffer who was 4th last year.  Schaeffer added a 9:38.09 3200 to his credentials during the track season.  Las Lomas brings back 4 of 7 from their 3rd place squad last year.  Their frontrunner is senior Carl Gracely.  Campolindo also returns 4 from last year’s runner-up team.  Senior Dylan Laucher was 8th at MOC last year, and ran a 4:26.4 1600 and 9:39.97 3200.  Piner moves inot the picture, bringing back 4 sophomores(now juniors) from last year’s team, including ace Luis Luna who was 2nd here last year.and 11th at the State Meet. Luis went on to run 9:16.19 for the 3200.  Acalanes has a strong group returning as well, with junior Tyler Sorenson at the front.
    Individually, Luna (Piner) is at the head of the class.  Schaeffer (Petaluma) and Laucher (Campolindo) are also top candidates.  Eureka has the intriguing pair of Nick Kraus and Robin O’Connell who ran 9th and 10th last year.

1.    Petaluma        the purple-clad harriers are favored again.
2.    Las Lomas     can the Knights challenge for the top?
3.    Campolindo    the Cougars are right in the mix.
4.    Piner               just how far can Luna take this young group?
5.    Acalanes        solid pack.
Lurking: 
    Eureka              with a quick 1-2 punch, anything can happen.
    Miramonte       the Matadors are never really out of it.

Girls

    Campolindo is the clear favorite here.  Not only do they return 6 of 7 from last year, they had a heck of a track season last year.  Junior Carrie Verdon scorched to a 4:56.77/10:42.87 double last year, Grace Orders ran 5:05.58 and 10:44.89, and Sarah Orders, Sara Mostatabi and Brooke Martini added 11:27.53, 11:31.68 and 11:37.48 respectively.  Acalanes is strong as well, with 6 of 7 returning as well.  Sophomore Kellie Berg is the returning frontrunner, while sister Katie ran 2:15.80 in the 800 in the spring.  Bishop O’Dowd also comes back with just about everyone, with junior Maria Diaz and senior Kaitlyn Spees sharing the top honors.  Defending champion Maria Carillo is 2nd only to Campolindo in top returnees, led by sophomore Lauren Kraus who ran 5:12.08 and 11:17.42 in track.  The Pumas drop off a bit after the first three.  Petaluma is poised to make a return trip to the State Meet with a flock of returning sophomores, led by Francsca Honey.   Dougherty Valley is the defending D-IV champion and brings back 1-6, but the air is a bit more rarified in D-III.  Victoria De Metz in their top runner.  Miramonte returns 5 veterans, and is just a step off the ranking consideration.
    Top 10 finishers and State Meet advancers from last year include Verdon and Orders of Campolindo, senior Shelby Nickles of Dublin, Kraus and Heidi Thiele of Maria Carillo, Kellie Berg of Acalanes senior, Courtney Madson of Novato, and Diaz of Bishop O’Dowd. 

1.    Campolindo         the powerhouse.
2.    Acalanes             can the Dons close the gap on Campolindo?
3.    Bishop O’Dowd  the Dragons are solid.
4.    Maria Carillo     can the Pumas shore up the back end?
5.    Petaluma             a good 1-2; can 3-4-5 close the gap?
Lurking:    
    Miramonte             lots of strong veterans.
    Dougherty Valley  can they make the jump to D-III?


Feel free to chime in on this division in the comments section below.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Piner has 4 juniors 1 senior and 1 sophomores from last years NCS team returning. How good will they be? This will depend on what kind of summer running they have. If their coach can get them to run in the summer they have a chance of being a good team.

Anonymous said...

Not going to prognosticate as I'm biased but just a few corrections about Campo's boys and girls teams. Dylan Laucher ran 4:26.4/9:39.97 during track while Grace Orders ran 5:05.58 with a 10:44.89 at CIF. Plus 10th grader to be Sarah Orders ran 11:27.53 during the season.

Anonymous said...

Forgot to add that Campo's Carrie Verdon ran 10:42.87 at the Sacramento Meet of Champions this past season. Campo will have two girls in the 10:40s and another two who have run in the 11:20s...

Albert Caruana said...

Thank you for the time corrections for the Campolindo runners. I will update them above.

Anonymous said...

victoria's sister, isabelle, had a terrible day at NCS last year and yet they still took D4 title. she's probably the head of the pack here. DV's definitely a force to reckon with.

Anonymous said...

How can you forget Maria Carrillo. They return 4 who ran @ NCS. Daniel Hauptman who will be a senior had a good track season(1600: 4:23.72) and Armando Ramirez who also had a great track season as a frosh(3200: 9:55.77 & 1600: 4:30.44). Carrillo has won the NBL 6 out of the last 7 years.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure, las lomas had real trouble pulling it together more times than not in the 09 season

Mike DeVries said...

I'm not sure but I think Los Lomas has an incoming freshman Aidan Goltra that could make an immediate impact.

Anonymous said...

ive heard hes going there too. like u said he could make an impact!

Albert Caruana said...

Please identify yourself with your posts.

Thank you.

Empire runner said...

Petaluma girls are not looking very strong this year, they were easily defeated by the Maria Carillo girls at the Ranch Invite. Also Honey had a bad track season this past spring.

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