Monday, August 16, 2010

Who is the best in Northern California?

 Moved this back up to the top since many comments are being posted.  Feel free to chime in and answer the following questions.
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Your turn to answer the following questions as we head closer and closer to the start of XC '10.

What is the best boys' cross country team in Northern California?
What is the best girls' cross country team in Northern California?

Who is the best male runner?
Who is the best female runner?

What is the best combined program (boys and girls) in Northern California?
What is the best boys' only cross country team in Northern California?  (Single sex schools)
What is the best girls' only cross country team in Northern California?  (Single sex schools)

Who is the best coach?

What NorCal  teams will end up on the podium at the state meet this year (top 3)?

Let's hear it.  Why did you make your selections?

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Albert! Did we ever get the consolidated NorCal rankings list?

MV Moose said...

I tend to favor Mountain View. The guy slide a little this fall, but the girls will make up some of that. Don't bet against Coach Smith at the big meets!
Campolindo a close 2nd.

MV Moose said...

The above post is in response to the best combined program...

Albert Caruana said...

No NorCal rankings yet. So far we have CCS, NCS, and NS rankings. Waiting on the CBEDs for SJS.

Anonymous said...

Davis HS boys are always strong, they should be in the top 3. Coach Gregg is one of the best year in year out

Albert Caruana said...

No question that Davis and Bill Gregg belong among the best in NorCal.

Craig Lee said...

I'm biased. College Park and Campolindo! But Mountain View and Davis are very good. Is Oak Ridge any good this year? Jesuit is always tough. How about Oak Ridge?

xc mom said...

carlmont has had the best combined program for the last several years....multiple ccs titles under jeff gilkey's leadership.

NCR said...

And Coach Randazzo... With possible titles this year she will likely catch up and surpass Gilkey in the next 2 years!

A.B.S. said...

For combined program, I'd probably have to go with Mountainview or College Park. For best boys only I'd probably have to say De La Salle, since I don't think Jesuit is super-strong this year.

Carlmont... what's the latest with them? Is the whole little coaching controversy sorted out?

Anonymous said...

For best combined team I will go with Mountain View just slightly over Carlmont and Campolindo. For best men's team I believe Davis, College Park, Bellarmine and maybe SLV are too close to call. They should all represent Nor Cal very well at state. For Best women's I'll bet on Oak Ridge first with Campolindo and Carlmont in the hunt. That is as far as my knowledge extends. Who thinks I'm wrong?

Albert Caruana said...

Thanks for all the contributions so far.

As for the Carlmont coaching situation, feel free to contact the school administration with any of your questions related to that matter.

NCR said...

Anonymous, you know you can type in a name right? Make one up, it’s easier to respond to a specific post.

But I am perplexed here... Are you are saying SLV and Bellarmine are "too close to call?" You're kidding right?

As for Carlmont I believe that for a team to run to their potential they have to buy into the program. Someone once told me, "Happy girls are fast girls." I have seen talented girl teams fall apart because of team drama. The kids are coming back but I can't imagine everything will be hunky dory. They will be good but will they run to their potential? Will the season off hurt them? Will the underling lack of trust from parents hurt the team's potential? Maybe everyone had a big hug and made up I don't know. I guess we have to wait until November to find out.

Anonymous said...

The best guy's team comes down to De La Salle, College Park, and Campo. College Park has a strong top four with Bickert leading the pack, but are lacking a good fifth. De La Salle may have the upper hand in this D1 NCS dual since I feel they have a strong top four as well, comparable to College Park, and plenty of guys that could fill the fifth spot without losing too much of a time gap. Campo is a definite contender with a powerful top 2 lead by Laucher, and plenty of young guys that have potential to really step up and fill the next 3 spots on the top 5. Mountain View and Davis lost some of their of fast guys from last year, but they could still be strong and are always a threat.

Albert Caruana said...

Don't forget Bellarmine. They are going to be very good this year.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to have to go with Bellarmine as the best team in NorCal. Best combined program would be MOuntain View, and I'd pick Chris Kigar as the top individual.

