Bellarmine boys run US #1 DMR to break meet and CCS record at Stanford Invitational

You can check out all the details (10:03.67!) including splits, previous CCS record and more at this LINK.

Also, Luis Grijalva Armijo just ran 3:49.89 in the 1500 for US #1.

A couple of highlights from the high school portion as well as not so high school portion for Grijalva. Look for more to be posted tomorrow as we should have some outstanding races tomorrow. I think we are going to have an awesome girls mile and am really interested to see what Claudia Lane can run in the mile tomorrow.

If you have anything to add, please feel free to do so in the comment section below.

The following photos were taken by Thomas Benjamin. Big thanks to him. The splits below are courtesy of Bellarmine coach, Patrick McCrystle.
1200 Alex Scales Jr.: 59.5 /62.8/60.3–3:02.6
400 Tommy Rocha Sr.: 50.9
800 Ben Micallef Sr.: 52.9/60.4–1:53.3
1600 Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau Jr.: 61.7/64.6/65.4/65.3–4:17.0

Arcadia Invitational Entries now posted

Here are the direct links to the meet listed separately for boys and girls.

Boys Entries

Girls Entries

Feel free to comment on what events you are most looking forward to watching or competing in next weekend. As always, the Saturday Invitational Section will be amazing with many of the top competitors in the United States. If you are competing, feel free to let us know your event and goals.

Rylee Bowen repeats as Texas Relays 2000m. Steeplechase champion

http://www.redwoodempirerunning.com/rylee-bowen-wins-at-texas-relays/

Jim Tracy ALS 5K

All info for this race can be found at this link:
http://jimtracyals5k.weebly.com/

Northern California Invitationals today

Azusa Pacific University Meet of Champions
Top NorCal performances
Robert Miranda Menlo (CCS) 4:14.85 mile
Jake Lange Nueva (CCS) 9:18.17 3200m
Emily Perez St. Joseph Notre Dame 10:52.87 3200m
Elena Kamas Homestead (CCS) 5:00.23 mile
Kiera Marshall St. Joseph Notre Dame (NCS) 5:03.39 mile
Niki Iyer Harker (CCS) 5:08.50 mile
Full results LINK

Oakland Invitational Relays
Results LINK (NEW)

Avis Kelley Invitational
Results LINK (NEW)

Firebird Relays
Live Results LINK

Ron Ruptier Invitational
Live Results LINK

Bay Area Relays
Live Results LINK

Serra Throwers Meet
Entries LINK
Results LINK
Pamela Amaechi Lincoln SF 47'0.25" shot put (CA #1)/163'3" discus (CA #2)

Other results will be posted as soon as I get them.

If you know of any awesome results from today, please feel free to mention them in the comment section below.

Luis Grijalva announces College destination...

Happy to announce that I will be chopping wood at Nothern Arizona University next fall #golumberjacks

A post shared by Luis Miguel Grijalva (@luisgrijalva_) on Mar 23, 2017 at 9:00am PDT

You can also check out an interview with Luis explaining his decision at this LINK.

James Logan head coach position open

Now Hiring

Head Track and Field Coach with Teaching Available

James Logan High School   ■   1800 H Street, Union City, CA 94587

• Newly renovated facility – great to put on meets
• Very successful programs for the past 30+ years
• Many North Coast Section Team Championships
• Two State Titles – 1 Girls and 1 Boys
• Successful Track and Field Club
• Great established relationship with the community
• 3800 students with a very diverse population
   
Interested?
Contact:   Lee Webb at lwebb@nhusd.k12.ca.us or 510-304-7172
Annette Blandford at ablandford@nhusd.k12.ca.us or 510-471-2520

Stanford Invitational Accepted HS entries

They have now been posted and you can find them at this LINK. As you scan all the events, what do you feel will be the best individual event? Best relay event? Most competitive event? Who is ready to throw down a big time or mark next weekend?

