Pamakid Speaker Series

Please join the Pamakid Runners Club for its inaugural Speaker Series Event:
When? Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.
Where? Sports Basement, 1590 Bryant Street (@ 15th Street), San Francisco, CA

"An Olympic Experience, Beijing 2008: A Coach's Perspective"

Andy Chan, Pamakid Runners Club Board President, Head Coach track & field and cross-country at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, went to Beijing to see his former student-athlete, 1,500m Olympian runner, Shannon Rowbury, compete against the World's best. Coach Chan will share some behind the scene stories about Shannon's high school career and her Olympic journey of 2008.

Norcal Rankings will be updated...

Following this weekend's races which included the Firebird Invitational (CCS), Ed Sias Invitational (NCS), Chieftain Invitational (CCS) and Viking Opener (NCS), I will update the Norcal Rankings on Sunday.

I can only speak for the Chieftain today but Tyre Johnson of Palma was very impressive as well as the Aptos teams (boys and girls). Courtney Allen of San Benito recorded an impressive victory over Stephanie Barnett of Leland and will be a runner to watch.

Please feel free to comment on any of today's races. Any surprises? Hot shot freshmen? Teams that should be ranked and were not? Runners that belong on the top 10 list? Who is on the cusp of that list?

Anybody excited yet?

Wildcats' Filipcik dominant (Carlmont sweeps boys and girls races at PAL meet)

By Julio Lara / Daily News Correspondent

It was Daniel Filipcik's intent to race on Thursday and have the entire Peninsula Athletic League take notice.

He made sure of that by making himself the easiest cross country runner to spot on the Westmoor High School course in Daly City, dominating the field and the 3-mile trek, finishing in a time of 12:43 - a whole 25 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Chris Chow of Carlmont.

To read the rest of the article, check out the following link:
http://www.sanmateodailynews.com/article/2008-9-12-xc

Norcal Rankings 2008 #1

Boys .....................................................Girls
1) Petaluma NCS...................................1) St. Ignatius CCS
2) Davis Sr. SJS.....................................2) Mt. View CCS
3) Mt. View CCS....................................3) Carlmont CCS
4) Jesuit SJS..........................................4) Campolindo NCS
5) Aptos CCS..........................................5) Davis Sr. SJS
6) Campolindo NCS...............................6) Gunn CCS
7) Willow Glen CCS................................7) Castro Valley NCS
8) Bellarmine CCS..................................8) Maria Carrillo NCS
9) De La Salle NCS...................................9) St. Mary's NCS
10) St. Ignatius CCS................................10) Carondelet NCS
Honorable Mention (10 teams in alphabetical order)
Amador Valley NCS.................................Aptos CCS
Carlmont CCS..........................................Del Oro SJS
Del Campo SJS.........................................Los Gatos CCS
Deer Valley NCS.......................................Livermore NCS
Granada NCS.............................................Oak Ridge SJS
Las Lomas NCS.........................................Placer SJS
Los Gatos CCS..........................................Ponderosa SJS
Oak Ridge SJS..........................................St. Francis, Mt. View CCS
Palo Alto CCS............................................St. Francis, Sacramento SJS
Woodcreek SJS........................................Woodcreek SJS

Boys' Individuals
1) Garrett Seawell (12) Woodcreek SJS
2) Philip MacQuitty (11) Palo Alto CCS
3) Garrett Rowe (11) Mt. View CCS
4) Sterling Lockert (12) Petaluma NCS
5) Brennan Lynch (12) Santa Cruz CCS
6) Wyatt Landrum (12) Liberty NCS
7) Chris Haworth (12) Kennedy SJS
8) Parker Schuh (10) Mt. View CCS
9) Tyre Johnson (12) Palma CCS
10) Rylan Hunt (12) Aptos CCS

Girls' Individual
1) Jacque Taylor (11) Casa Grande NCS
2) Maria Malone (12) Folsom SJS
3) Jennifer Bergman (12) Valley Christian, SJ CCS
4) Rachel Hinds (10) St. Ignatius CCS
5) Katy Daly (12) St. Ignatius CCS
6) Marissa Ferrante (11) Aptos CCS
7) Stephanie Barnett (12) Leland CCS
8) Nicole Hood (11) Carondelet NCS
9) Diana George (12) Livermore NCS
10) Jessie Petterson (10) Carlmont CCS

Feel free to comment on any omissions or the placing of any of the above teams/individuals. Remember, this the first batch of rankings and your help is greatly appreciated. The next Norcal rankings will be posted following the Stanford Invitational.

2nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic Cont.

2nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part III: Biomechanics & Footwear)

2nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part IV: Meet the Athletes)

2nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part V: The Athlete’s Panel)

Catching up with North Monterey County Coach Ibarra...

