2024 "Plato Yanicks" All-NorCal Cross Country Team

Here is the 2023 team if you need a refresher. https://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/XC/2023/allnorca.htm

Here is a list of all the teams dating back to 1953.
https://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/XC/alnorcal.htm

A group of voters will vote on the members of this team, and it will be posted sometime before the new year.

If you would like to be included as one of the voters, please email me your interest at albertjcaruana@gmail.com.

Keith Conning (1941-2024)

For those of you who remember Keith Conning, it was reported that he passed away on November 29th. He was a Berkeley HS coach but will more than likely be remembered for announcing many meets in Northern California such as the Stanford Invitational. He was quite the historian and, for many years, helped select the All-NorCal team for cross country. Many have said that he was such an advocate for so many athletes as well as both sports that he covered. He was also the editor for The Conning Tower which covered Cross Country and Track and Field in Northern California. 

If you would like to share your memories about Keith Conning, please do so in the comment section below.

RIP Mr. Conning.

You may read Keith's obituary here: https://obituaries.neptune-society.com/.../keith-conning...

A celebration of Keith's life will be held January 18 at 1pm, at First Church Berkeley UCC  (Directions & Parking: https://www.firstchurchberkeley.org/directions ). A reception with food and refreshments will follow. Please RSVP to help us get a rough headcount for the caterer: https://forms.gle/NMUnBwR1zcrS8faM8

Jesuit coach Walt Lange awarded Joe Newton Award at NXN

From Jesuit HS.

Cross Country Head Coach Walt Lange received a prestigious honor on Saturday, December 7, as he was named the Joe Newton Coach of the Year at the Nike Cross Nationals!

Coach Lange, with an extraordinary 55 years of coaching at Jesuit High School, including 54 years as head coach, now joins the ranks of elite coaches recognized on a national stage. Known for his humility, Lange's contributions to high school cross country and the countless lives he has impacted over the decades make this recognition richly deserved.

Lange's dedication, passion, and lifelong commitment to developing athletes both on and off the course embody the Jesuit tradition of excellence and service. Congratulations to Coach Lange on this remarkable and well-deserved honor! 

You can check out my past interviews with Coach Lange at the following links:
https://www.crosscountryexpress.com/2009/10/catching-up-with-jesuit-hs-coach-walt.html#google_vignette

Milesplit Feature on Coach Lange
https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/324536/profile-the-walt-lange-legacy-50-years-of-excellence

Another MileSplit feature on CA Coaching Legends
https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/222603/ca-coaching-legends-walt-lange-of-jesuit

NXN and Footlocker West results

You will find results from this past Saturday's NXN meet in Portland at the following link. Congratulations to Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery who was the lone NorCal representative as she finished in 33rd place in a time of 17:58.0. For the boys, the top NorCal individual was Eli Fitchen-Young who finished in 34th place with a time of 16:03.4. The two California teams that qualified to NXN were both from NorCal with Jesuit finishing in 11th place and Menlo finishing in 15th place.
https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/240517/results/all

At the Footlocker West meet, in the girl's championship race, Ella Mogannam of Lick-Wilmerding was the top finisher for NorCal with a 14th-place finish. In the boy's race, two NorCal runners qualified for the Footlocker national meet with a top 10 finish. Trey Caldwell of De La Salle finished in 4th place qualifying for the third time. Aydon Stefanopoulos of Los Gatos also qualified with a 9th-place finish.
https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/251223/results/all

What would you like to ask Coach Chris Puppione?

I moved this to the top as many of you are not familiar with this series since they were first posted in 2009. Chris is now back coaching at Sonoma Academy, where his boys qualified for the state meet along with an individual girl. The links below are still full of useful information that could help you or your team during the upcoming season.

