Sunday, November 17, 2019
SJS and CCS Recaps now posted
Posted by Albert Caruana at 11/17/2019 12:38:00 PM
Labels: 2019 Cross Country
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21 comments:
The SJS D2 girls race was a testament to the depths of the top 3 teams. All had 1 or 2 runners who were at least 10 spots slower that normal. Each of their #1 runners had good races, making for an exciting race.
Has anyone watched the video of the girls 5k championship D2 from Milesplit? At the very end of the video, a girl from Vista Del Lago starts screening and getting in the face of a girl from St Francis as they cross the finish line. Very poor sportsmanship.
Great race by Klos!
I have not seen that but now you made me go look.
Checked the CCS results vs the preview for these notable team upsets to qualify for state:
Girls D1 - Gunn picked 4th and finished 2nd
Boys D1 - Homestead picked 5th and finished 3rd
Boys D2 - Willow Glen picked 4th and finished 1st
Girls D4 - Sacred Heart Prep not mentioned and finished 2nd
Boys D4 - Menlo picked 5th and finished 3rd
Boys D5 - St Francis SCP not mentioned and finished 3rd
Congrats to all the state qualifiers!
I am a MileSplit correspondent and while it was my colleague James Leash who captured the video, I did witness the exchange at the end of the SJS D2 Girl's race. I don't know the whole story, there were allegations of a push or elbow being thrown before the finish, but I hesitate to say anymore because I did not get both sides of the story and I don't want to I have never seen anything like that at a Cross Country race before. I have interviewed several Vista Del Lago runners and their coaches, they have always been the epitome of class, so I really think this was an unfortunate anomaly that will be handled appropriately.
If you search "Jesuit Track" on YouTube, you can see the video of the D1 Boy's race, a portion of which cuts off just as Matt Strangio runs in to a group of spectators were standing right in the middle of the course. Truly unfortunate as it was his last run at this venerable course and he was on pace to make a run at German Fernandez's "untouchable" record.
I was not able to get confirmation on this, but I believe Jesuit's 81:11 team time was the fastest in the history of Willow Hills, besting previous marks by Davis and Jesuit in 2015 by 45 seconds. Additionally, Alex Klos the sophomore from Vista Del Lago, who is still in his first year of running XC, ran what I believe to be the second fastest time ever at Willow Hills, behind only Fiona O'Keeffe who recently won the Pac-12 Cross Country title for Stanford. Strangio, Klos, D1 winner Madison Kackley of Gregori and Austin Vasquez of Whitney (D2 winner) looked particularly strong yesterday and should be forces in their respective races.
Thanks Dan. Very unfortunate for Matt so now maybe people will be a little more courteous to oncoming runners during races.
As for the VDL girl, that was definitely not a spontaneous act but perhaps as a follow up to something that happened on the course.
I saw that video of Strangio's race as well. It was the Ripon Head Coach and he was showing his girls team the final 300 meters. The girls got out of the way, but the coach was blocking the course and facing away from Strangio.
I don't think he lost 20 secs in final 300 meters, but he might of been in the low 15:10's. Still incredible.
Also an amazing run by Klos of Vista Del lago, truly it makes her a state champ contender.
It may or may not have been a spontaneous act but regardless, not the best look for the athlete or Vista.
Incredible Depth by Jesuit. If you include their JV runner, they had 8 @ 16:40 or faster. it's an accomplishment to get 5 under 17 on that course. Davis was so close to getting their 5th under 17. Lastly, if SJS didn't change their alignment rules this year and moved Jesuit to D2 based on CBEDs we could have another Nico Young/ Strangio showdown at State.
Fair or not, we are constantly being judged and one moment like that can tarnish a lot of hard work by an entire team.
As I said, I didn't see what happened in the lead up to the incident with the Vista Del Lago and St. Francis runners, but I did see some of the aftermath. Alex Klos and I were walking to conduct a post race interview and we passed the St. Francis runner, Klos patted her on the back and gave her a look that I can only describe as support.
Unfortunately there is no way we will ever know how much time the collision cost Strangio. In his words, the incident threw him off and totally got him out of his groove mentally (the race was pretty much a time trial for him, as he was running by himself after the first 1/4 mile).
