2012 North Coast Section Preview Men

Courtesy of Keith Conning and THE CONNING TOWER:

http://theconningtower.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-north-coast-section-preview-men.html

2012 North Coast Section Preview Men

From THE CONNING TOWER (top 10 returning athletes in each event):
http://theconningtower.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-north-coast-section-preview-men.html

Who are the heavy favorites this year?  Who are the contenders that are not listed?

NCS Returning State Meet Qualifiers

Event 3  Girls 1600 Meter Run                                                     
  1 Verdon, Carrie            11 Campolindo             4:51.80   10     
  3 Novell, Carina            11 Granada                5:00.61    6   
  4 Blum, Bridget             11 University-SF          5:00.72    4 

Event 4  Boys 1600 Meter Run                                                    
  2 Fuhriman, Trevor          11 Monte Vista            4:15.26    8   
  3 Fehrnstrom, Jamie         11 Miramonte              4:15.79    6             
 
Event 5  Girls 100 Meter Hurdles                                                  
  1 Wilson, Trinity           11 St. Mary's               13.38   NWI  10   
  3 Wallace, Sasha            10 Holy Names               14.07   NWI   6   
  4 Craft, Taylor             10 Newark Memorial          14.19   NWI   4         

Event 6  Boys 110 Meter Hurdles                                                   
  1 Barton, Michael           11 DeLaSalle                14.22  -0.6  10      
  3 Walker, Kenneth           11 Kennedy-Richmond         14.41  -0.6   6    
 
Event 7  Girls 400 Meter Dash                                                     
  2 Hollis, Taylor            11 Newark Memorial          56.98    8   
  3 Winn, Chloe                9 Monte Vista              57.09    6         
 
Event 8  Boys 400 Meter Dash                                                      
  2 Bayley, Nick              11 Amador Valley            49.08    8    
  4 Carter, Christian         10 San Leandro              49.51    4            
 
Event 9  Girls 100 Meter Dash                                                     
  1 Campbell, Strangenae      11 Pinole Valley            11.96  -0.7  10   
  2 McMillan, Lilla           JR Tamalpais                12.09  -0.7   8     
  4 Harvey, Atiya             11 James Logan              12.21  -0.7   4         

Event 10  Boys 100 Meter Dash                                                     
  1 McBride, Andre            11 San Leandro              10.82   0.9  10        
  3 Speegle, Myles            10 Castro Valley            10.97   0.9   6         

Event 11  Girls 800 Meter Run                                                     
  1 Ibrahim, Sadia            10 Santa Rosa             2:12.99   10   
  2 Ricks, Madison             9 California             2:14.00    8   
  3 Jones, Nijae              10 San Leandro            2:14.71    6   
  4 Julien, Aida               9 Head Royce             2:14.97    4         
 
Event 12  Boys 800 Meter Run
  None         
 
Event 13  Girls 300 Meter Hurdles                                                 
  2 Johnson, Kyra             11 Piner                    44.05    8              
  4 Edwards, Tori             11 California               46.11    4         
       
Event 14  Boys 300 Meter Hurdles                                               
  1 Grimble, Kenny               Las Lomas                38.34   10      
  3 Kutchera, Kevin           11 Granada                  39.53    6            
 
Event 15  Girls 200 Meter Dash                                                   
  1 Campbell, Strangenae      11 Pinole Valley            24.24  -1.1  10      
  3 McMillan, Lilla           JR Tamalpais                24.75  -1.1   6         

Event 16  Boys 200 Meter Dash                                                     
  2 Simms, Shawn              11 Deer Valley              22.08   0.4   8   
  3 McBride, Andre            11 San Leandro              22.11   0.4   6   
  4 Corbin, Christian          9 Novato                   22.20   0.4   4         

Event 17  Girls 3200 Meter Run                                          
  1 Verdon, Carrie            11 Campolindo            10:41.50   10    
  4 Pianin, Jena              10 Amador Valley         11:03.91    4        
 