You can also see what Malmo posted in the comment box in regards to the long run. Good topic of discussion.
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Some of the most popular posts on this blog have been the training articles that were posted during cross country season by former Miramonte Cross Country and Track and Field coach, Chris Puppione (pictured to the left during his coaching stint with UC Davis). What we did in the past was for me to ask the questions to Chris pertaining to topics that you can see linked below. Some of you are familiar with them already but for those of you that are new to the site, they are definitely worth a look.

We would now like to open up this process to the coaches, athletes, parents and fans out there and ask for your input on topics for Chris to tackle next. YOU come up with the topic and from that topic, you ask the questions. Once we have enough choices, Chris and I will choose the best topic and post the answers on the blog.

Use the comment box below to list your topics and questions.

Peaking (Part I) by Chris Puppione...

Peaking (Part II) by Chris Puppione...

Peaking (Part III) by Chris Puppione...

Nutrition (Part I) by Chris Puppione...

Nutrition (Part II) by Chris Puppione...

Threshold (Part I) by Chris Puppione...

LT Training (Part II) by Chris Puppione...

The Long Run (Part I) by Chris Puppione...

The Long Run (Part II) by Chris Puppione...

2024 California State Meet Results

You can find all the results at this link:
https://www.rtspt.com/events/cif/xc2024/mp/

Congratulations to the NorCal NXN qualifiers:
Eli Fitchen-Young Santa Cruz (CCS)
Hanne Thomsen Montgomery (NCS)
Jesuit boys team
Menlo boys team

NorCal podium teams and individuals (in order)

Division I Girls
None

Division II Girls
2) St. Francis, MV
3) Whitney

Individuals
2) Kinga Czajkowska Palo Also 17:31.5
4) Amaya Bharadwaj Palo Alto 17:34.6
7) Khloe Delatorre Vacaville 17:46.7
9) Grace Baxter Granite Bay 17:51.3

Division I Boys
2) Bellarmine

Individuals
2) Arrin Sagiraju Dougherty Valley 15:06.2

Division II Boys
1) Jesuit (State Champions)

Individuals
3) Trey Caldwell De La Salle 14:49.8
5) Aydon Stefanoupolos Los Gatos 15:02.2
7) Drake Hoferer Jesuit 15:04.2
10) Isaac Abbott Jesuit 15:04.6

Division III Girls
None

Individuals
2) Hanne Thomsen Montgomery 17:21.6
4) Seelah Kittelstrom Montgomery 17:38.9
5) Amrie Lacefield Montgomery 17:39.3

Division IV Boys
None

Individuals
1) Eli Fitchen-Young Santa Cruz 14:41.3
2) Broen Holman Sonora 14:57.2
8) Logan Letulle Miramonte 15:30.2
9) Ian Sharp Archie Williams 15:31.2

Division V Girls
1) Branson (State Champions)
3) Lick-Wilmerding

Individuals
2) Ella Mogannam Lick-Wilmerding 17:47.4
3) Brooke Oliveira Castilleja 17:58.2
8) Farah Allen Branson 18:27.9
9) Veronica Taira Menlo 18:27.9
10) Audrey Spaly Branson 18:29.3

Division III Boys
1) Campolindo (State Champions)

Individuals
3) Miles Cook Sacred Heart Cathedral 14:54.5
7) Andres Lomeli Kimball 15:14.5
10) Trey Wright St. Ignatius 15:22.9

Division IV Girls
3) Placer

Individuals
4) Giselle Fernandez Riverbank 17:57.1
6) Ani Stieg Archie Williams 17:59.6
9) Olivia Passafiume Placer 18:05.4

Division V Boys
1) Menlo (State Champions)
3) Crystal Springs Uplands School

Individuals
2) Landon Pretre Menlo 14:38.8
3) Ben Bouie Crystal Springs Uplands School 14:54.5
4) William Hauser Menlo 15:02.4
8) Henry Hauser Menlo 15:23.9
10) Ryan Fitzpatrick Nueva 15:27.7

Feel free to leave a comment below on many outstanding efforts at yesterday's meet. Biggest surprise? Most outstanding performance?