https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/montgomery-high-school-track-coach-bryan-bradley-dies-at-39/
Another article here:
https://redwoodempirerunning.com/big-lose-for-empire-running-bryan-bradleys-passing/
If you would like to help support his family in any way with a kind donation, please go to this GoFundMe LINK.
Wednesday evening, the Board of Trustees for the San Mateo County Community College District will be meeting to discuss specifics regarding the reopening of the Crystal Spring Cross Country Course.
In today's SM Daily Journal. There will be a board meeting which will help determine the future of the course next week. More info will be posted as soon as I find out specifics.
Thank you to Serra coach Jim Marheineke for coordinating this cleanup that included a lot of athletes and coaches over two weekend days.
There is an upcoming Board meeting on Zoom that will take place on Wednesday, August 25th starting at 6pm that will determine the future of the course. More info will be shared as we get closer to the meeting.
You will need to sign up at this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-LPiYQ_6uz12MC1pAf0uaAHfiTx6RNen44SZMJa_I-s/edit
Coaches, please pass this along to your athletes.
The Stanford Cross Country Invitational will be back in 2022.
D4 - Boys by Piedmont assistant coach, Len Goldman
Preface
As noted in the D3 analysis by Andy, for the upcoming Fall 2021 cross country season forecast there is somewhat limited recent results data available and most of it is from Spring track meets. The last NCS championship meet was in 2019 and while there was an abbreviated cross-country season in the Spring of 2021, many schools either did not participate or fielded a partial squad. In addition, during the Spring, some schools had a concurrent cross country and track season which could be argued allows for some direct comparisons and validation between times for the two sports. Nevertheless, here is one person’s perspective and I am sure as the season hopefully progresses, more accurate assessments can be made. Note, two schools were re-classified to D4 this year, JFK-Fremont and San Rafael.
The defending D4 champion from 2019 is Archie Williams (formerly Sir Francis Drake.) Obviously, graduation, as it has for almost all the schools, caused some turnover in runners. However, after trying to glean data from Spring 2021 results, the squad from Archie Williams appears to be in a good position to repeat as champions. Based on a cross country meet at Indian Valley during the Spring, this team had four runners who were sub-17 minutes on the 5K course. They are led by senior Nate Wolford who ran a 16:32 in the Indian Valley 5K cross country race and 4:29 for 1600m in track. This squad seems to have a very deep roster, with lots of quality runners and they are the #1 ranked team pre-season. In addition, Evan Lee had a season's best 9:58 for 3200m, with Jonah Grubb and Eric Overaa not far behind in 10:13 and 10:14 respectively. Rounding out the varsity 5 was Luke Calegari with a 16:37 5K and 4:55 for 1600.
Year in and year out, Bishop O’Dowd is always one of the top teams and that appears to be the case for 2021 also. By virtue in being in the WACC league, they competed on the Hayward course twice during the Spring of 2021, and they were the first-place team in the final WACC cross country meet of the season. While two of their top runners have graduated, they return four varsity runners led by Zach Tannebaum who ran a 17:10 on the Hayward course and 10:56 for the 3200 in track. The other returning runners are Marcus Fong, Griffin Osser, and Ethan Gonzalez, all ran in the mid 17 minute range on the Hayward course. However, the question mark for this team is who will fill the 5, 6 and 7 positions and that could be critically important to their success.
Unfortunately, results data for schools that might be on the bubble is pretty sketchy so rather than list any right now, I think it best to wait until mid-September when the picture should be a bit clearer.
D4 - Girls
Preface
It appears that for the Spring 2021 season, many girls opted not to compete in track or cross country, as the numbers for most schools were down from the previous year. With a “normal” sports season in the offing, hopefully the number of participants will bounce back. As noted for the D4 boys, once the season is underway in September and a few meets have taken place, the picture should become a bit clearer as to who are the contenders.
The defending D4 champion from 2019 is Piedmont and they have several veteran runners returning for their senior year. However, a girls’ team from the most northern corner of the NCS looks to be the pre-season favorite. This school enjoyed much success from 2012 to 2015, winning the NCS twice and qualifying for the state meet all four years.
Arcata posted times in both cross country and track during the Spring that are ahead of the rest of the pack. This team is led by the three MacDonald sisters, Anneli, Mathilde (both seniors) and Soquel (a sophomore). Anneli had a 3200m time of 10:53 and her twin sister Mathilde ran 11:54, both also posted fast times in cross country, 18:55 and 19:04 respectively for a 3-mile race. Soquel had a 12:04 in the 3200 and teammates Cassidy Thorpe and Alauna Thompson were sub 13 minutes in the 3200. Based on these times, this squad seems to have depth and the quality times to go with it.
An up-and-coming team in this division is Acalanes. While perhaps lacking a star front runner, they have a solid group of runners, especially their top three with Lauren and Megan Yee and Olivia Williams. All three ran fine times in the 3200 during Spring track season with 11:25 for Olivia, and Lauren and Megan both in at 11:40. In addition, in the one cross country meet that they ran in during the Spring, all three were under 20 minutes for 3 miles. Backing them up are three other runners who could be key to their success this season, Elle Casselman, Caroline Crossland and Katrina Ortman.
Miramonte returns a veteran team of runners and could also challenge for the team title. They have five seniors who have run together all four years in Kate Riley, Sadie Wayne, Jamie Say, Nathalie Green, and Claire Nolet. All posted competitive times in the 1600 and 3200 during track season, with all five under 6 minutes for the 1600 and 13 minutes for the 3200. In addition, they are supported by several other runners who add depth to this squad, making a solid group in the 1 through 7 positions. It could be a spirited contest when this squad meets Arcata and Acalanes at the NCS meet in November.