Event 18  Boys 3200 Meter Run                                                     
  1 Luna, Luis                11 Piner                  9:13.71   10

Event 32  Boys Discus Throw                                
  4 Gagliano, Stanley         11 McKinleyville           153-03    4       
 
Event 27  Boys High Jump                                                         
  1 Frazier, Noel             11 California             6-08.00   10            
 
Event 24  Girls Triple Jump                                                   
  2 Wallace, Sasha            10 Holy Names            39-04.50   3.1   

Event 25  Girls Shot Put                                                          
  1 Ioramo, Danielle          11 James Logan           40-07.50   10   
  2 Laney, Morgan             11 Del Norte             39-08.50    8   
  3 Taito, Chantell           10 Deer Valley           39-05.00    6          
 
Event 22  Girls Pole Vault                                                    
  1 Virdi, Cimran             11 Las Lomas             12-09.00   10   
  2 Steffen, Danielle         11 Petaluma              11-09.00    8   
  3 Gemar, Megan              12 Las Lomas             11-06.00    6   
  4 Chang, Ariel              10 Mission San Jose      11-03.00    4             
 
Event 30  Boys Triple Jump                                                
  3 Prothro, Jeffry           10 James Logan           46-00.50   1.9   6  

Event 26  Girls Discus Throw                                                      
  2 Durand, Kathleen          10 Maria Carrillo          124-11    8              

Event 21  Girls High Jump                                              
  2 Tuck, Courtney            10 Petaluma               5-06.00    8   
  3 Guinn, Jasmine            11 Berkeley               5-02.00    5              

Event 29  Boys Long Jump                                                 
  2 Moore, Nate                9 Bishop O'Dowd         22-08.75   1.4   8    
  4 Moran, Nick               11 McKinleyville         21-10.75  -1.1   4        
 
Event 31  Boys Shot Put                                                          
  4 Perrella, Sam             SO Redwood               50-11.50    4        
 
Event 28  Boys Pole Vault                                           
  2 Julyk, Noah               11 Las Lomas             14-00.00    8   
  3 Wentworth, Marshall       11 Piedmont             J14-00.00    6   
  4 Morales, Jesus            11 Liberty               13-06.00    4           
 
Event 23  Girls Long Jump                                                   
  2 Guinn, Jasmine            11 Berkeley              18-03.75  -0.2   8     
  4 Smyers-Jones, Kortni      10 Holy Names            18-00.25  -0.8   4   

All-East Bay Cross Country Teams (NCS)

Boys:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/high-school-sports/ci_19588817
Boys XC Runner of the Year:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/high-school-sports/ci_19589013
Boys XC Coach of the Year:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/high-school-sports/ci_19588838
Girls:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/high-school-sports/ci_19589637
Girls XC Runner of the Year:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/high-school-sports/ci_19589512
Girls XC Coach of the Year:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/high-school-sports/ci_19589624

NCS Rankings going into NCS Meet of Champions

I will once again be writing up the preview article for the NCS Meet of Champions this year.  Below are the stripped down version of the rankings (without commentary).  I would love to get everybody's thoughts on all the divisions and who are the top contenders (teams and individuals).  Any help would be great appreciated.  Please help rank the following teams and speak up if you see any errors!  Did I miss anybody?  Who should move up or down?

Division I Boys
1.  Amador Valley
2.  De La Salle
3.  Granada
4.  Monte Vista
5.  Santa Rosa
On the bubble:  Livermore, Castro Valley.

Division I Girls
1.  Granada
2.  Amador Valley
3.  Monte Vista
4.  James Logan
5.  Livermore
On the bubble:  Castro Valley, Santa Rosa, Berkeley.

Division II Boys
1.  San Ramon Valley
2.  Alameda
3.  Maria Carrillo
4.  Dougherty Valley
5.  American
On the bubble:  Arroyo, Clayton Valley, Casa Grande.

