De La Salle/Carondelet Nike Invitational Coverage

One of the early big meets of the season is this coming Saturday, the DLS/Carondelet Nike Invitational. It will be covered by Flotrack.com, a website that has really taken off this summer. For further information on the meet, check out the link below which includes course maps for the 2 mile and 3 mile courses as well as all the participating teams.

Many of the top teams in Northern California will be competing including the top ranked boys and girls' teams up north, Petaluma (boys) and Carondelet (girls). It should be a great team battle for the coveted Varsity titles (Varsity Girls at 11:15am/Varsity Boys at 11:45am) and the race within a race will take place for the individual battles.

Will this be the invitational season debut of Carlmont's Brad Surh and Justine Fedronic? In the girls' race, Nicole Hood (Carondelet) and Katy Daly (St. Ignatius) are both coming off impressive victories in the Ed Sias Invitational and Early Bird Invitational, respectively. The boys race appears wide open as individuals from Petaluma, Madera and Los Gatos along with the previously mentioned Surh should make for a great race.

Any predictions on the winners of the boys and girls varsity races? Post them below.

Updated Norcal rankings will be posted early next week following this weekend meets.

Please keep voting in the poll to the right. If you have an idea for another poll, please email it to me at acaru@csus.com

Nike Cross Country Invitational

More California Cross Country Newspaper Coverage

•High school boys cross country preview: Panthers to follow Maldonado's lead
•Death of Esperanza coach brings team together
•Got a Second?
•Mount Shasta cross country looks to continue dominance
•Los Gatos Seniors nail second at Earlybird

Please vote in the poll to the right in regards to your weekly mileage.

Little NCS Newspaper Coverage...

Check out the following article from the Petaluma Argus Courier as they cover the Panther Preview Cross Country Invitational:
http://www1.arguscourier.com/article/20070905/SPORTS/70904039

Lagat !!!

Since, I was traveling yesterday, I wasn't able to view of the final day of the World Championships. I ran to the store this morning to grab a paper and WOAH! Lagat won the 5000m. gold as well. Unbelievable. I thought he had a great shot at the 1500m. gold but would have a rough time in the 5. I stand corrected. Great effort on his behalf. I will have to catch up on all the other events when I return.

Now that all the events are in, what was the best race in the meet? Performer of the meet?

Rome update

Between all the sight seeing and the walking!!!, I have been able to watch most of the Track and Field World Championships. Hard to imagine Cross Country season is just around the corner with Track staging one of it's biggest meets.

On my predictions of the men's 1500m., I had Lagat 1st, Ramzi 2nd and Webb 3rd. Not too bad. I just didn't think Webb could win without anybody rabbitting a fast pace for him. Just as I suspected, he had to do all the work early and on the last lap he was a sitting duck for all the kickers. I know Lagat is not truly an American but he seems like a really good guy. Well deserved victory and now, who knows what he can do in the 5000m. if the pace is to his liking.

The final two days should be great with the remaining distance races as well as all the relays. We'll see how many golds the Americans can win. They are the favorites in all four relays but we know how that has turned out in the past.

What has been the best competition so far in the meet? Any major surprises?

Thank you to all of you who have been checking out this blog. I will get back to a more c0nsistant posting pattern once I return back to the States.

Live from Italy (Rome)

Taking a little break from the sight seeing in Italy. I have been here only a day and Italy has more than surpassed expectations already. On the plane from Malta to Italy my wife and I sat behind, what turned out to be, a famous Italian singer who performed in Malta the day before, Claudio Bagliani. I will have to check out his info later because we had no idea who he was to the dismay of the passengers around us. We found a restaurant with authentic Italian food and finished off our meal at a gelato place. All i can say is I hope we can walk a lot!!!

Just some quick thoughts on the World Championships.