Dublin Distance Fiesta Boys 3200/1600/800 Girls 800 (Fast Heats)

Thanks to Jesuit coach, Walt Lange

Northern California Invitational results

Dublin Distance Fiesta
http://www.dublincrosscountry.com/Dublin_Distance_Fiesta/Dublin_Distance_Fiesta.html
Results: http://atwresults.com/atwupload/20170318/ NEW

St. Francis Invitational
Entries: http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2017/sfi_ent.htm
Results: http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2017/sfi_res.htm NEW

Garlic Classic
Results: http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2017/gar_res.htm NEW

Big Cats Relays
Results: http://www.cifsf.org/uploads/3/2/0/9/32099267/bigcatsresults2017.pdf NEW

Eddie Hart Invitational
Results: http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=288981&gender=f NEW

Other links will be added as I find them. Feel free to comment on any Track and Field performances from today. You can follow the action from today from the Dublin Distance Fiesta on Twitter @CCExpress and @milesplitca and on instagram @albertjcaruana and @milesplitca.

Dublin Distance Fiesta finish line photos courtesy of Thomas Benjamin

Girls 1600 Winner Gillian Wagner Redwood 4:55.23 (new meet record)

Boys 1600 Jonathan Fierro Miramonte 4:19.93

Girls 800 Alyssa Brewer California 2:12.13 (new meet record)

Boys 800 Alex Scales Bellarmine 1:53.27 (new meet record)

Girls 3200 Alex Beitia Granite Bay 10:44.36

Boys 3200 Callum Bolger San Luis Obispo 9:00.90

Pacific Grove Senior Zachary Miller, CCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year

He had PRs of 21.85 and 48.55 last year with the 200 meter time set in the CCS final while the 400 time was established in the semi-finals (He ran 48.57 in the final). He sports a 4.25 GPA and will be attending Harvard next year.

You can read all about Miller in the CCS press release which you can find HERE.

Dublin Distance Fiesta Meet Info

MEET PREVIEW can be found HERE.

Heat Sheets now posted at this LINK. The meet will also be live streamed at this LINK. (NEW)

What will be THE best race of the day? Who is going to be the breakout star this year? What is YOUR goal for this year's DDF? 

The schedule can be found HERE.

More will be posted as I receive it. In the meantime, what meet records will be challenged this year?

Girls 1600 Hannah Fishlow 5:02.79 2016
Boys 1600 Eric Olson 4:17.28 2009
Girls 800 Kendall Derry 2:12.84 2015
Boys 800 Sebastian Sam 1:54.21 2008
Girls 3200 Kristen Leung 10:33.71 2016
Boys 3200 Cooper Teare 8:56.07 2016
Girls DMR Bella Vista 12:14.03 2015
Boys DMR Davis 10;23.93 2016

Cooper Teare National Champ at New Balance Indoor National Mile

Cooper Teare, St. Joseph Notre Dame won the mile at the New Balance Indoor National meet with a time of 4:06.60. That time is CA #2 all-time trailing only Thom Hunt from Patrick Henry HS in San Diego who ran 4:02.7c in 1976.

Interview after race LINK. Race video LINK.

Teare and Luis Grijalva will compete at the Texas Distance Festival next week. More info HERE.

Photos courtesy of coach Alex Mason.

Northern California top performances from this weekend

I will have a running tally today so if you deem others worthy of being on this list, please add their performance(s) below.

Arianna Fisher Silver Creek (CCS) 41'7" triple jump and 19'4" long jump at KBell
Alex Scales Bellarmine (CCS) 1:53.89 800 meters and 4:18.56 at KBell
Alex Stout Pacific Collegiate (CCS) 4:58.53 1600 meters and 11:01.55 at TKA Invite
Robert Miranda Menlo (CCS) 9:25.89 2 miles (9:22.60 converted to 3200 meters) at NBIN
Lance Huber Del Oro (SJS) 15'0" Pole Vault at Randy Sturgeon Invite
Samantha Engel El Dorado (SJS) 12'0" Pole Vault at Randy Sturgeon Invite
Cooper Teare St. Joseph Notre Dame (NCS) 4:06.60 Indoor Mile at NBIN

Will add more as I find them but will always appreciate help with locating performances.

Northern California Invitationals this weekend

You can follow today's action on several live results links below. Feel free to comment below on any outstanding results in the meantime.