Division II Girls
1.  Maria Carrillo
2.  Alameda
3.  College Park
4.  San Ramon Valley
5.  Dougherty Valley
On the bubble:  Clayton Valley, Washington, Casa Grande.

Division III Boys
1.  Piner
2.  Campolindo
3.  Miramonte
4.  Redwood
5.  Bishop O'Dowd
On the bubble:  Las Lomas, Tamalpais.

Division III Girls
1.  Campolindo
2.  Acalanes
3.  Redwood
4.  Las Lomas
5.  Bishop O'Dowd
On the bubble:  Tamalpais, Piner, Miramonte.

Division IV Boys
1.  St. Mary's Berkeley
2.  Sir Francis Drake
3.  Cardinal Newman
4.  Moreau Catholic
5.  Piedmont
On the bubble:  Arcata, San Rafael, Marin Catholic.

Division IV Girls
1.  Arcata
2.  St. Mary's Berkeley
3.  Piedmont
4.  Sir Francis Drake
5.  Marin Catholic
On the bubble:  Moreau Catholic

Division V Boys
1.  University
2.  St. Joseph Notre Dame
3.  Sonoma Academy
4.  Athenian
5.  Marin Academy
On the bubble:  Lick Wilmerding, College Prep, Urban.

Division V Girls
1.  University
2.  College Prep
3.  Urban
4.  Lick Wilmerding
5.  Marin Academy
On the bubble:  Branson, Head Royce, Sonoma Academy.

Thank you in advance for your help.

NCS Mid-Season Rankings (October 5, 2011)

Here is my best attempt to rank all the NCS teams in each division at this point in the season.  I tried as best I can to rank teams based on what they have accomplished so far and not project to the future.  Feel free to comment on these rankings at the link below. Your opinions are encouraged.  On the bubble teams are listed alphabetically.

Division I
Boys
1)  De La Salle
2)  Amador Valley
3)  Granada
4)  Santa Rosa
5)  Monte Vista
On the bubble:  Heritage, James Logan, Mission San Jose

Girls
1)  Granada
2)  Amador Valley 
3)  Monte Vista
4)  Castro Valley
5)  Livermore 
On the bubble: Freedom, James Logan, Santa Rosa

Division II
Boys
1)  San Ramon Valley
2)  Maria Carrillo
3)  Alameda
4)  Dougherty Valley
5)  Clayton Valley
On the bubble:  College Park, who else?

Girls
1)  Maria Carrillo
2)  College Park
3)  Dougherty Valley 
4)  Alameda
5)  San Ramon Valley
On the bubble:  Carondelet, Casa Grande, Clayton Valley

Division III
Boys
1)  Campolindo
2)  Piner
3)  Miramonte
4)  Las Lomas
5)  Redwood
On the bubble: Acalanes, Bishop O'Dowd who else?

Girls
1)  Campolindo
2)  Acalanes 
3)  Redwood
4)  Las Lomas
5)  Piner
On the bubble: Miramonte, Northgate, Petaluma, Tamalpais

Division IV
Boys
1)  St. Mary's Berkeley
2)  Drake
3)  Cardinal Newman
4)  San Rafael
5)  Marin Catholic
On the bubble:  Arcata, Moreau Catholic, Piedmont, Terra Linda
 

Girls (I honestly have no idea after Drake.  I listed the rest of the teams in alphabetical order)
1) Arcata
2)  Drake

x)  Marin Catholic
x) Moreau Catholic
x)  Piedmont
x)  San Marin
x)  St. Mary's Berkeley
x)  Terra Linda

Division V
Boys
1)  St. Joseph Notre Dame
2)  University
3)  Sonoma Academy
4)  Athenian
5)  Marin Academy
On the bubble:  College Prep, Lick Wilmerding, Urban

Girls
1)  University
2)  Urban
2)  Marin Academy
3)  College Prep
4)  Branson
On the bubble:  Convent, Lick Wilmerding

Feel free to comment on the rankings in the section below. Remember, this is just a starting point. If you feel strongly about a team that should be moved higher or is not even listed, please back up your strong feelings with results.  Thank you in advance for your help.