Onlooker said...

To NCR....
the runners that didn't compete for Carlmont didn't have the track season off.
They trained hard and had fun going to other meets representing RF United. Many are currently in Virginia competing at the JO's.

Another onlooker said...

Dear Onlooker,

"JO's" held the national championship in Sacramento last week. I am curious, if they had better training and it was so fun why are they coming back to a program they don't believe in?

Anonymous said...

Going by Semi-recent history i would have to say that the best boys program goes to either petaluma or campolindo.

Onlooker said...

To Another Onlooker,

1.AAU Junior Olympic Games
August 1 to August 7, 2010
Norfolk State University
Norfolk, VA

2.Training and coaching for the variety of track events is very different to Cross Country.

Anonymous said...

College Park is the best boys team with four very strong seniors returning and several possibilities for the fifth runner that most people do not know about. Watch out for the Falcons this year.

"Unbiased" said...

CP will be good.....the best in Northern California? Debateable. Compared with Davis, Mountainview, Bellarmine, and in NCS De La Salle, that will be a close battle.

Anonymous said...

acalanes next year if they get in gear

Anonymous said...

De La Salle? Really everybody? Hisorically, yes. But this year, no. SRV will be up there, but not top. I'm gonna have to agree with the majority and say Mountainview although Campo will be there as well.

ccs xc vet said...

carlmont will own bellarmine in CCS D1 this year. a year of training under coach gilkey will pay off big time for this group of seniors. carlmont girls will complete the sweep of CCS titles without a serious challenge.

A.B.S. said...

This is history in the making. DLS has 5 guys under 4:30, and that's with a track season that really didn't go all that well for many of those runners. I don't know about Mountainview, but I think DLS is going to be better than Campo.

underappreciated said...

Mountain View has the best overall program. Mountain View Boys is also the best in norcal. 1-3 are all as fast as bellarmines #1 and their 4-7 are all fast runners that weren't seen all that much last year with their superstacked team. the sophomores/juniors that have been training hard under Evan Smith will surprise many. CCS Champs Again.

Anonymous said...

Not true about mountain view. Brian Cook is their #3 returning runner who's crystal time is comparable to Bellarmine's #4 and 5 runners. Bellarmine is much stronger than Bellarmine.

Carlmont is good but not #1 for boys or girls in their division or over-all. Gilkey has nothing to do with this program any more. If he did there will be nothing but more drama unless there is something going on behind the back of the admin and coaches which isn't good for a program anyways. I mean when is this guy going to go away. If you are such a great coach go coach college and leave HS-ers alone. Peterson's times are good but would not be in the top 5 on the track this season. Still probably top 5 cross though but Robbinson and Anderson got way better.

Anonymous said...

DLS currently has 5 guys under 4:30? I would like to know who & their times.

A.B.S. said...

Sorry, that was meant to be 4:40. The key thing is though, because of certain injuries, sickness and other misfortune many of those times aren't a good reflection of people's actual ability.

And by the way, within NCS, If someone is going to beat De La Salle in NCS it'd be College Park, not Campo.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the clarification on 4:40 vs 4:30. Yes injuries and circumstances play a large part every year for many teams, in fact most. That's a reality in HS sports. DeLa Salle is deep but College Park's top 4 should dominate and watch out for Amador Valley.

This is Bunk said...

Bellarmine is going to win CCS in Division 1. Carlmont isn't even starting practice until 8/23 while all the other CCS teams started on 8/13. I personally know a 15:50 runner from Carlmont who isn't going to run and he hasn't worked with Gilkey since last summer. Even if the runners come back the coaches will find a way to screw up the season. We don't want to be part of that.

URFasterThanMe said...

SJS:

Davis best boys team. Oak Ridge best girls team.

Chris Kigar best male runner. Karlie Garcia best female runner.

Albert Caruana said...

Totally agree with your SJS picks. Those are definitely the teams and individuals to beat at this point.

Albert Caruana said...

"Even if the runners come back the coaches will find a way to screw up the season. We don't want to be part of that."