Now that the cross country season is officially under way, I will start to once again post interviews with coaches and athletes. We'll begin today with the meet director of the highly successful Earlybird Invitational as well as the coach of equally successful, North Monterey Condors, Coach Ibarra. 

 1) Tell us a little about your running background (how you got started and your years competing). I’ve been running ever since I can remember. My dad was a coach for many years at the junior, high school, and college level and my idols and best friends growing up were his athletes. My sand box was the long jump pit. I competed fairly serious as a youngster and actually found some success in the jumps and sprints early on. I later saw the light and moved up to the middle and long distances. I placed 3rd in the Utah State Meet in the 800 in high school and went on to run for BYU for 3 years and for the University of Mobile for one year. My collegiate highlight was a 6th place at the nationals in the indoor 800. I’m a Mexican national and I was planning on competing at the international level after college representing Mexico but my career was cut short with acute renal failures (my kidneys would shut down with extreme racing/training efforts). 

2) How did you get interested in teaching and coaching? I always wanted to follow my dad and my high school coach’s footsteps so it was an easy choice. 

3) What schools did you coach at before North Monterey County and how many years have you been at NMC? I coached at the two high schools I attended in Utah, Pleasant Grove & Provo High Schools, for a few years as I went through college. I first arrived in California in 1998 and I coached at San Benito High School in Hollister for 3 years. I’ve been here at North Monterey County since the fall of 2000 and I love it! 

4) Who do you consider your coaching mentors? There are several great coaches that have been a big influence on me including my college coaches Scott Simmons at the University of Mobile and Sherald James at BYU. Coach Simmons taught me how to think outside the traditional coaching box and make running progressive in nature. Coach James taught me how to put the runner first, not the running. Easily the two biggest mentors were my own father, Gustavo Ibarra Sr., and my high school coach Doug Owen. My father gave me the work ethic and the desire to be the best and my high school coach gave me the rest. My oldest son is named Owen. 

5) Can you identify an athlete (s) that really bought into your program and helped you start your success as a coach? There are several that really stand out. At Provo High School I was able to work briefly with a trio of stars. Josh Rohatinski won many state titles, Footlocker West, and NCAA’s in cross and recently placed 5th at the Olympic Trials in the 10k. Nate Robison & Kassie Anderson were two others at Provo that also won some state titles and went on to NCAA All-American citations. At San Benito High School there was Ben Morales that really helped take that team into some new territory for them by winning CCS and placing 5th at the Footlocker 2 mile. Here at North Monterey County there have been many that have embraced what I’ve asked of them. Nathan Huerta was our first real elite kid that helped the team get into the elite ranks. He placed 2nd at the state meet in cross and was CCS champ. He runs for Cal Poly now. Keli Parker (UC Davis), Jose A. Garcia (Chico State), Danny Tapia (Hartnell), Jose E. Garcia (Sacramento State), Ivan Alfaro (Hartnell), and most recently Michael Machado (Cal Poly) are some that carried the team to new levels and have gone on to run in college. 

6) Tell us a little about the Earlybird Invitational. How did it progress to the gigantic success it has become today? Bruce White started the Earlybird 14 years ago as an alternative to a local meet that was lacking some things he thought a meet should have. He started with a modest 3 schools and with a great course at NMC the meet grew each year little by little. When I was coaching at San Benito I brought my team to the Earlybird and enjoyed the meet. When I took over the program here at North Monterey I felt it was a great opportunity to develop the meet further. I began to contact coaches personally, sent out invitations, and added some touches to the meet to ensure that teams came back. Saturday we had 70 schools and 2,000 runners. It has been a great thing to watch develop. 

7) How do you attract students to your programs (cross country and track and field) at NMC? North Monterey County has always had a great tradition in cross country and track with about 20 league titles in each sport in only 27-28 years. The coaches that have been here are some of the best and have set the bar very high; it has forced me to jump! Keith Condon, Roger O’Sullivan, and Bruce White are legends in these parts. I recruit heavily. Kids literally run from me in the halls, they know what I’m coming for. Most say no, the ones that say yes build the team. And, I have every runner recruit ONE kid, pretty simple. Our numbers have come down a tad but I’m not happy unless I can get 60-70 boys, at least. 

8) Can you share with us some of your key workouts during cross country? There are several. Today we did a hill workout that we love. Not fancy, just tough. Later we do our measured staple of 6x800’s in 5:00 cycles. The times in that workout over the years are fun to compare and some legends have been made. But, overall, it’s putting one foot in front of the other and I make sure to throw out what hasn’t worked in the past and I’m not afraid to try new things, even if we fail. Plus, we keep things fun. Ultimate Frisbee, Hounds and Hares, Soccer, Tag, etc. are all part of what we do. 

9) How do you get kids motivated to run during the summer? It’s getting harder to do… I have a running club, the Tri County Running Club, that is open to runners of all ages and several of my high school kids do that but for the most part I trust them to make a plan before summer, share that plan with me and their captains, and then get to work. The captains do much of the work over that time to check progress. 

