Donation to the Cross Country Express Site

If you have enjoyed all the Track and Field coverage this season, a kind donation would be appreciated.  You can do so with the link to the right.  If you don't do online payments, you can email me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com and I will send you an address where you can send a check.

This site will remain a free service but as you know, a lot of time and effort goes into the maintenance of this website.

Thank you very much to those of you that have already donated.  If I haven't done so already, you will hear from me in appreciation.

Needing some motivation for 2021?

 Check out Lance Retz's YouTube channel which features interviews with some of the more prominent coaches in the nation as well as his interview right here with the American Fork Cross Country team which set a national team time record in 2020.

College Committments

As we get closer to the signing period, please continue to update our list.

I will continue to update this list throughout the year. Please feel free to add others in the comment section below. I know I do not have everyone so please help if you know of other athletes and who are sharing where they are attending college next fall.

John Lester Amador Valley-Stanford University
Gigi Clifford Marin Catholic-Vanderbilt University
Dylan Gunn Campolindo-UC Davis

Audrey Allen Miramonte-UCLA

Owen Lekki Campolindo-Davidson

Samantha Wallenstrom Marin Catholic-Duke University

Luci Lambert Sacred Heart Prep-University of Virginia

Harper McLain St Helena-University of Oregon

Nolan Topper Bellarmine-Stanford University

Galen Topper Bellarmine-Stanford University

Madison Kackley Gregori-UC Davis

Colin Peattie Bellarmine-University of Virginia

Patrick Currulla De La Salle-UCLA

Camden Wheeler Monterey Trail-University of Oregon

Anna Weirich Harker-UCLA

Abby Fletcher Oak Ridge-Cal Poly SLO

Hope Bergmark Amador Valley-UC Davis

Kirsten Martin Aptos-Cal Poly SLO

Melissa Cichon Leland-Cal Poly SLO

Anna Voghtmann Vista del Lago-UC Irvine

Issy Cairns St. Francis, Mt. View-University of Southern California

Ansel Tucker Davis-Gonzaga

Shae Hill Granada-UC Davis (NEW)

Sebastian Vaisset-Fauvel College Park-Humboldt State (NEW)

St. Helena senior Harper McClain with 16:48 5k Time Trial

https://ca.milesplit.com/videos/451683

Catching up with Bellarmine seniors, Galen and Nolan Topper

You can check out my interview with the Topper twins (Nolan on left, Galen on right)  at this link:

https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/288587-catching-up-with-bellarmine-seniors-galen-and-nolan-topper

NFHS Coach of the Year Nominations Released By CIF

 https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/288599-nfhs-coach-of-the-year-nominations-released-by-cif

And on the CIF website:
https://cifstate.org/coaches-admin/nfhs_coach_noms_2020

2019 California State Meet Results: Reality vs Fantasy

An additional article on MileSplit California posted today:
https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/286305-2019-california-state-meet-results-reality-vs-fantasy

Northern California Time Trial Results

Granada HS (September 26)
http://diablotiming.com/results/2020-09-26/

College Park HS (October 9)
http://diablotiming.com/results/2020-10-09/

Campolindo HS (October 10)
https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=183312&show=all

De La Salle HS/Jesuit HS (October 10)
https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/179286/results/733043

Former Montgomery HS runner Sara Bei finishes 2nd at the London Marathon

 Now at the age of 37, Sara Hall sprints to a second place finish at the London Marathon with a new lifetime best time of 2:22:01. That is 5:25 pace for 26.2 miles. At the 40k mark, Sara was 40 seconds behind 2nd place and she made all that up including the sprint finish you can check out below.

Sara was a 4 time state champion in cross country from 1997-2000. She was also a 3-time state champion in track winning the 1600 in 1998 and the 3200 in 1998 and 2001. She attended Stanford University and finished 2nd thee times in the NCAA outdoor 5000m and indoor 3000m races. She was a 7 time all-American and helped lead Stanford University to an NCAA cross country title with a 3rd place finish.

2019 State XC meet Reality vs Fantasy Results

 Thanks to Jesuit coach Walt Lange. In the following link, you will be able to view the results from last year's California state XC meet as well as the results if the state meet was divided equally so that teams faced teams their own size. You can check out Walt's handy work at this LINK. The link has been updated to include team scores.