HIGH SCHOOL
March 10 Falcon-Indian Sisters Invitational (NS) at River Valley
March 10 Stanislaus County Meet at Turlock (SJS)
March 
10-12 New Balance Nationals Indoor, New York Meet Info Live Results
March 11 Del Campo Distance Carnival (SJS)
March 11 K-Bell Invitational at Los Gatos (CCS)
 Entries Live Results
March 11 Marsh Creek Invitational at Freedom (NCS) Meet Info
March 11 Martinez/Tim Bruder Invitational at Alhambra (NCS) Meet Info
March 11 Merced County Champs at Golden Valley (SJS)
March 11 Randy Sturgeon Invitational at Granite Bay (SJS)
March 11 The Kings Academy Invitational at The Kings Academy (CCS) Entries Live Results

March 11 Welton Moore Relays at Grant (SJS)
March 11 Wildcat Relays at Watsonville (CCS)
 Meet Info Results NEW
March 11 Wolf Pack Relays at Merrill West (SJS) Live Results
March 11 Windsor Relays at Windsor HS (NCS) Boys Results Girls Results NEW

COLLEGE

Aggie Open at UC DAVIS Live Results

De Anza Invitational at De Anza College Entries

Texas Distance Festival-March 18th

Check out note from Eric Mastalir in comment section.

In the 5th year of this event, two California runners (Cooper Teare and Luis Grijalva) will take part in the loaded 5k field. The current Northern California record for 5k on the track is held by Eric Mastalir Jesuit at 14:01.4 from 1986 and this could be the first time in a long while that two NorCal runners take a shot at one of the all-time great records. The meet will be live streamed on MileSplit at this LINK. Photo above courtesy of MileSplit.

The following is from Eric's coach, Walt Lange in what he remembers about that record performance.
"Eric got that time at the World Jr Championships in Romania.  He finished 9th in the race and was the first non-African finisher.  The winner ran barefoot. Eric ran the last 1600 in 4:20.  He qualified for that final just two days earlier by running 14:02.05, which is still #2 on the California list.

Hard to make a judgment re how the mark compares with our other records, I'll let others debate that. But it is impressive--done in mid-summer several time zones away, not in the familiar setting of the California state meet."
Walt

You can check out ALL the current Northern California Track and Field records here:
http://www.crosscountryexpress.com/2017/01/northern-california-track-and-field.html

Menlo junior Robert Miranda finished 3rd in 1st heat of Emerging Elite at New Balance Indoors

@MenloKnights jr Robert Miranda finished 3rd in 1st 2 mile heat of Emerging Elite at @NewBalanceIndor in 9:25.89. https://t.co/7t9KnJ3zyf pic.twitter.com/qxfpThQhxv

— Albert Caruana (@CCExpress) March 10, 2017

It's time to start holding yourself accountable

It's time to start holding yourself accountable! pic.twitter.com/BcuKOHP6xz

— Eric Thomas (@Ericthomasbtc) March 7, 2017

2017 Big Cat Invitational at Girls 3200

Aside from Gabrielle Peterson, Healdsburg, winning the race in 11:09.2 (after running 5:05.18 earlier in the meet), check out the weather!

Northern California Invitationals results

Sunset Invitational results (Friday, March 3rd)
http://www.sunsetinvitational.com/uploads/1/6/5/5/16555838/sunset_invitational_results_2017.pdf

Steve March Relays results (Friday, March 3rd)
http://timerhub.com/get_web_index.php?page=redcaptiming.com/2017/smarch/

Big Cat results (Saturday, March 4th)
http://www.redwoodempirerunning.com/2017-boys-big-cat-results/
http://www.redwoodempirerunning.com/2017-girls-big-cat-results/

Dan Gabor Invitational live results (Saturday, March 4th)
http://diablotiming.com/results/2017-03-04/index.htm

Willow Glen Invitational results (Saturday, March 4th)
http://fasttimes.me/meets/17-03-04/

Sacramento State High School Track Classic (Saturday, March 4th)
http://timerhub.com/get_web_index.php?page=redcaptiming.com/2017/sshs/

RustBuster Invitational results (Saturday, March 4th)
http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2017/1st%20Annual%20RustBuster_Monta%20Vista%20HS.htm

Watsonville Winter Time Trials results (Saturday, March 4th)
http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2017/wintertt.htm

Peninsula Kickoff Distance Classic (Saturday, March 4th)
http://runfastresults.com/PeninsulaKickoff17/index.htm

More results will be posted as soon as I get them. If you know of links to results, please post the link below in the comment section or email it to me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com.

Sacramento State Classic Distance/Sprint Race Videos

Videos courtesy of Jesuit coach, Walt Lange

Boys 3200m (Michael Vernau ran CA #1/US #2 9:07.65 3200m.)


