Southern Section moves prelims and finals back to Mt. SAC

https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/279457-Southern%20Section%20Returns%20XC%20Finals%20to%20Mt.%20SAC

I think there are mixed reactions from SS coaches and athletes regarding this decision that was made public today. Hopefully, we will get to race this fall and all state meet competitors give their best effort at the Woodward Park in November.

Petition to save the Crystal Springs course

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/618/404/789/crystal-springs-cross-country-course-will-be-closed-permanently-help-save-crystal-springs/

Webinar with Nico Young and his twin brothers tonight at 5:30pm

For those of you interested, Liberty HS coach Eric Morford will be hosting another guest tonight at 5:30pm with one of the best long-distance runners in California history, Nico Young. His twin brothers (Leo and Lex) will be joining him as well. You can register at the following link and will have the opportunity to ask Nico and his brothers live.
http://deltalimitless.com/webinar-series

Coach's Zoom Meeting this Saturday at 10am

If you want to join us, please email me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com and I will get you the login info.

For this Saturday, we are going to discuss the end of the season and how we get our runners to run their best at the league final, section and state meets. We have lots to discuss on this topic and I am looking forward to a great conversation.

Redwood Empire Running

Before 2008, we used to compete at the NCS Class A meet and my go-to site for athletes that competed at the meet was run by statistician extraordinaire, Jim Crowhurst. He kept stats for the Redwood Empire area which were not as easy to find, especially in the 90s and early 00s. Jim has since had to move to a new site which you can find at https://redwoodempirerunning.com/

Recently, Jim has been doing a deep dive into the history of certain events including and his first event was the high jump which includes 5'11" high jumper Mindi Wiley (in the photo). You can check that out at this link:

https://redwoodempirerunning.com/history-of-girls-redwood-empire-high-jump/

He's now posted the history of 1600 in the Redwood Empire and what an awesome group of runners! I would put that group up against any group of any area in California. Check it out.

https://redwoodempirerunning.com/history-of-girls-redwood-empire-1600m/

Section Showdown Virtual Semis: Girls, CC vs. SJ

Very exciting virtual competition on MileSplitCA between the best of all-time between CCS and SJS girls. It's interesting to see the back and forth competition from event to event and for the victor to be decided in the final event, the 1600m relay.
https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/278929-section-showdown-virtual-semis-girls-cc-vs-sj

Crystal Springs course closing?

A quick update. At this point, we have to wait for the announcement from college and district in regard to the future of the course. We will know more once that announcement is made. I am certain that there will be plenty of people that will step forward to potentially help with the maintenance of the course. In the meantime, we should all be very thankful for the countless hours that Bob Rush has put into that course with the help of administration and staff at CSM. If you wish to thank Bob for his efforts, feel free to drop him an email at rushruner@gmail.com.

I will continue to update as I hear more.

I will post more about this when I get a moment later. In the meantime, feel free to comment below on some of your memories of the course.

Here is an article in today's SM Daily Journal. There is hope and I think the running community will really rally to save the course. There are way too many people that have a stake in that course and I m hoping for the best.
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/sports/local/cross-country-takes-hit-with-crystal-springs-closure/article_8a83a130-8045-11ea-8f2d-2fb398e9465e.html

The following was shared with me which was a Facebook post and hopefully, this is not true or final. Has anybody heard anything about the following?

"Bob Rush announced that the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course in Belmont will be closed permanently! 😰 Bob has managed the course since the seventies.

“It is with a very sad heart to announce that the College of San Mateo Athletic Dept. will be closing the CSM Crystal Springs Cross Country Course to all schools and all public runners and walkers. The entire area will be closed to all. it will not open even after the Corona virus has been controlled. Any questions should be directed to the CSM Athletic Dept.
I am no longer involved.”

High school athletes robbed of National Signing Day during pandemic

St. Francis Sacramento senior Izzy Fauria featured on Fox40. You can check out the video and article at this LINK.

Webinar with Newbury Park senior Jace Aschbrenner

2020 Central Coast Section Divisions and changes from '19

You can find next year's divisional placements at these links:
Boys: https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/z/6/t3ymt5s3iwdrx5/19-20_CBEDS_for_2020__boys_cross_country.pdf
Girls: https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/x/4/6ctur9yd0bx3qq/19-20_CBEDS_for_2020__girls_cross_country.pdf

The changes from 2019 are as follows:
Boys
Prospect and Overfelt moved to Division II from Division III
King City, Gunderson, and Santa Cruz moved to Division III from Division IV
Downtown College Prep moved up to Division IV from Division V

Girls
Soledad moved up to Division II from Division III
King City and Seaside moved up to Division III from Division IV
Downtown College Prep moved up to Division IV from Division V

Webinar Series with special running guests starting today at 3:30pm

A reminder that our special guest today is Newbury Park senior Jace Aschbrenner. Sign up below.

