Sunday, July 29, 2018

Best NorCal XC team ever?

Somebody asked in a comment section about who is the best NorCal XC team in history. I threw out a few teams like the '85 Jesuit team with the Mastalir twins and Paul Thomas, Mt. View team that won state in 2009, last year's St. Francis team and the Davis team (girls) that finished 2nd at NXN. I am sure there are others so who are the other candidates?

Woodward Park All-Time
Course Record for girls: Great Oak 2015 89:13
Top 3 NorCal Team Times
1) Davis 2015 89:33
2) Davis 2016 89:56
3) Davis 2013 91:02

Top 3 NorCal Team Times
Course Record for boys: Great Oak 2015 76:10
Top 3 NorCal Team Times
1) Dublin 2017 77:55
2) St. Francis 2017 78:25
3) Mt. View 2009 78:26

15 comments:

  1. Jack Marden had some greatbous teams at Mission San Jose in the 70's. Probably not on par with that Jesuit group but close.

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  2. Yes, definitely. The Mission SJ boys actually hold the 2nd fastest time behind the Jesuit boys on the all-time lists on the Crystal Springs Course.

    Also, Leigh had some very good teams in the 60s and 70s I believe. There have been several schools that did quite well in the postal meets but I don't think those teams can compare the better teams in the last decade.

    Any others?

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  3. Albert, humbly the runners in the 60s & 70s would stomp these modern teams. The

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  4. Prior to 1987, there was no CIF championships. There was the 2 mile postal, generally held right after sectional XC championships were completed, to provide some reference:

    "The CCS Postal meet record is 47:05 by Mission San Jose in 1978 (Strangio 9:04.8, Jack Marden 9:21.2, Jay Marden 9:23.4, Reed 9:23.8, Carey 9:55)."

    "In 1974 a team from Jesuit High School entered the competition and ran a fine 48:00.8. The date was November 2, 1974, and the site was San Jose State College. Dirk Feenstra, a senior, led the Marauders with a 9:19.4. He was followed by Rod Read, a junior, in 9:34.4, senior Bob Wulff at 9:41.6, and two sophomores, Pete Gaul, 9:42.0, and Tom O'Neil, 9:43.4. This was an average of 9:36.2 for two miles, or 9:33.0 for 3200 meters."

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  5. Steve, thanks for the adds. Those two mile postal times would be a great way to compare them to recent teams. I did mention before that the Mission San Jose team did run the 2nd fastest team time on the Crystal Springs course. I know in the past teams like Carlmont, Homestead and perhaps others usually finished among the fastest teams in the Postal meets.

    I think as far as girls, we are pretty certain the Davis group is the best. On the boys' side, it's still up for debate.

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  6. 12:00 am...very humble.

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  7. Skyline high, Oakland section, late 70's under coach Dave Petersin was an absolute monster for years.
    John Johnson 4:07, Tom Valdez 4:12, Jamir Pearl 4:13,and the Downs brothers. Tom at 8:55 ( johnson I think was 76 but the others 78-79

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  8. Does it mean anything that 2 of the top 3 boys teams are from last year? That seems odd to me. Is it an anomaly or is it because NorCal running is getting better?

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  9. "Does it mean anything that 2 of the top 3 boys teams are from last year? That seems odd to me. Is it an anomaly or is it because NorCal running is getting better?"

    Recency bias.

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  10. As great as the Mastalir twins and Paul Thomas were, the 1985 Jesuit team lost to the 1985 Bellarmine team (#6 on the Crystal Springs team time list) at both Clovis and the Nor Cal Championships, which was before there was a State meet. It's impossible to compare eras, but despite their great low sticks it's hard to make a case for Jesuit's 1985 team being the greatest ever when they didn't win the major meets in their own year.

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  11. I agree that recency bias colors most subjective lists but when the team times on the same courses objectively show 2 recent teams being the best, then the question remains: why now?

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  12. So, what Nor Cal team has the best team time at Woodward park, at the state meet?

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  13. St. Francis by .01 over Mt. View.

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  14. The 2007 Carlmont girls still hold the Crystal Springs record of 91:20.

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