The SJS is designed for competition at the section level. The Southern Section is designed for success at the state level. It's been discussed many times, but there is no getting around the fact that SJS athletes/teams are disadvantaged when it comes to the state cross country meet where they compete again larger (sometimes much larger) schools.
The showdown everyone is going to want to see is going to be Young, Strangio and Cole Sprout at NXN. Much like Liam Anderson last year, I am confident that the plan for both Young and Strangio at State will be to win with minimal effort, not try to break any course records, both of these guys want to be national champions and with only one week between State and NXN, max efforts two weeks in a row is not conducive to winning at the national level.
I believe it was at a clinic that Walt Lange said that the section that was at the biggest disadvantage at state was CCS. If you look at the CCS teams in the different divisions and look at their school size compared to the school sizes of the teams at the state meet, it's a pretty significant difference.
My D1 female athlete has been on the receiving end of profanity laden outbursts both this and last year of the VDL athlete in question and there was nothing to warrant it on either occasion. Based on the experience of my child, hard to believe this was not just a one-off, spontaneous reaction. but rather common operating for this athlete.
Mcfarland running D1 out of central section is worse.
It's not a contest in my mind, it's either right or wrong. I don't care which section or team has it worse, if it's not fair, it's not fair. If you look at the attendance numbers of the Southern Sections schools, they are frequently 50% (or more) larger than their counterparts in other sections. Great individuals can pop up anywhere, but having 5-7 elite runners is really challenging when you have a lower enrollment than your competition. There is a reason why there are different divisions.
I just looked up the number of football divisions in the Southern Section, they've got formulas and grids and a Super League and 13 to 14 divisions.
Nothing will change this year, but after state meet, let's see how things turn out and if the larger schools within each division do better than their lower enrollment counterparts.
"The Southern Section is designed for success at the state level."
That is not true at all. It is also designed for equity at the section level. The advantages at the state level is a by-product.
I think that is well said. The SS just has so many teams that they are successful at the state meet just through sheer numbers. There are also many excellent coaches and talented teams but they do have an advantage when it comes to their school sizes.
I know in CCS, there just aren't enough true Division I teams which means that teams that realistically belong in Divisions II and even III are pressed into Division I just because they are one of the largest schools in the section. This really weakens Division II and III and it's very clear to see in the state meet results.
Congrats to Coach David Monk and the Vacaville High Boys Varsity team with a 2nd place finish!They have a young core coming up and will be in the running for the section title next year.
Surprising that the Milesplit CCS recap didn’t mention Willow Glen. That is a big upset in my mind. St. Francis is loaded. It’s a testament to Victor Santamaria who can coach a public school to a CCS championship over a private school like St. Francis.
Hi Coach Caruana,
I coach Whitney (SJS) and have four guys who've done something pretty unique. As seniors now in 2019, Austin Vasquez, Ethan Dodge, Brenden Jacoby, and Josh Tajiri have earned a trip to the state meet as a team for the 4th consecutive time together. These guys were part of a terrific freshman class in 2016 that right away bought into a high-character team-first approach, and with only one low-stick senior that year, went to state as a team. Whitney has made it to state each year since, including this season. These four haven't just been tag-alongs. Ethan was 2nd man as a freshman, and Austin and Ethan have been our consistent 1-2 since they were sophomores. I'm of course exceedingly proud of them, but also of all our other runners in the Class of 2020 who helped set the standard at Whitney.
I'm wondering how unique this is, for 4 teammates to compete at the state meet all 4 years as a team. Do you know of any other team over the years where 4 guys made state together all 4 years? Do you think this is something you could put out there and see if there are any similar stories? I'd love to hear about them.
Thanks for all you do for Nor Cal HS XC !!!
Jerry Dodge (Whitney head coach)
Coach Dodge, congratulations on the success of Whitney, it has been my pleasure to follow them during my coverage of the SJS the last few years for California MileSplit. I am thinking that what they have accomplished would be pretty rare, if not unique at the D2 level. I could see at as being more feasible for a small school (D4&5) where it isn't uncommon to see underclassmen show well all the way to state. I don't know that I have spoken to any of the other runners, but I have interviewed Austin a couple of times and he is a great representative of your program. As a UC Davis alum, I think he has a great opportunity to be a part of a program that is really on the rise. All the best to you and your team as you prepare for state.
As to the answer to your question, I am really not sure and don't know how it could be quickly found.
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