NCS Boys and Girls XC List - North Bay Schools

The following is my (Maria Carrillo assistant coach Ruben DiRado) best current estimation for team times using Stanford 5K as the "synthetic" comparison.  Does not always take into account if someone had a bad day or if one or more of their top 5 runners was missing - but it provides a good first pass ranking.  Also, this list is based on team time, which of course is not a perfect predictor for how teams would place in a very close competition... (ie, if two schools are within 10-15 seconds of each other I would just call them even for the purposes of a ranking excercise).

 

As I mentioned, the list does a decent job of including most all NCS North Bay schools and a few select East Bay schools as points of calibration.  Someone that has a better picture for the East Bay needs to fill in those schools that are missing to get the full NCS picture...

 

BOYS

DE LA SALLE	1:23:04	D1
MONTE VISTA	1:24:02	D1
SANTA ROSA	1:24:40	D1
Castro Valley	1:29:55	D1
MISSION SAN JOSE	1:30:35	D1
FREEDOM	1:31:37	D1
SAN LEANDRO	1:32:18	D1
SAN RAMON VALLEY	1:22:14	D2
MARIA CARRILLO	1:25:25	D2
CLAYTON VALLEY	1:28:24	D2
ARROYO	1:28:25	D2
UKIAH	1:28:34	D2
MONTGOMERY	1:31:25	D2
CASA GRANDE	1:32:27	D2
PINER	1:19:36	D3
CAMPOLINDO	1:19:38	D3
REDWOOD LARKSPUR	1:22:45	D3
Tamalpais	1:24:42	D3
Northgate	1:25:16	D3
BISHOP O'DOWD	1:26:00	D3
ALHAMBRA	1:26:57	D3
Windsor	1:30:25	D3
Eureka	1:31:05	D3
SONOMA VALLEY	1:31:50	D3
NOVATO	1:35:28	D3
Analy	1:37:34	D3
Rancho Cotate	1:38:16	D3
Ygnacio Valley	1:38:24	D3
ST MARY'S	1:23:30	D4
CARDINAL NEWMAN	1:26:18	D4
MARIN CATHOLIC	1:28:16	D4
ARCATA	1:29:05	D4
TERRA LINDA	1:31:04	D4
McKinleyville	1:31:08	D4
EL MOLINO	1:32:28	D4
San Marin	1:37:23	D4
Healdsburg	1:41:15	D4
Willits	1:47:21	D4
ST JOSEPH	1:24:53	D5
SONOMA ACADEMY	1:28:01	D5
MARIN ACADEMY	1:28:19	D5
COLLEGE PREP	1:30:19	D5
LICK-WILMERDING	1:31:41	D5
Cloverdale	1:31:58	D5
Upper Lake	1:33:47	D5

 

GIRLS

MONTE VISTA	1:41:04	D1
Castro Valley	1:43:31	D1
MISSION SAN JOSE	1:44:44	D1
SANTA ROSA	1:45:19	D1
FREEDOM	1:51:53	D1
SAN LEANDRO	1:58:04	D1
MARIA CARRILLO	1:39:22	D2
COLLEGE PARK	1:41:30	D2
Dougherty Valley	1:41:38	D2
SAN RAMON VALLEY	1:42:50	D2
Alameda	1:43:10	D2
CLAYTON VALLEY	1:43:12	D2
CASA GRANDE	1:44:05	D2
ARROYO	1:44:47	D2
Windsor	1:45:26	D2
CARONDELET HS	1:46:38	D2
Montgomery	1:49:07	D2
AMERICAN	1:54:00	D2
Ukiah	2:30:40	D2
CAMPOLINDO	1:32:27	D3
REDWOOD LARKSPUR	1:39:51	D3
Tamalpais	1:42:49	D3
PINER	1:43:00	D3
Northgate	1:43:57	D3
BISHOP O'DOWD	1:44:49	D3
ALHAMBRA	1:47:55	D3
NOVATO	1:48:21	D3
Analy	1:48:53	D3
Eureka	1:51:21	D3
Rancho Cotate	1:54:05	D3
ARCATA	1:42:00	D4
ST MARY'S BERKELEY	1:47:56	D4
McKinleyville	1:51:55	D4
San Marin	1:53:30	D4
Cardinal Newman	1:53:33	D4
Terra Linda	1:53:41	D4
Fortuna	1:53:54	D4
El Molino	1:55:18	D4
MARIN ACADEMY	1:44:11	D5
COLLEGE PREP	1:44:41	D5
BRANSON	1:45:34	D5
LICK-WILMERDING	1:47:03	D5
URBAN SCHOOL OF SF	1:49:45	D5
MARIN CATHOLIC	1:50:54	D5
CONVENT	1:52:47	D5
ST JOSPEH	1:53:31	D5
Sonoma Academy	1:54:23	D5
Upper Lake	2:00:17	D5