The webinar series is FREE and hosted by Liberty coach Eric Morford.

And speaking of the guest lineup this week all at 3:30pm PST:
• 4/13 Monday: Craig Engels (Professional runner-1:44.68/3:34.04/3:51.60)
• 4/14 Tuesday: Jace Aschbrenner (Newbury Park senior runner 4:18.85/9:05.55/14:53.7 Woodward)
• 4/15 Wednesday: None
• 4/16 Thursday: Fiona Max (4:27.27-1500/9:43.91 3000)
& Isabel Max (2:12.40 800/4:43.57 1500)
• 4/17 Friday: Avery Bartlett (Georgia Tech 1:47.54/3:44.88)

If you want to join the webinar today or on any of the other days, you can sign up at this LINK. You can listen to the guest speakers, ask questions and some of you will be able to ask your questions live on screen.

Please share the above info with your teammates and friends.

Here is the meeting from today

High schooler makes a run at a four-minute mile in spite of coronavirus obstacles

By Sacramento Bee writer Joe Davidson.
https://www.sacbee.com/sports/high-school/joe-davidson/article241925021.html?fbclid=IwAR212A5oEjSoTusZtet2jI1XUgSBQmnY3OYyjGPDCAq-ndXFFpBaGYKL4rg

The following was posted by Harold Kuphaldt on his Facebook page.
Thank you, Joe Davidson. Well written as always. How can we not respect what Matt Strangio has done and is doing? His drive and determination and grit is an inspiration to me and many others. I feel horrible for Matt and Chase and all the other Senior athletes who worked so hard and had their seasons end amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It is easy to dismiss the lost track season as trivial in light of 10,000 plus Americans who have already lost their lives to this pandemic. However, for those of us that know what it is like to push our bodies to the point of breaking in the effort to achieve a goal, we can appreciate the profound and life-long impact of losing a chance to achieve our goals by something that is beyond our control. I think of some of my running hero’s who lost a chance to compete in the 1980 Olympics because of the boycott. The scars of that experience and decision affect many of them still today ... 40 years later. To those that are offended by Matt’s attempt at history in this time trial, I say try to think of it from his perspective. Respect the effort and dedication and morn for the loss of this season and the impact it will have on so many athletes. For the rest of these senior athletes' lives many will be saying “I think I could have run..., but we will never know because the track season was cancelled due to Clovis-19.” I am a man of faith, and I do believe God can take bad things and turn them into good. Easter is a good time to remember a time when God changed the world forever through what looked at the time as a very Bad thing on Friday ... Jesus was tortured and killed. Then came Sunday! I look forward to seeing Matt Strangio’s Sunday. He is destined for greatness. Thanks for writing this article, Joe. I thank you for the shoutout in the article too.

Running links that you might enjoy during this time

The XC divisions for the fall season have been posted for CCS. You can find them at these links:
Boys Divisions LINK
Girls Divisions LINK

I will take a look at the other NorCal sections and will post as soon as I find them.

Jesuit coach Walt Lange has a very good Flipboard which is updated frequently. You can find it HERE.

If you enjoy listening to Podcasts, here are a few of my favorites:
Coaching Runners Podcast (Jay Johnson): https://coachjayjohnson.com/coaching-runners-podcast/
Track/XC Coaching Podcast (Interviews with Coaches): https://soundcloud.com/user-270286681/
Final Surge Podcast: https://blog.finalsurge.com/category/podcasts/
Lets Run Podcast: https://www.letsrun.com/tag/podcast/
Run to the Top Podcast: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/learning-from-elite-runners/runnersconnect
Gill Athletics Podcast: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/gill-athletics-connections-gill-athletics-wC7bqpHSi_6/
C Tolle Run Podcast: https://www.ctollerun.com/category/podcast/
If you want to add any of your favorites, feel free to add the link in the comment section below.

The following is a very cool clip put together by Liberty coach Eric Morford about Billy Mills.


The same goes for anything else you want to share. Comment section below.