10) Looking back at your coaching career, can you identify a coaching highlight? I guess coaching a team that was happy just to win league back in 2002 and then watching them develop some vision and work ethic to a couple of CCS titles, a 4th place at state in 2003, and a runner-up finish at state in 2004 by only 7 points has to be it. Another highlight will probably develop this year. We graduated 6 of our top 7 from last year and are lining up a slew of untested 18-minute runners. We’ll see where we can take this group. 

11) You are in charge of cross country in CA. Any suggestions how we can make this a better sport for our athletes? Build a few more real cross country courses and let the kids wear spikes! 

12) Anything else you would like to add. Thank you for your enthusiasm and for your contributions to this wonderful sport!!!!! Coach Ibarra North Monterey County HS 

Thank you very much for your time Coach!

Northern California Cross Country Newspaper Links...

•Carlmont's Petersen second in big cross-country race but a 'little disappointed' in her time
•Rancho Cotate Invitational Results: Lockert and Taylor winners
•High hopes accompany cross country season (Half Moon Bay HS)
•It's a runner's world (San Benito HS)

If you have any links to any articles that pertain to Northern CA Cross Country, please send them to albertjcaruana@gmail.com

CCS Division V rankings will be posted by the end of this week and Northern California rankings will be posted on Sunday.

California Cross Country Maps by Walt Lange of Jesuit HS

Cross Country course maps used to look like the one above...yawn! (NCS course at Hayward HS).

But now, xc maps have a few more bells and whistles as you can see by the map below courtesy of Walt Lange of Jesuit HS in Carmichael. (State meet course at Woodward Park).

You can view the rest of his collection of California Cross Country course maps at the following link:
http://www.jesuittrack.org/mapscentral.html

Also, if you have some free time, you should also check out the front page of his website. It's a great resource for distance coaches.
http://www.jesuittrack.org/

Specific Goals Get Results by Mike Sherwood

Sports research shows that setting goals is the most effective way to improve athletic performance. Cross country running competition lends itself perfectly to goal setting because the outcome measure is an available number and not as dependent on the performance of competitors or teammates as other sports. Beyond improving performance, setting specific performance goals benefits coaches and runners of all skill levels in many ways.

Of course, we want all cross country runners to strive to improve their times, regardless of skill or ranking on the team and whether or not their efforts count toward team competition. With large team sizes, relatively few runners contribute to the team score and many runners’ result can get lost. When each runner runs to meet performance goals, each can feel he or she has a purpose for participating in cross country. In addition to instilling purpose, when runners themselves set these goals, they feel more personal responsibility for their performance. When runners review race goals with their coaches, the interaction connects them with the coach and each runner knows that the coach cares about and recognizes their efforts. When the runner determines a specific goal for the upcoming meet, focus improves and training energizes. When a runner meets his or her set goal, hard work seems worth it! By setting challenging but achievable goals, runners succeed, feel more confident and approach training and racing with enthusiasm. Runners with positive attitudes stay engaged the entire season, and are more likely to remain in cross country throughout high school.

Coaches and teams also benefit when goals guide training. First and foremost, both individual and team performance improves. Goals are not just for the fastest runners. Setting and achieving goals for all runners creates an atmosphere of success that increases morale and motivation throughout the team, all season long. Having every member on the team set a goal at every race insures interaction between coach and runner every week. This way, coaches let their team know that every runner and every race matters to them. You can, design a training program around reaching for goals and this focus increases coach/runner involvement, allows you to teach kids how to set goals, and encourages celebrating the accomplishments of the team, as a whole and as individuals. A few words about goal-setting: Frequently, teams use “do your best” goals. Research demonstrates that these don’t work as well as specific achievable goals based on past performances on specific courses. . Interestingly enough, coaches often need to rein in kids’ very aggressive, often unrealistic goals. Effective goals should be only 5%-15% percent better than past performances so that athletes are 90% likely to reach their new goals. It’s the specificity and attainability that makes goals effective

While many of these benefits are understood by coaches, few teams have the bandwidth to set goals systematically. I’ve interviewed many cross country coaches and the most common reason, even for small teams, is that setting specific goals for all runners and races can overwhelm a coach’s time and attention. To set appropriate goals, the runner and coach need to have easy access to past performances on all courses, then a way to set and review goals efficiently. There are many ways to solve this (and yes, XCStats is one). The benefits are compelling.

Mike Sherwood
XCStats.com

Mike Sherwood is the creator of XCStats.com, a site designed for high school cross country teams for keeping stats, identifying improvements and managing the process of creating and reviewing goals. XCStats was developed through Mike’s work with his kids’ cross country team at Archbishop Mitty in San Jose and is available to all California high schools.