Girls 3200m


Boys 1600m


Boys 800m


Girls 1600m and 800m


Boys Sprints, Hurdles and Relays


Girls Sprints, Hurdles and Relays

2017 Dublin Distance Fiesta Meet Info and vote for "winner" shirt color

You can find all the information for this year's Dublin Distance Fiesta at this LINK. There you will find a link where you can vote for the color of this year's T-Shirt for all race winners. The top 2 fastest competitors in the 800, 1600 and 3200 will automatically qualify for the Arcadia Invitational. The winner of each Distance Medley Relay races will qualify for Arcadia as well.

FROM OLYMPIC ATHLETE TO SUSHI CHEF | The Pursuit

Former Jesuit HS great Michael Stember. He ran 1:49.29, 4:04.00, 9:02.36 in high school. He was a two time state champion in the 1600 in 1995 and 1996. He went on to compete at Stanford University and qualified for the 2000 Olympics in the 1500. I believe he still holds the Stanford records for 800 and 1500 with 1:46.20 and 3:35.11 times respectively. Warning if you are a sushi lover. Your mouth will water.

Willow Glen Invitational Performance Lists and Live Results link

http://fasttimes.me/

All Empire Cross Country Runners of the Year

You can check out the Press Democrat selections at the two following links: GIRLS and BOYS.

New Balance Nationals Indoor Initial Entries Released!

You can check out all the entries at this LINK courtesy of www.milesplit.com. If you are wondering why I am posting the link, several NorCal athletes will be competing. I will post the few that I could find below and if you notice or know of other athletes competing, please add them in the comment section below.

GIRLS 
Kaylah Robinson El Cerrito 60m/60m Hurdles
Rylee Bowen Sonoma Academy Mile/Emerging Elite 2 Mile
Katherine Jackson Rodriguez Long Jump
Kate Bowen Sonoma Academy Freshman Mile

BOYS
Ben Micallef Bellarmine 800
Adrian Aguire Antioch 60m Hurdles
Deion Lightfoot Shelton Kimball 60m Hurdles
Robert Miranda Menlo Emerging Elite 2 Mile
Cooper Teare St. Joseph Notre Dame Mile

Dan Gabor Sprint & Distance Festival Heat Sheets and Live Results

http://diablotiming.com/results/2017-03-04/index.htm

Padecky: A quarter-century of smiles for Santa Rosa cross country coach Doug Courtemarche

A great article about longtime Santa Rosa High School coach, Doug Courtemarche can be found at this LINK.

You can also check out my interview with Doug at this LINK. Definitely one of the good guys in our profession and sports and worth taking the time to read about another coach who has invested so much in our two great sports.

What It Takes to Be a Champion

This Friday, the #1 ranked basketball team in California (Archbishop Mitty) will face the #4 team in California (Pinewood) for the Central Coast Section Open Division girls' championship. In CCS, there is an open division which pits the best teams in the section against each other in their own division regardless of size. Mitty is a private school with 1748 students while Pinewood is also a private school with 204 students. There are other sports that also have open divisions but that is not the case for Cross Country and Track and Field. A point of discussion for another time.

Leading up to Friday's game, the San Jose Mercury News's sports writer Darren Sabedra wrote an article previewing the game which you can read at this LINK. What stood out to me were a couple of quotes from Pinewood coach Doc Scheppler. To me, his quotes spoke about the process (practices) and the dedication of his players that enabled them to make the open final.

“Going to practice is like walking into basketball heaven,” he said Wednesday. “Great girls. Great coaches. Great atmosphere. Everybody working together. Everybody loving each other. It’s really a true family, and I don’t use that term loosely from a standpoint of our team. They really do have genuine affection for each other — no jealousy, no pettiness, no cliques. I wish it will never end.”

It takes sacrifice to reach this level, Scheppler said, adding, “This is why you work so hard in the off season. You lift your weights. You do your conditioning. You do your skill work. You practice hard. You don’t go to ski-week vacation. You don’t go on Christmas vacation. Thanksgiving week, we’re practicing.

“That’s the cost of playing in this game. The game is the profit. There’s your profit. There’s your joy. A lot of teams don’t want to pay the price of getting to that game. The Mitty team is the same exact situation. They’ve worked really hard. They’re terrifically coached. They’re great athletes. The two best teams in the section are squaring off Friday. We’re going to be ready to go.”