Footlocker National Meet Coverage

•Riverbank's Fernandez finishes 3rd at national race
•Chetelat 16th at national running meet (Davis runner, Laurynne)
•Dublin's Attarian enjoys muddy race
•Top prep runners slicker than rain
•Dublin High runner faces ultimate test in San Diego (James Attarian)

More to be posted in the next few days...

Steve Chavez Distance Training Coaching Clinic

The annual Steve Chavez (Murrieta Valley coach) clinic will take place once again this coming year on the first Saturday of 2008. If you are a coach that would like to learn about the training plan and everything that goes into one of the top programs in the state of California, then this is a can't miss opportunity for you. The Murrieta Valley boys are coming off a 2nd place finish at the State Division race as well as a NTN appearance.

All the pertinent information for the clinic is listed here:

"How to Become the Coach Your Athletes Deserve--Principles of Developing an Elite Distance Squad"

Date: January 5, 2007

Location: Murrieta Valley High School / 42200 Nighthawk Way / Murrieta,
CA 92562

Time: Check-in begins at 8:00am. Clinic runs from 8:30-3:30 (or whenever we finish)

Cost: $30 includes clinic materials, breakfast and lunch.

A DVD with warm-up and plyometric drills is also available for $10.

Contact: Steve Chavez at coachchavezmv@yahoo.com or call (951) 219-6583

Live Webcast and Blog from Footlocker National Championship Races

If you want to follow today's race on the web you have two choices.

Check out the following links:
•Webcast-Live Webcast
•Blog-RaceBlog-Devine


FSN will air an hour-long special of the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals on Monday, December 17. Check your local listings.

Cross Country Coverage Catchup...

High School
•Mustangs 'go big', reach goals (Monte Vista XC Team) NEW
•Northern California Athletes of the Week (German Fernandez, Riverbank)
•Royals star goes for another cross country national title (Jordan Hasay, Mission Prep)
•Hasay Ready for Footlocker Nationals

College (Division III)
•Zerzan repeats as NCAA D-III cross-country champ (Fomer ND Belmont runner)

Crystal Springs Uplands School
I know this is not cross country related but had to add this just the same. Some of you may have heard that a student at our school was recently crowned World U12 Chess Champion. Here are a few links to his amazing accomplishment covered by many media outlets.
•Local youth wins chess championship
•Californian Takes World Title at Children's Event in Turkey
•Foster City sixth-grader is king of the under-12 chess world
•Foster City boy wins international chess title

More articles to come...

Petaluma at NTN by Bjorn Griepenburg

Added today from the Petaluma Argus Courier:
Petaluma has hopes of a national ranking.

The following is Bjorn Griepenburg's account of Petaluma's trip to the Nike Team Nationals this past weekend as they competed in the Open Race and had an outstanding effort. Bjorn, Petaluma's 5th man at NTN, is standing far right on the picture to the left courtesy of Bill Yungert.

Our team’s trip to the Nike Team Nationals was a perfect way to end a great cross country season. We went up to Portland with the plan to relax and soak in the experience while enjoying ourselves, which we unquestionably succeeded in doing.

For Cole Yungert and myself, this represented our last high school cross country race, so we obviously wanted to go out with hard fought races. Everyone else did too—after state, the seven of us came together and talked about our race, realizing that no one met his individual goal. I think we were all a bit disappointed with the times we ran, although we were ecstatic at the same time to make the DII podium. Going into the NTN Open race, all seven of us wanted to make up for our races at state and go out on a good note, leaving nothing to regret.

With that being said, we did not approach this race with the same focus that we did for state, and it may have helped. On Friday we ran the course, which was incredibly sloppy. We practiced jumping over the hay bales and running the camel back hills, two of the more unique aspects that, along with the mud, make the course unlike anything else in high school cross country. After a day of sliding around in the mud, we were anxiously awaiting the next morning’s race, despite the “unfavorable” weather forecasts.

The weather forecasts had all of us excited. Coming from the Bay Area, Portland’s weather took awhile to adjust to, but we were all wishing for the sloppiest conditions possible. On Friday night the forecast for our race was low 30’s with snow. We watched a movie and joked around, keeping our minds off of the race.