NCS Division I pre-season rankings by Amador Valley coach, Jason Oswalt...

And last but definitely not least, Division I.  Thanks to Amador Valley HS coach Jason Oswalt for the following rankings.  Feel free to comment on the following rankings in the comment section below.
NCS Division I pre-season Cross Country Rankings link

More CCS rankings to follow this week and eventually I will get rolling with the SJS rankings once the CBEDs are posted.  Until then check out the SJS site for all the current updates and past section results.

2011 NCS Division II pre-season rankings

Summer cross country pre-season rankings could be disputed and second guessed but what cannot be questioned is that Division II will be highly competitive this coming season with the addition of several schools from other divisions.  College Park and Maria Carrillo have been quality programs that have amassed 18 section titles in the past decade (12 for College Park and 6 for Maria Carrillo).  Dougherty Valley is an up and coming program that just two years ago won a section title in girls' Division IV and now lands in Division II after competing in Division III last season.  You add those three schools along with Newark Memorial (drops down from Division I) to the usual suspects in Division II and this year will be quite a challenge for all the competing teams to at the very last qualify for the state meet (top 3 for both boys and girls).

The pursuit for the boys' NCS team title will definitely have a different look with the new teams added to this division. What could be quite similar is the section champions.  San Ramon Valley steamrolled the rest of the competition by scoring 28 points to win their second consecutive title.   Last year's championship may have been a bit of a surprise as they had to replace 5 of the top 7 from their 2009 Division I championship team.  This year they return 6 of their top 7 from last year's team which includes the defending individual section champion, Parker Deuel.  He finished the track and field season on the disabled list but not before running 4:20.52 and 9:48.18.  Junior Matt Devries finished 4th last year in the section xc meet and ran 4:26.66 in the 1600m.  Fellow juniors Zach Hanze (4:37.23/9:56.29) and Carl Wilke (4:40.40/10:05.50) and seniors Nicco Baumann (2:03.98/4:51.30/10:17.21) and Brian Hardy (1:59.04/4:20.90/10/07.90) give the Wolves quite a lineup and will be the overwhelming favorites going into next season.

The competition for second place should be between Maria Carrillo and Alameda.  MC finished 6th last year in the uber competitive Division III race.  They return 5 of their top 7 and at this point are slight favorites over Alameda.  Senior Austin Rivas was their 2nd man last year running 16:30 on the Hayward course and recorded a pr of 4:43.79 on the track.  The rest of their lineup includes sophomore Dante Hay who was impressive in his freshman season on the track running 1:57.26 and 4:33.33 and junior Harrison Luft who recorded a sub 10:00 3200m. effort on the track with a 9:56.71.

Alameda finished 3rd last year with 4 sophomores and a freshman making up their top 5.  Now junior Steven Carlson finished 17th last year on the Hayward course and had an even more impressive track and field season (4:26.26/9:53.94).  Fellow juniors Duc Nguyen (4:47.08/10:00.78), Reece Kamphuis (2:09.57/4:44.60) and Michael Moler and sophomore Cameron Tu (4:45.38) make the Hornets one of the state meet hopefuls and if the stars align correctly for them, they could challenge the teams I mentioned above.