I caught some of the World Track and Field Championships on Euro Sport and the coverage here in Europe is amazing. So far on my IAAF fantasy picks, Powell not so good, Kluft, Dibaba and Vili came through big time. Great final throw by Vili. I figured she would at least finish in the top 2 but the win was great. Caught the Powell Gay match at the airport in Malta as Gay destroyed the world record holder. The problem with any fantasy contests is you end up rooting against your own team, in this case, Gay. He looked great and should be smoking in the 200. We will see how today goes. I was very happy to see Goucher got a bronze in the 10000 meters. I was very pleasantly surprised to see her medal as I did not even list her in my poll. Somebody voted for other so that could have been a pick for her. Great job by the Americans going 3rd and 5th. I am getting a really good feeling about the performance of the American distance runners in the near future including Osaka.

I will see about posting again when I can. Today more sight seeing, including the Pantheon which we saw last night but it was closed. Cannot wait to see it fromt the inside.

Any thoughts on the meet so far?

Cross Country coach with tattoos and rides a harley??

Check out the link below from the Lodi News about the new Tokay Cross Country coach who doesn't quite fit the bill of your typical XC coach.

Running it his way

Norcal Pre-Season Rankings

Below is the pre-season list of the top 10 Norcal (CCS, NCS, NS, OAK, SF and SJS) teams and individuals for boys and girls. It's based primarily on last season's cross country and track and field results. It will be updated throughout the season leading up to the California state meet.

Boys .................................................Girls
1) Petaluma NCS.................................1) Carondelet NCS
2) Jesuit SJS......................................2) Carlmont CCS
3) Carlmont CCS.................................3) St. Francis, Sacramento SJS
4) Woodcreek SJS...............................4) Davis Sr. SJS
5) Davis Sr. SJS...................................5) Del Oro SJS
6) North Monterey County CCS.............6) Ponderosa SJS
7) Santa Clara CCS..............................7) Placer SJS
8) Aptos CCS......................................8) Los Gatos CCS
9) Los Gatos CCS.................................9) Campolindo NCS
10) Maria Carrillo NCS.......................10) Mt. Shasta NS
Honorable Mention (5 teams added in no particular order)
Del Campo SJS.....................................Maria Carrillo NCS
Oak Ridge SJS......................................Mountain View CCS
De La Salle NCS....................................Aptos CCS
St. Ignatius CCS....................................North Monterey County CCS
Campolindo NCS...................................Gunn CCS


Boys' Individuals
1) German Fernandez (12) Riverbank SJS
2) Mohammed Abdalla (12) Willow Glen CCS
3) Brad Surh (12) Carlmont CCS
4) Phillip MacQuitty (10) Palo Alto CCS
5) Diego Estrada (12) Alisal CCS
6) Rylan Hunt (11) Aptos CCS
7) James Tracy (12) Del Campo SJS
8) Chris Romo (12) Woodcreek SJS
9) Gambileg Bor (12) Jefferson CCS
10) Matt Duffy (12) St. Mary's College NCS

Girls' Individual
1) Laurynne Chetelet (12) Davis Sr. SJS
2) Jacque Taylor (10) Casa Grande NCS
3) Justine Fedronic (11) Carlmont CCS
4) Diana George (11) Livermore NCS
5) Rebecca Habtamu (12) Prospect CCS
6) Stephanie Barnett (11) Leland CCS
7) Katy Daly (11) St. Ignatius CCS
8) Nicole Hood (10) Carondelet NCS
9) Samantha Hamilton (10) Half Moon Bay CCS
10) Sara Howard (10) Colfax SJS

This is by no means set in stone. Rankings are subject to editing as I get more information. Feel free to add your input to these lists.

Check out the poll to the right. Only four days left to vote.

High School Runner Missing in Okla. Lake

Sad story about cross country runner in Oklahoma. We can only pray for a miracle.

High School Runner Missing in Okla. Lake

Cross Country Midnight Madness

Now, here is a fresh idea from a High School Cross Country team in Seattle.

Jackson cross country gets off to a running start