We woke up early Saturday morning and piled into our vans to head over to the course. It was snowing when we got there, the first snow any of us had seen in quite some time. Unfortunately, it stopped snowing by the time our race began.

There is nothing that can describe the Portland Meadows course. There are a number of areas with standing water, including “the lake,” a portion of ankle deep water that stretches about 50 meters. The entire course is on mud and grass, both of which slow runners down dramatically. The race itself was probably the most fun one I will ever be involved in.

We finished fourth, behind the Kenyans, Vista Murrieta, and Crescenta Valley, three great teams that helped provide the race with some high quality competition. I don’t think there was any disappointment in the performance. All in all, it was a great experience, and a great way to cap off my high school cross country career.

Good luck to everyone in winter training and track.

Former SHC runner, Michelle Gallagher, qualifies for Marathon Olympic Trials

The link below is the press release on former Sacred Heart Cathedral runner Michelle Gallagher's effort on Sunday, December 2nd, as she ran 2:43:30 at the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento to qualify for the United States Women's Olympic Trials Marathon.

Picture to the left was taken at the race by Michelle's mom, Margaret Gallagher.

Complete Michelle Gallagher CIM Press Release

Congratulations to one of the best female high school runners in Northern California history for her well deserved accomplishment.

Castro Valley girls at NTN by coach Peter Brewer

I was able to take 5 of my top 6 girls to Portland for the NTN. I had registered them for the Open race, and after the long season and the State Meet we were hoping for just a road trip with a race, the Kenyans, and some shopping to go along with it all.

The trip, the hotel stay, the race, the shopping, and the college visit were all very nice. We had a great time being silly and driving around Portland to various sites and activities.

Portland apparently has only one major mall, the Lloyd Center, but it was enough for my girls to the point we visited it three times. The ice skating the last day was a high point. Evidently shopping, even just mall cruising, is enough for young women to occupy time. Meanwhile, I was trying to find a TV set to watch a football game.

The course and the races were excellent. Nike spared no expense for the race and the hoopla. Even though it was mud and slop and rain and snow flurries and cold cold cold, the excitement and the anticipation and the eagerness of the runners was pervasive and infectious. We were two starting boxes down from the Kenyans and we were able to get a photo together (see the picture above). And then we ran a pretty good race, good enough for 8th in a depleted field in the Open race. My top three girls ran times that would have held up for almost any other team in either race. Ikeep trying to tell them that we can run with anyone in the state, and maybe the country. Sure, we'll get beat, but no one team is so good that they couldn't use a few of us on their team too. (Our football team can't say that, nor can our basketball or baseball teams, but they sometimes act as if they could be starters on San Ramon Valley, or Foothill, or DeLaSalle's teams.)

However, there is a big fly in this ointment. The Nike people gave the 44 championship teams the royal treatment. They were flown in and housed and fed and transported in fine regal style. They were given individualized uniforms, team sweats, Nike garb,trinkets, and entertainment and hospitality and remarkable access to the Nike campus center. There were Nike officials, world class athletes, Olympians and all sorts of luminaries for these kids to meet and socialize with. They were even given hospital foot booties to place over their muddy shoes after the course runs on Friday so the shoes wouldn't muss the charter buses on the way back to the team hotel.

Not that I resent this treatment, nor do I wish to doanything but applaud NIke for putting out this lavish soiree on the part of the athletes. It is just that the participants in the Open section got almost no notice at all. After all, the only reason for the Open race is to give the Kenyans someone to beat in a race since they can't run in the championship race.

The Open race participants had to pay to register for the race, and had to pay their own transportation, lodging, and ground travel. I didn't get any confirmation information other than the credit card statement until the week we were to leave. We were not invited to any of the activities during the 4 days of events at the Nike campus. We did get a goodie bag comprised of a towel, a water bottle, a beanie, and a poncho. We were allowed the opportunity
to buy Nike gear if we wanted ($20 a t-shirt at the bottom end). And then it was nearly impossible to get close to the Kenyans to even chat without being made to feel like we were intruding.

But I don't want to gripe too much. The girls felt very good about their race, we had our own sent of activities and those were lots of fun, and the consensus is that this was a worthwhile road trip and we should do it again next year. Which we probably will.