Being part of a school sponsored Cross Country team is a choice. If you don't want to participate, the team will go on with or without you.

Bells4life said...

Bellarmine definitely best in NorCal, they return all but one scorer. A sub 4:20 miler in Rae, 4 sub 10 2 milers in Rae, Ferrari, Hinojosa, Valencia, and probably Bordoni base on his times in cross. Not to mention their stellar soph DeAnda who looks like he's galloping more than running when you watch him. Also they just seem to be reloading as the get a few sub 5 froshies coming in. Question is can they win under pressure, so far the answer is no, but I hope I'm proven wrong this year.

GoScotsXC said...

Good luck to Bellarmine, M-A, Monta Vista, San Benito, Serra and all the other CCS D1 teams. The Carlmont runners are all planning on coming back to the team. Albert all the runners choose to go back to the team and want to make it work. You've seen us many times during the track season and summer and I told you I'm running next year for Carlmont. Worry about your own team. The runners and the coaches need to form a new relationship that works for everyone and bringing up last year and the old coach doesn't help anything. The runners want to make the season work with the Carlmont coaches and not Coach Gilkey. We all hope that the past can be left in the past and the team can have a successful season with no problems. The runners are excited to be racing against CCS competition again and hope to carry on the Carlmont cross country tradition. I hope everyone can stop talking about last year and move forward. We just want to run.

Albert Caruana said...

Perfect. Let's focus on this season and the positives of cross country.

MV Moose said...

Earlybird less than four weeks away! I can hardly wait. The freshmen races, especially, where we get our first look at the future!

Anonymous said...

earlybird is going to be crazy loaded this year!
preview will be out before you know it!
coach ibarra
meet director

Bing said...

Best programs in NorCal are Mountain View, Bellarmine, Oak Ridge, Jesuit, and Davis.

My vote for best coach is Victor Santamaria of Willow Glen. He has consistently turned average or non-athletes into solid, competitive runners... and he's had a state champion.

Anonymous said...

Jesuit has a rich tradition in running and is historically a top contender. However, do not assume that just because they won the state title in track last season that they will be a powerhouse in cross country this fall. I look for them to be solid but not one of the top 10 in NorCal.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the guy above me. Jesuit's obviously a great program but without Adam Kelly-Strong I don't think this will be that good this year.

Anonymous said...

GoScotsXc -
If all of the runners who quit last year and want to try to run again this year are trying to forge a new relationship with the current coaching staff, then why are they planning to wear shirts with Jeff Gilkey's face on it to practice? Sounds like another vain attempt to sabotage the XC season. If you want to just run, then run and stop with the ridiculous lies and plots. It should be about the team and working together not continuing to try to tear down, which is what these former runners are trying to do.

Mike said...

Everybody please just let practice start at Carlmont and then the crazy comments can start... Seriously, is there any way we can all just move on?

Jeff Gilkey said...

Where can I get one of those shirts! Great rumor, but the kids know they would get kicked off my team for wearing something that ugly. Give me a break - the runners are going to go back and run for Carlmont and do whatever the Carlmont coaches tell them.

If you've been following these posts you know I need to take a few months off just to spend all that club money I raked in this past spring and summer. Also, thanks to Mr./Ms. Anonymous advice in one of the posts above I'm moving on to coach all those collegiate and pro runners and make even more of the millions of dollars out there in the running world. I bet that Anonymous poster and the Anonymous poster in the T-Shirt rumor post is the same person.

I know the Carlmont coaches will be mature enough to let all the kids run and move past last year. Let the new year be a fresh start, answer emails respectfully and give everyone an equal chance. The runners just want to be a part of the Carlmont Cross Country team, represent their school proudly, and have none of the problems that plagued them last season. The runners have trained very hard this summer to make this another successful season. I know the Carlmont coaches will soon realize they are the adults and can make everything work. Adults don't hold grudges against kids.

Good Luck to the Carlmont Cross Country Team.

Albert Caruana said...

I am all for moving on and letting the school year and xc season begin.

I don't think anything further needs to be said here.

Best of luck to everybody.

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