You can read more about goal setting by downloading a chapter on the subject from Sport Psychology for Coaches, excerpted with permission from Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL and provided courtesy of XCStats.

NCS Pre-Season Division V Rankings

The season of '08 offers a few changes for the North Coast Section as several teams join the section (Fremont Christian, Redwood Christian and Valley Christian-Dublin) and one team (Crystal Springs Uplands) leaves to join the Central Coast Section. So what do those changes mean for the section? Time will tell but at this point the new teams (most notably Redwood Christian) will inject a new challenger in the boy's race.

The defending boys' team champions, Red Devils of San Francisco University HS, will once again be the favorites to win the team battle. Following their 7 straight NCS titles, University was handed a rare loss in 2006 by College Prep but UHS quickly rebounded to soundly win last year's title (58 to 102). They packed 6 in the top 20 last year and return 5 out of the top 7 which includes their top 4 runners-Robert Kealhofer, Weishen Mead, David Kealhofer and Miles Horton.

Berean Christian should be their closest challengers as they return their top 6 runners including their tough 1/2 punch of Matthew Day and Tyler Deniston. College Prep, last year's 2nd place finishers, only return 3 of their top 7 but will have a strong front runner (Charlie Sauter) and have made it a habit of going to Fresno on Thanksgiving weekend.

The two wild cards in this division includes Redwood Christian which had a trio of sophomores last year finish in the top 6 at the CCS final including the individual champion, Josh Macdonald. If they can find two runners to go along with their talented juniors, RC could challenge the previously mentioned teams. The second wild card will be St. Joseph Notre Dame which claimed the last state meet spot last year and return 6 out of 7 from that team.

The individual title chase could be a good one this year as there are no clear favorites. The top returner is Charlie Sauter of College Prep who finished 6th last year. UHS will add the Kealhofer twins and Weishen Mead to the list of challengers. Day and Deniston for BC will also contend along with Macdonald of RC who has a rare chance to win an NCS title to go along with his CCS title. Steven Iglehart of Branson had a spectacular track season and a fine effort at the Dipsea to stamp himself as another contender. Skyler Thomas of Mendocino had an equally impressive track season and will be a player this coming season.

The favorites for the girls' team will be College Prep and Marin Academy. CPS just outdistanced MA last year by a score of 68 to 70 and this year's race should be equally as tight. If I had to give a slight edge to one team, it would be to CPS who return their entire top 7. MA will return the majority of their team including the defending individual champion but will be without the graduated Alesandra Roger who is now running for the Cal Bears.

Last year, four teams (CPS, MA, University and Crystal Springs Uplands) clearly separated themselves from the field to take the four state meet berths. One of those teams (CSU) will now be in CCS which means one spot should be available for several teams to battle for that last elusive trip to Fresno. Those teams should include Lick Wilmerding, Head Royce, Chinese Christian, Rincon Valley Christian and Santa Rosa Christian.

Unlike the boys, the girls will have a favorite for the individual title and that goes to the defending champion, Lucy McCullough of Marin Academy. She enjoyed an equally successful track season and will look to repeat this year. Her main challengers will include Adrienne Strait of CPS, Eliza Weiss of MA, Jessica Ho of CCS, CPS teammates Barbara Barnes and Emily Erickson, and Grace Hafner of Sonoma Academy.
Division V Boys (Top 5 Advance to state)
1) University-Looking to return to state podium again this year.
2) Berean Christian-Experienced team ready to challenge for title.
3) College Prep-No stranger to state meet trips.
4) Redwood Christian-3 very strong runners lead the way.
5) St. Joseph Notre Dame-Qualified for state meet last year.
On the bubble: South Fork, Stuart Hall, Lick Wilmerding

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) & 2007 NCS meet time:
Charlie Sauter (6) College Prep 16:16
Robert Kealhofer (8) SF University 16:25
Weishen Mead (9) SF University 16:29
David Kealhofer (10) SF University 16:32
Matthew Day (11) Berean Christian 16:36

Division V Girls (Top 4 Advance to state)
1) College Prep-Defending champions return everybody.
2) Marin Academy-Finished here last year.
3) University-Don't count them out.
4) Lick Wilmerding-Top 4 runners are back.
5) Head Royce-Team to watch with good young talent.
On the bubble: Santa Rosa Christian, Chinese Christian

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) & 2007 NCS meet time:
Lucy McCullough (1) Marin Academy 18:37
Adrienne Strait (5) College Prep 19:14
Eliza Weiss (6) Marin Academy 19:18
Barbara Barnes (7) College Prep 19:21
Emily Erickson (9) College Prep 20:11

CCS Division V rankings will be up next followed by the first installment of Northern California rankings.

Feel free to comment on the above rankings or any of the previous rankings. We'll get our first taste of competition this coming weekend as several teams will make their debut.