I enjoy the idea of a national championship race, and the generosity of Nike in bringing it about. The chance for my girls' team to be part of a national top-level scene like that is remarkable, and well-worth the money. Something like this is exactly what is needed to make them all feel better about being runners, and reinvigorate them to be better runners.

Peter Brewer

2008 State Track "At-Large" Standards

Automatic Qualifiers for State Track and Field Meet from each section:
NCS-4, CCS-3, SJS-3, NS-1, SF-1, OAK-1

The "At Large" Standards are listed below.
EVENT BOYS GIRLS
100m 10.70 11.99
200m 21.59 24.35
400m 48.55 56.04
800m 1:54.76 2:12.19
1600m 4:14.96 4:57.47
3200m 9:14.22 10:43.80
110/100HH 14.37 14.45
300IH 38.53 44.32
4x100 Relay 42.27 47.57
4x400 Relay 3:20.60 3:52.88
High Jump 6' 06" 5' 05"
Pole Vault 14’ 10” 11' 09"
Long Jump 22' 08" 18' 03.75"
Triple Jump 46’ 03”" 39' 00"
Shot Put 57' 04.75" 40' 11.25"
Discus 172' 05" 136' 01"

Fictional Running Book Written by Local Coach

The book, 100 Miles to Destiny, was written by Serra Cross Country Coach Willis McCarthy. It was six and a half years in the making and worth the read.

"Mr. Will McCarthy, chemistry teacher and cross country coach at Serra High School in San Mateo, CA has a great story to tell – a story of passion, a story of the human spirit. So he says in the opening of his preface in his self-published work of fiction, 100 Miles to Destiny, a Novel on Running. McCarthy writes, “In the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred eighty-four, three hundred seventy men and women assembled at the base of Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe to participate in an inaugural 100 Mile Endurance Run World Championship. I was one of the participants. The 1984 race, the eighth edition of the Western States Trail Run, spawned the idea of this novel.” An avid runner for twenty-five years, Coach McCarthy has run races of half mile track runs to 100 mile endurance runs, and after concluding his running career in 2000 he took up writing. Taking creative writing classes at College of San Mateo, plus working part time on the novel for six years between his commitments of parenting, teaching and coaching, he completed the novel last summer.

The book’s setting is the Western States Trail, a trail Will is quite familiar with since he has run this particular race four times. The time is the 1984 Olympics hosted by the city of Los Angeles, and athletes have arrived at Squaw Valley, CA to compete in an inaugural event. The reader has the opportunity to experience the Western States Trail through an international cast of characters. McCarthy elaborates, “Character development was my most formidable task as I attempted to capture the essence of a nationality within an athlete running in an endurance run with a global audience. My intent was to take the reader not only to the trail, but also to the 1984 Olympics with all he details of an international competition. No question, the book represents the grandest undertaking of my life.”

Mr. McCarthy tried to find a suitable publisher and/or literary agent for the past three years with little success. “The few offers I received were from publishing or literary agencies that had inflated images of themselves and poor reputations to match when I made further inquiries. Since I could not let this project die I made the difficult decision to self-publish. There are so many obstacles and costs to self-publishing a novel and I’m still learning as I proceed.”

Twenty-two years ago in a small cottage near Moncrivello, Italia Will McCarthy sat at an antique wooden table and began writing notes about an Olympic 100 mile endurance run on the Western States Trail. Despite not pursuing his goal of writing the novel for fifteen years, thoughts and ideas continued to percolate until ultimately, he began his personal quest to bring the book to print. Now he has accomplished that and from early reports of readers he has indeed written a story of passion and spirit. Will concludes, “I think we all have a story to tell – this one happens to be mine.”

For more information about the novel or to purchase a copy of the paperback, contact Mr. Will McCarthy through his website:

www.100milestodestiny.com

Winter time and Track and Field season

Thank you to all of you that have contributed in any way to this blog.

I will keep posting through the winter period and during Track and Field season. If you have anything you would add to the site such as newspaper and/or running links, please send them to albertjcaruana@gmail.com. If you would like to contribute an article to the blog, feel free to email me as well. Your audience is full of runners, coaches and parents who are all big fans of Cross Country and Track and Field.

Congratulations to so many cross country runners this past fall season. Let's keep the momentum rolling to Track and Field season and beyond.