Monday, September 13, 2010

Earlybird Post-Meet story and records by Gus Ibarra...

Earlybird Post-Meet Write-Up

Crystal clear skies and moderate temperatures welcomed everyone to kick off the 2010 cross country season on the beautiful California coast at the 2010 Earlybird Invitational at Toro Park (Salians) hosted by North Monterey County High School. High temperatures had plagued the event in recent years but this edition was about as good as it gets. The meet drew one of its largest crowds ever with the CCS Finals to be held here later in the year and lots of pre-season questions were answered. The unmatched early season competition plus the great conditions made for some amazing results!

The day kicked off with our open race for the truly brave coaches, parents, alumni, etc. and the host school was proud as former runner Danny Tapia (NMC class of 2004) toured the 3 mile layout in what we believe to be the fastest ever clocking on the course at 15:02! Danny recently became the first local runner to ever win the Big Sur Marathon and is shooting for a run at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials. 
Next we had the first ever middle school race as part of the festivities and the eager young harriers toured an altered 2 mile layout without the famous Toro hills. Official results were not kept in this inaugural edition but we can say there were nearly 100 kids and we hope to expand this portion of the event for 2011!
Then, the real show began! The ladies were highlighted on the individual front while the gentlemen had the fastest early season crew in the history of the course! Rachel Hinds (St. Ignatius) has been the Earlybird darling the last 3 years with amazing wins each year to kick off the season. She burst onto the running scene here four years back and today she sealed the deal with what may have been the best dual in the history of the meet. Jessie Peterson (Carlmont) had played second fiddle to Rachel in two previous editions and today she wanted to play spoiler. The two dueled throughout the race with Jessie pushing the pace early on and looking to break Rachel before the Toro hills. Rachel rallied as they hit the hill loop and came out onto the final flat loop with a slight lead but looked to be struggling. Jessie made a big move to bring her back in the last half mile and Rachel got her second breath and put in an amazing last quarter mile for the win and an Earlybird four year sweep!! She stopped the clock at 17:59.5 that was later made official at 18:00 and launched her to #3 ALL-TIME at the park!! Her performance may rank as one of the greatest early season efforts we’ve seen in this area of California. She now only trails the legendary mark by Tori Tyler of 17:16 (Gunn 2004) and the great run by Michelle Gallagher at 17:53 (Sacred Heart 2002). Jessie finished strong only 9 seconds back at 18:09 and rockets to #7 ALL-TIME! Unfortunately, Rachel and Jessie will represent CCS in different divisions down the road but these performances place them right among the state championship favorites! A great footnote is that Rachel will take her amazing talents to Stanford, but, the running community will loose a great one and take a step back as she goes on to play Lacrosse! We wish her and Jessie the best!!

The boys show was highlighted by the Bells from Bellarmine! We knew they would be special in 2010 and we were not disappointed. They put on a team running clinic with a combined team time of 81:10 which moves them to a tie with North Monterey County (2003) to 4th All-TIME at the park! They now only trail Mountain View (80:13 2008), Los Gatos (80:45 2006), and Carlmont (80:49 2006) on the record board! And, the teams ahead of them set those marks late in the year. Bellarmine has the tools to take the 80:13 record down at CCS Finals and could make some noise at the state level in the ultra-tough Division I level. Today they featured a 23 second 1-5 spread and dominated the field so much that they would have placed 6 runners before any other team had their 2nd runner in!!! Incredible team running with a HUGE upside for this squad. San Benito (83:21) and Madera South (83:34) placed 2nd and 3rd overall and renewed their friendly rivalry once again after also locking horns last week.  Los Altos and Willow Glen also showed well while a couple of our pre-meet favorites struggled here but we’re hoping that when things really count they will be back in the mix.

On the team front for the ladies we had Jessie Peterson lead Carlmont to a nice early season effort at 99:48. They featured three girls under 20:00 and if they can shore up their final two scorers they could be a force down the road. Mountain View may have had the best team showing top to bottom as they ran 100:41 but featured five girls under 21:00 and has the depth to mix it up in big fields later on. Los Gatos, St. Ignatius (led by Rachel Hinds) and a re-surging San Lorenzo Valley squad, rounded out the top five teams today.
On the grade level team front we had Bellarmine once again being the class of the field winning ALL FOUR BOYS RACES and with that, taking home the OVERALL TEAM CHAMPION AWARD even though they don’t even have girls! San Lorenzo Valley had the best new crop winning the 9th grade girls race while Presentation (10th grade), Mountain View (11th grade), and St. Ignatius (12th grade) also took home team plaques.

On the individual grade level front we had our trophy winners in Anna Maxwell (9th 19:10 San Lorenzo Valley), Danielle Katz (10th 19:02 Los Gatos), Morgan Lira (11th 18:51 Valley Christian), and Rachel Hinds (12th 18:00 St. Ignatius) for the girls and Takuto Doshiro (9th 17:02 Monta Vista), Richard Ho (10th 16:00 Leland), Kevin Bishop (11th 15:51 Monta Vista), and Domenic D’Aquisto (12th 15:42 Enterprise) for the boys. We want to congratulate Domenic for his 3rd Earlybird win in 4 years!!

Well folks, thank you to everyone that helped make the meet possible and we especially want to congratulate all the runners as they are the ones that it’s all about. We wish you all the very best in 2010 and we hope to see you back at Toro Park next year!