What this means is that the section meets would continue as they have been contested. Once the teams have been decided, they will then be divided equally between the five divisions. The biggest 23/24 schools would be in Division 1, the next 23/24 schools would be in Division II, and so on. 

You can share your thoughts on the potential state meet change in the comment section below.

Desert Twilight XC Invitational Results

The two day meet that took place yesterday and will finish up today. You can check out the results for all of yesterday's race at this LINK. 

Newspaper articles:

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Local runners brave Arizona heat for first action in months

Marin Catholic track standout Samantha Wallenstrom commits to Duke

 https://www.marinij.com/2020/09/18/marin-catholic-track-standout-samantha-wallenstrom-commits-to-duke/

Oak Ridge HS (SJS) names Chad Worthen as new Head Cross Country coach

Here is his profile which I found online:
https://www.fleetfeetracingsacramento.com/training/coach-chad

Looking back at the first California state cross country meet in 1987

At MileSplitCA, we are posting a series of articles detailing the first ever state cross country meet from 1987. It's hard to believe that this progressive state was actually the last state in the nation to have a state cross country meet.  There are some similarities and differences from what you have today. Find out what conditions were put in place back then that are present to this day. What section did not participate at that meet? Check out what individuals and teams won that first year as well as how many divisions were contested that day.

Remembering 1987: McFarland Fact vs Fiction
https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/284112-remembering-1987-mcfarland-fact-vs-fiction

Remembering 1987: First CIF-State XC Championships
https://ca.milesplit.com/articles/285174-remembering-1987-first-cif-state-xc-championships

Just Athletics Podcast Interview

If you are interested, I was interviewed on the Just Athletics Podcast by Siuslaw HS coach Chris Johnson and Central Catholic coach Dave Frank this past week. You can find the podcast at the links below. Along with my interview, you can also find other interviews with Shelby Houlihan, Jason Oswalt, Jay Johnson, Timo Mostert etc. There is a new Podcast dropped each Thursday if you are looking for a cool podcast that interviews interesting coaches and athletes in our two sports. 

Apple Podcasts Link
Stitcher Link

Amador Valley senior John Lester commits to Stanford University

You can check out the MileSplit article and interview with Lester and future college teammate Robert Dinonato at this LINK. You can also check out my interview with Lester at this LINK and my interview with his coach (Jason Oswalt) at this LINK.

Posting comments on this blog

Just so there is no confusion when you post a comment on this blog, I have to approve it in order for it to become public. I would say the majority of the comments are positive which has been my intent of this blog. My goal was to provide a site to highlight Northern California Cross Country and Track and field athletes and coaches which I think I have accomplished since 2006.

 Back to the comments, if you feel strongly about any subject and it may be deemed a bit negative or harsh, I would recommend you add your name to your comment. I personally don't see the benefit of negative comments posted anonymously. If you want to start a discussion, I along with other people would be happy to have a discussion with you provided we know who you are. If you don't want to share your name, perhaps this is not the place for you to share such thoughts. 

Going forward, I will continue to try to post daily and if you have any links, videos, articles etc that you feel would be beneficial for our community, feel free to reach out to me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com.

Amador Valley's Hope Bergmark with 17:02 Time Trial 5k

Amador Valley rising senior Hope Bergmark was the 2018 NCS Cross Country Division 1 champion at NCS as she led the Dons to the team championship. That season, she also won the Mt. SAC Invitational individual sweepstakes race as her team won that race as well. A little over a week ago, Bergmark ran a 5k Time Trial which you can view below in which she finished in 17:02.

Galen and Nolan Topper shine in Saturday 1600m Time Trial

During the summer, the website tullyrunners.com ranked Bellarmine as the 3rd best team in the nation behind only Newbury Park and Great Oak. In my own rankings which you can check out HERE, you can check out the NorCal team and individual rankings which have Bellarmine as the top team in NorCal and Nolan and Galen Topper as the 2nd and 4th best runners in NorCal. I actually had Galen at #3 behind his Bell teammates but didn't have the proof yet to keep him in that spot. Yesterday, Galen and Nolan along with Advait Krishnan of Evergreen Valley and Kevin Andrews of Los Altos followed former St. Francis runner JP Garcia to impressive early-season 1600m times. You can watch their effort below.
Galen Topper 4:13
Nolan Topper 4:15
Advait Krishnan 4:21
Kevin Andrews 4:25

Live races on YouTube going on right now! (from Michigan)

Click the link which will take you to YouTube and their live feed.