The defending champion Piedmont appears to lack the strength they have had in recent years and will be hard-pressed to be one of the three teams that move onto the state meet out of the NCS. The team is lead by Ellie Black who during the Spring won the WACC meet finale on the Hayward course in a time of 19:26. She also ran a 5:40 for 1600 and 12:31 in the 3200 during the track season. The other Piedmont runners were 2 minutes behind Ellie’s time on the Hayward course, with four girls running in the mid-21-minute range for the 3-mile distance. Unless they can improve on those times, they will not be a contender come the November NCS meet.
Finally, mention should be made of the Albany girls’ team. They are led by senior Sophia Nordenholz, who is the fastest 3200m runner in NCS history with a 10:05.91 set at the Arcadia Invitational. She is the prohibitive favorite to win the 2021 D4 NCS individual title and could be a state meet favorite as well. While she has a nice group of teammates behind her, unless they really improve this coming season, it is unlikely that this team will be a contender at the NCS meet.
Please post names below any impactful 9th graders that will be attending a NorCal high school this fall.
I will start the list here and will add as names are added in the comment section below.
9th Graders
Shea Elmore Los Gatos HS (2:24.93 800, 4:50.33 1500, 10:06.62 3000)
Aydon Stefanopoulos (4:40.69 1600m)
Andrew Burr (4:42.79 1600m)
Chase Cressman (4:45.59 1600m)
Jackson Hein Chico (4:23 1500m)
Landon Pretre Menlo (4:35.09 1500m)
NCS Division III Girls Preseason Rankings by Campolindo assistant coach, Andy Lindquist
Overview: In the before time of 2019, Campolindo rounded into superb form at the end of the season, blowing out the rest of the section to capture the team title and then rolling to a resounding win at the state championships the following week. With the majority of that team lost to graduation, Campolindo will face stiff competition from a vastly improved Maria Carrillo squad hungry for their first section title since 2013.
While most teams in the area were able to get in a relatively full track season this spring, it still remains to be seen how athletes and teams adapt to running big-time cross country in the fall. Track times are not always indicative of cross country success, however, the performances from this past track season are the best data points available, so they factored heavily into these rankings. 4 teams make it to state in this division so these rankings will be 4 teams deep.
1. Maria Carrillo: The Pumas are coming off an impressive track season in the middle distances in which they had 5 athletes all well under 5:30 for 1600. This type of depth means that Maria Carrillo is ready for another big jump this fall. Gracie Trenam was the breakout star for the Pumas this past spring, rolling to a 5:14 clocking in the 1600 with Ashley Busienei (5:16) and Rebekah Taylor (5:19) not too far behind. Vivian Mattice and Avery Hedden also made big jumps in the 1600 as well, giving Maria Carrillo one of the deepest squads in the state. While the Pumas did not focus on the 3200 all that much during the spring, projected #6 runner Brooke Cregan rolled to an impressive 11:55 performance in the event.
Division III is shaping up to be one of the deepest and most competitive fields state-wide, and Maria Carrillo is in a position to compete for not only a podium spot but the state title as well. The only glaring weakness is the lack of an outstanding frontrunner, but look for that to change this fall as this team continues to develop.
2. Campolindo: Since taking over as head coach in 2006, Chuck Woolridge has had a run of unpreceded success in winning 11 NCS team championships (including an active streak of 7 in a row) and 4 state championships. Prior to Covid-19 putting a halt to high school sports in the state, the Cougars were on a roll, coming off an 80-point blowout win at the 2019 state meet. Junior Ellie Buckley is the lone returner from that squad and is coming off a very strong spring track season, clocking personal bests of 5:08 and 10:55 in the 1600 and 3200. Backing her up are the sophomore duo of Makena Weberski (11:34 3200) and Shea Volkmer (11:24 3200), giving the Cougars an impressive 1-2-3. These 3 will be critical to Campo’s quest for an 18th section title and a 6th state title. The biggest issue facing the Cougars this summer is the big gap from their #3 to #4/5 runners. Daisy Penny and Caroline McCool had very productive track seasons, running 12:13 and 12:17 respectively in the 3200 but such a large gap will be costly in a big cross country race.
It seems like every season Campolindo manages to notch massive improvements, so while they start the summer as underdogs, don’t be surprised if they close down the gap come November.
3. Livermore: In his 35+ years of coaching at Livermore high, Eddie Salazar has become known for putting together many good teams seemingly out of nowhere, and you should expect the same this cross country season. While the Cowgirls don’t have a large contingent of returners, they had a very solid track season with Angelina Guzman (5:23 1600) leading the charge along with 4 other returners under 6:00 in the 1600. While it would take a lot of work to close the gap on the top 2 teams, Livermore is primed for a medal position at NCS and a trip to Woodward Park on Thanksgiving weekend.
4. Las Lomas: With only an abbreviated spring track season to look it, it can be hard to figure out where a lot of these teams stand and even harder to project how they will do during a full cross country season. Las Lomas raced sparingly during the spring but with 5 returners all running 6:15 or better for 1600, look for the Knights to contend for a top 4 spot.
On the bubble: Carondelet, Santa Rosa, Newark Memorial
More pre-season rankings including the rest of NCS as well as all the other sections in Northern California. If you would like to contribute to the pre-season rankings, please reach out to me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com.
