Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Central Coast Section Rankings (9/29/15)

34 comments:

Sal said...

As suspected, biggest move near the top is done by St Francis. Can they hold on to top D2 this year and make it to state?

Anonymous said...

No, they die out at the end of the season every year.

Albert Caruana said...

Actually anonymous who won't post your name with your negative comment, the Pompei brothers have done a great job with the boys' team. St. Francis also won CCS in 2013. This year, the three best teams in CCS could be from the WCAL with Bellarmine, St. Francis and St. Ignatius. St. Francis has a great front runner in Xander Olivero who ran 15:26 at Stanford. Their 5th man is a freshman who ran 16:27 at Stanford and will only gain confidence during the season.

Both SI and SF are in Division II this year so they are going to have some great battles this year in league, at CCS and potentially at the state meet.

Anonymous said...

Being a current Varsity runner from SI, I would prefer not to identify my name.

But responding to your comment: I am not deliberately trying to be negative, I am just commenting on what I have noticed the past two years. St. Francis has a great program and we are sure going to have some battles with them this year (starting with WCAL 1 tomorrow at Baylands). However, with that being said, I am a little confused as to why they are placed ahead of us in the CCS rankings. To date this season, we and SF have competed in only one race together: Earlybird. At that meet, we beat them even without our top runner. So even with that fact alone, I do not understand the rationale behind SF being in front of us. Sure they ran well at Stanford, but we would have (hopefully!) ran well also.

We will see what happens tomorrow at Baylands, and that will determine a lot. I just do not think you can say SF is surely faster than us at this point in the season because like I said above, we beat them in the one and only race we have competed against each other at.

P.S. I know you get this a lot, but thank you for all your hard work that goes into sustaining this page. As a running geek (yes, I admit it), it makes me happy when adults like you take a serious interest and effort in analyzing/following a sport that typically goes unnoticed.

Alex Ward said...

Being a current runner from St Francis I'll choose to stand behind my comment and post my name

I don't remember St. Francis dying out when they won CCS two years ago while SI came in 4th and missed the state meet...

Albert Caruana said...

Ok, I do appreciate your 2nd post.

Rankings are not an exact science even when teams go head to head. I think St. Francis is ranked ahead of your team because of their solid performance at the Stanford Invitational in the seeded race. You are absolutely right in that tomorrow's WCAL meet will really clear things up and we will find out who is better between the two teams at this point.

And thanks for the positive feedback. I am glad there are other running geeks out there who have a similar interest in the sport.

Anonymous said...

Looks like SF/SI could actually give the Bells a run for their money this season. Should be fun to watch.

To the above poster, it's probably because SF looked like absolute studs at furd with runners 2-7 being separated by 11 seconds. It's going to be tough for anyone to beat that spread. It's not a knock on SI, it's more of a credit to SF. Should be a fun season.

Shyam Kumar said...

Like Alex Ward, I will also post my name because I stand behind what I say

I agree with Alex Ward. If SI wanted to show their worth, they would have come to Stanford where they would be challenged, instead of beating up C teams at Westmoor. Maybe you'd be less confused if you looked at the seeded boys results at Stanford and raced against the top freshman in the state.

Albert Caruana said...

Before this gets out of hand, let's save all the bravado for tomorrow's league meet. Two good teams and let's let the race results speak for themselves.

Anonymous said...

I actually really love this... kids talking smack. It means something to them & brings the sport to a new level.

In reality rankings are fun but also meaningless right now. With any luck both teams will burn out by the end. How deep is WCAL right now. Riordan is #1 in D3 too!

Anonymous said...

I love it too. There should be more. I wish my boys thought like this. As long as we keep it to XC, let them battle. Someone is going to have some really rough luck in D2. A whole lotta good teams for those 3 spots. Have fun.

Anonymous said...

You can't count out Serra and Mitty either. Mitty got Second at Chieftain and Serra has three really great runners. Could they have a few more hidden away somewhere? D2 is a slugfest.

Anonymous said...

Get out your popcorn. Looks like the WCAL meet is the place to be tomorrow afternoon! I thought some of the teams might just jog the course after a tough invitational weekend but now it sounds like they are going for it. Should be fun.

Anonymous said...

Bellarmine is going to run their C team... and still win. No one can touch them. They are that good! Go Bells!

Sal said...

The Bells are very good and very deep - that is why they run in the D1. However the top WCAL guy right now is at SF, and there is no way the Bell "B" team beats SF let alone the "C" team.

Anonymous said...

Anyone want to handicap the WCAL girls side? Should be an interesting matchup between Mitty and SF girls if both teams are at full strength.

Anonymous said...

Bell just turned a 17:10 freshman on the D team into a 15:30 stud sophomore. Keep dreaming Saint Francis.

Anonymous said...

Sure. Handicap per each top 6 runner.
Notre Dame -3 min
SHC -2:30
VC -2:20
Pres -1:30
SI -0:45
SF -0:10
Mitty 0:00

Anonymous said...

Sal, Bells depth and talent has nothing to do with why they are D1. That is the central section. Here it is based on their size.
WCAL is half good, half awful. They should split A & B like other leagues because half of the teams are a joke.

Sal said...

Yes, I misspoke - I meant to say that Bell's depth is directly related to their size, which puts them in D1 in the CCS. Last year they had about 133 unique entries on Athletic.net where SI and SF had less then 65 each. I was trying to respond to the notion that the Bell "C" team could beat SI or SF, and that is not the case - at least this year. Sal

Anonymous said...

the boys from Bellarmine college prep are by far the most arrogant and cocky people I have ever met

Albert Caruana said...

Alright kids, go to bed and rest up for tomorrow's league meet. Best of luck to all WCAL schools and hopefully the weather will be as great as it was today for us at San Bruno Mountain. I really do like the Baylands Park course. Lots of places for us coaches to encourage our runners to run faster!

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who misses the Carlmont-Bell battles?

Anonymous said...

I don't remember them being much of a battle. At least not CCS. Let's talk when someone can run out a team like Mountain View. Why don't theses guys run sub 15:30 at Woodward if they are such a machine?

Anonymous said...

What ever happened to mountain view? St. Francis recruit all the locals?

Anonymous said...

@Sal the Bellarmine "B" team did beat Palo Alto this year at Stanford, so that would put them right behind Saint Francis

Anonymous said...

How's about somebody from the A team beating Slaney, or Matison?

Anonymous said...

Olivero wins WCAL 1

Anonymous said...

Xander Olivero is a beast

Anonymous said...

Why did it get all quite all of a sudden?

Anonymous said...

League meets tend to do that. The WCAL teams have a few more shots at each other. This is going to be fun.

Anonymous said...

Olivero may have won - but just by the skin of his teeth... Was Bell runner expected to be this close?

Anonymous said...

Yes, if it were MB-R, but not Richardson and Doblar.

Ben Micallef said...

All three should be equally expected to run at such a high level.

Popular Posts