The rest of the top 5 contenders includes Dougherty Valley which returns most of their 2010 lineup including Michael Sisario (4:53.14) and Anoop Gala (4:49.85) that finished in 12th place in the Division III field.  Arroyo will have 4 of their top 6 back including their top 2, 3rd place finisher Adam White (9:46.71) and 16th place finisher Lorenzo Galindo (4:42.24/10:13.16).  To add to this competitive division, you have several wild card teams who could potentially finish in the top 5 but at this point are on the bubble.  College Park finished 2nd last year in Division I but will need to completely overhaul their lineup save for their 5th man Parker Marson (4:45.80).  Mt. Eden finished 2nd here last year and return runners #3 (Emanuel Morales) and #5 (Giovani Perez).  Casa Grande finished 4th here last year and return runners 4-7 (Harrison Wistock, Stanley Goto, Adam Lundquist, Aaron DalPoggetto).  American HS finished 8th last year with a less than healthy lineup so if their core group of seniors return healthy they could be a factor.

The race for the boys' individual title will go through defending champion SRV's Deuel.  His challengers will be similar to last year including 2nd place finisher Ukiah's Paul Holden (4:53.43/9:53.79), 3rd place finisher Arroyo's Adam White and 4th place finisher SRV's Matt DeVries.  Nolan Petersen of Washington HS finished in 7th place last year and ran 10:11.41 on the track.  Other runners in the mix include the already mentioned Zach Henze and Carl Wilke of SRV and Jose Mendoza of Montgomery HS.  Alameda HS teammates Steven Carlson and Duc Nguyen improved during this past track and field season and should finish in the top 10.  Austin Rivas of Maria Carrillo should also be a contender based on his time last year in the Division III race.

The girls' team race should be another interesting one this year with many teams in contention but with needs to shore up holes left by graduated athletes.   Last year, in all my brilliance, I left Washington HS off the final rankings that were included in the section meet program.  So how did Washington do at the NCS MOC meet at the Hayward course?  They won of course!  Congratulations goes to the Huskies runners and coaches and apologies for my sub-par work.  I will try to do a little better this year with my predictions so here we go.

The favorite at this point appears to be the College Park girls.  They finished in 2nd place last year in the always rugged Division I race.  They will be led once again by junior Kendall Stuscavage (2:23.64/5:19.36) who finished in 9th place with a sub 19:00 effort.  They lose their #2 runner Marissa Buckley but will have their #3 runner (Kazune Shidara 2:30.30/5:37.25), #4 runner (Parisa Broomand 5:46.20/11:58.16) and #5 runner (Amelia Lowry) back.  They appear to need another runner to step up as their 5th runner but if you look at their history, this will be a tough team once again in November.

Last year, San Ramon Valley finished a very competitive 2nd to Washington (55 to 66).  They return their #1 runner Elizabeth Hebel who finished in 2nd place running 18:48.  They will also add Christine Bayliss who will be an incoming freshman next year at SRV.  That gives SRV a tough 1/2 punch and considering this is one of the larger schools in Division II on top of being a very good program, there is a very good chance they will reload and compete quite well this coming season.

Maria Carrillo has been a consistent threat in both Divisions II and III.  Since 2004, they won NCS in Division III in 2004, 2008 and 2009 and Division II in 2005.  Their # 1 runner will be junior to be Lauren Kraus who finished in 3rd place in Division III running 18:28 and only losing to the two fastest runners overall in NCS (Carrie Verdon and Grace Orders of Campolindo).  She recorded a personal record 11:05.45 at the always fast Arcadia Invitational.  #2 runner Brynna Thigpen ran 19:39 last year on the Hayward course and recorded a season best 5:21.50 at the NCS Redwood Empire meet.  MC also returns runners #3 through #6 (Kelly Birkland, Gretel Petrie, Sophia Ramos and Trixi Scolari at SRHS now).