Coach Gustavo Ibarra
Earlybird Meet Director
(Updated park records below)
Toro Park, Salinas


Course Records


Top Boys’ Teams
1 Mountain View 80:13 2008
2 Los Gatos 80:45 2006
3 Carlmont 80:49 2006
4 North Monterey County 81:10 2003
4 Bellarmine 81:10 2010
6 Willow Glen 81:23 2006
7 Carmel 81:39 2003
8 San Benito 81:41 1998
9 St. Ignatius 81:48 2006
10 Aptos 81:52 2008


Top Girls’ Teams
1 Los Gatos 96:01 2006
2 Mountain View 96:11 2008
3 Carlmont 96:22 2006
4 Aptos 96:57 2005
5 Gunn 96:59 2002
6 San Lorenzo Valley 97:17 2004
7 Monta Vista 97:34 2005
8 Mitty 97:51 2004
9 Half Moon Bay 98:20 2004
10 Carmel 98:30 2006


Top 25 Boys All Time
-
1 15:12 Petrillo, Matthew 12 Los Gatos 2006
2 15:13 Abdalla, Mohamed 12 Willow Glen 2007
3 15:18 D’Acquisto Domenic 11 Enterprise 2009
4 15:20 Estrada, Diego 12 Alisal 2007
5 15:21 Mineau, Jeremy 11 Menlo Atherton 2002
6 15:22 Fitzpatrick, Dylan 12 Carmel 2004
7 15:24 Dunn, Alex 11 S an Lorenzo Valley 2002
7 15:24 Morales, Ben 11 San Benito 1998
9 15:27 Johnson,Tyre 11 Palma 2007
9 15:27 Lema, Nohe 12 Willow Glen 2008
11 15:28 Hunt,Rylan 12 Aptos 2008
12 15:29 Rowe, Garrett 10 Mountain View 2008
12 15:29 Schuh, Parker 11 Mountain View 2009
14 15:31 Sitler, Ben 11 St. Francis 2004
15 15:33 Strum, Weston 12 Pioneer 2009
1615:34 Huerta, Nathan 11 North Monterey County 2003
16 15:34 Nelson, Tim 10 Liberty Christian 2000
16 15:34 Sartor, Matt 12 Enterprise 2000
19 15:35 Corona, Marcos 12 Willow Glen 2006
19 15:35 Knorr, Robbie 12 Valley Christian 2006
21 15:37 Myjer, Ian 11 Mountain View 2008
21 15:37 Signore, Luca 12 Lynbrook 2009
23 15:38 Lynch, Brennan 12 Santa Cruz 2008
24 15:40 Parsel, Patrick 12 Carmel 2003
25 15:42 Schneider, Kevin 11 Fremont 2004


Top 25 Girls All Time
-
1 17:16 Tyler,Tori 12 Gunn 2004
2 17:53 Gallagher, Michelle 12 Sacred Heart 2002
3 18:00 Hinds, Rachel 12 St. Ignatius 2010
4 18:02 Nevitt, Casey 12 Aptos 2002
5 18:07 Barnett, Stephanie 11 Leland 2007
6 18:08 Grelli, Melissa 11 Presentation 2002
7 18:09 Plank,Mckayla 10 Mitty 2002
7 18:09 Viehweg, Ciera 10 St. Ignatius 2002
7 18:09 Peterson, Jessie 12 Carlmont 2010
10 18:15 Fedronic, Justine 12Carlmont2008
10 18:15 Bergman, Jennifer 12 Valley Christian 2008
12 18:16 Kirschman, Lindsey 11 Enterprise 2004
13 18:17 Graham, Ruth 12 Gunn 2002
14 18:20 Follmar, Alicia 12 Saratoga 2004
15 18:21 Johnson, Taylor 11 San Lorenzo Valley 2006
16 18:23 Daly, Katy 10 St. Ignatius 2006
17 18:25 Hamilton, Samantha 9 Half Moon Bay 2006
18 18:28 Van Ausdall, Jessica 12 Aptos 2005
19 18:30 Jones,Cobbie 11 Live Oak 2004
20 18:31 Goodwin, Jill 12 Los Gatos 2006
20 18:31 Curtis, Chloe 11 Redondo Union 2008
22 18:32 Boyd, Amanda 12 San Benito 2005
23 18:33 Reynolds, Maryann 10 Mountain View 2006
24 18:34 Lee, Thea 12 Carmel 2006
24 18:34 Schnittger, Amy 11 Aptos 2006

Visit the meet website for complete coverage!

http://nmcxc.tripod.com

================
Just added from SJ Mercury News

Katz, Geiken run well for Cats at Early Bird
http://www.mercurynews.com/los-gatos/ci_16067391?nclick_check=1

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rachel Hinds is going to Stanford?? But for lacrosse?! How good is she exactly at Lacrosse... surely her running must be just as good if not better (she is fast enough to run at Stanford..)?!

Anonymous said...

Petersen not only is #7 all time but broke her former teammate Justine Fedronic's school record. Anyone know where she is looking at for college?

On another note, Hinds and Petersen are both potential Footlocker/NXN qualifiers at this point! They ran faster than Fedronic and Bergman did in 08 at CCS in Toro Park (who ran at NXN and Footlocker respectively), so if they can keep it up or improve from now, it is very likely that these two could run at the national meet.

Anonymous said...

Remember, it was hot that day in 08... and those two did not have their best race. To be potential FL and NXC I'd say you need to be 17:50 or better at Woodward Park, which they can both do I am sure.

Remember Bergman's best courses were Crystal and Mt. Sac. If they get down to 17:16 where she was I'd say they have a shot. They key now is to hold the fitness and get better!

Anonymous said...

Petersen's PRs are 17:28 at Crystal(2009) and 18:00 at Woodward(2008). It looks like she's close.

Anonymous said...

Also remember that the year Tori Tyler ran 17:16, she was the last qualifier for Footlocker.

well.. said...

Yes but to be fair, Tori Tyler's post season wasn't as good as her blazing times earlier on at Toro Park and Crystal (so not always the best example to use).

Popular Posts