Last year's section race had quite a gap between the 3rd place team Carondelet (76) and the 4th place team Clayton Valley (135).  I believe that this year's pursuit of the last state meet spot (3rd) will be much more competitive.  The teams in position to compete for that last state meet berth are a combination of new teams to this division and teams that have experienced success in this division in previous seasons.  Dougherty Valley returns all 7 from last year's team including an individual state meet qualifier, Isabelle De Metz (2:20.24).  Alameda also returns their top 7 and will be looking to improve their 7th place finish of last year.  Clayton Valley and Casa Grande both finished in the top 5 last year and each have a very strong #1 runners.  Ashley Moffett of Casa Grande won the Division II title last year while Alexandra Tate of Clayton Valley finished in 4th place.  Carondelet will be led by Shelby Vaculan who was the #3 runner for Carondelet and then impressed on the track with a 2:20.73 800m.  Washington returns 3 from their section championship team including 8th place finisher Jessica Yee (2:26.03/5:27.70).

The chase for the individual title should be an interesting one.  When you look at the contenders you always start with the defending champion and that is Moffett of Casa Grande.  The fastest runner from last year's races is Kraus of Maria Carrillo.  The next contenders will be Hebel of SRV who was just 5 seconds behind Moffett in last year's race.  Tate of Clayton Valley has been a consistent top 10 runner in this division as has Amber Peirsol (2:25.54/5:10.95) of Windsor HS.  Yee of Washington and Andrea Morales (2:32.89/5:27.80/12:05.65) of American HS also finished in the top 10 last year.  Stuscavage of College Park and De Metz of Dougherty Valley were both competitive in their respective divisions and should also be considered here.

Division II Boys (Top 3 teams advance to state)

1)  San Ramon Valley-This could be their 3rd NCS title in a row.

2)  Maria Carrillo-Proven cross country program returns to Division II.

3)  Alameda-Young talented team could be dangerous come November.

4)  Dougherty Valley-This team competes in tough DFAL and will be battle tested.

5)  Arroyo-Strong 1/2 punch will need to add depth to their lineup.

On the bubble:  American, Casa Grande, College Park, Mt. Eden

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) and 2010 NCS meet time:

Parker Deuel (1) San Ramon Valley 15:58

Paul Holden (2) Ukiah 16:17

Adam White (3) Arroyo 16:20

Matt DeVries (4) San Ramon Valley 16:23

Nolan Petersen (7) Washington 16:32

From Division III-Austin Rivas (30) Maria Carrillo 16:30

Division II Girls (Top 3 teams advance to state)

1)  College Park-2nd place last year in tougher Division I race.

2)  San Ramon Valley-Lose 4 of top 7 but don't let that fool you.

3)  Maria Carrillo-Competitive team no matter the division.  

4)  Dougherty Valley-Individual state meet qualifier Isabelle De Metz leads the way.

5)  Alameda-Top 7 return and thinking more than just top 5.

On the bubble: Casa Grande, Carondelet, Clayton Valley, Washington

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) and 2010 NCS meet time:

Ashley Moffet (1) Casa Grande 18:43

Elizabeth Hebel (2) San Ramon Valley 18:48

Alexandra Tate (4) Clayton Valley 18:58

Amber Piersol (7) Windsor 19:39

Jessica Yee (8) Washington 19:39

From Division I-Kendall Stuscavage (9) College Park 18:55

From Division III-Lauren Kraus (3) Maria Carrillo 18:28

Isabelle De Metz (14) Dougherty Valley 19:12

Feel free to comment on the above rankings.  Lots of new teams now compete in this division. Did I miss anybody? Any surprises? Freshmen studs and/or studettes?

If your team website has been updated or you have a new link, send it my way (albertjcaruana@gmail.com) as well and I will update the link.