Photo of the Week

From the '09 CA State meet boys' 3200m. (Lots of Northern CA representatives up front).

Couple of updates about two North Bay running legends...

Thanks to Harry Skandera of Santa Rosa Christian for letting us know that Dan Aldridge is now coaching again at the high school level at Sonoma Academy.

Aldridge previously coached at Maria Carrillo HS where he raised the level of the Pumas to compete at the state level. Several of his outstanding runners included his own daughter, Jenny, who won the 2000 1600m. state meet final in 4:49.63. He's pictured in the photo below courtesy of dyestatcal.com with two of his former runners, Kristen Sanzari and Leanne Fogg. Dan was a great runner himself as he still holds the Petaluma HS record in the 800m. with a time of 1:49.21 (on dirt). He stepped down from his post at Maria Carrillo a few years ago to ignite his own running again as he approached his 50th birthday.



The Santa Rosa Press Democrat mentioned his return to the hs coaching ranks in the following bit:

NEW COACH AT SONOMA ACADEMY

Former Maria Carrillo track and cross country coach Danny Aldridge will take over the cross country program at Sonoma Academy.

Following a college career at USC, Santa Rosa JC and San Luis Obispo, that included being named an NCAA All American at USC in 1976, a JC state champion in the 1,500 meters and a two-time national champ in the 1,500 at Cal Poly SLO, Aldridge also turned pro and ran in the World University Games.

Aldridge is an owner and manager at Heart and Sole running store in downtown Santa Rosa.
Link: http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090512/SPORTS/905129889/0/NEWS?Title=High-School-Notebook-Badminton-gets-its-time-to-shine-Saturday

The other runner of prominence from the Santa Rosa area is Julia Stamps (pictured above with her daughter Ashlin thanks the SR Press Democrat). For those of you that remember Stamps, she had one of the finest high school running careers in the state of CA. Her times in hs included a 4:42.79 1600m. and a 10:12.20 3200m. She attended Stanford where she was a 6 time all-American. You can read more about Stamps in the following article in the SR PD:

New path leads Stamps in old direction

Northern Section Pre-Season Rankings...

Thanks to Scott Fairley (West Valley HS) and Jim Deaver (Enterprise) for the following rankings:

BOYS:
Individuals:
Domenic D'Acquisto (11) - Enterprise
Zach Kaylor (12) - Enterprise
Dan Parker (12) Chico
Daniel Johnson (10) University Prep
Justin Gibbs (12) Pleasant Valley

Teams:
Enterprise
Pleasant Valley
Yreka
Chico
Corning

GIRLS:
Individuals:
Tiffanie Heflin (11) - Lassen
Cody Atkins (10) - Chico
Corissa Storms (11) - West Valley
Deleane Bartlett (11) - Enterprise
Stephanie Rasmussen (10) American Christian

Teams:
Chico
Enterprise
Mt. Shasta
West Valley
Durham

An interview with Tiffany Heflin is coming up.

Please give your choices for top teams in Northern California (boys and girls). Once I get enough feedback from everybody, I will post the pre-season Northern California list.

All Stars Helping Kids - Teammates

It would be awesome if you had the chance to help spread the word about the USATF nominees for Jefferson Award for Public Service (Lauryn Williams, Sara/Ryan Hall, Lauren Fleshman). They are all doing a good job of getting the word out to their twitter feeds, etc, but the folks in the WTA have sent out stuff about the tennis nominees, the Raiders have publicized their guy, the Mavericks have publicized Dirk N, etc. Some sport specific publicity would be fantastic.

It is a prestigious award for public service, and (full disclosure) my husband runs the foundation that is helping get pro athletes from all sports nominated in a serious way for the first time. I, however, can pick sides! Check out the list - it is a good thing to have our tracksters alongside these names in the other big sports.

Just like the "last man in" vote for the All Star Game, it is all about the fan energy to pump up those vote totals!

Dena Evans

http://allstarshelpingkids.org/teammates/index.html

2009 NCS Division IV Pre-Season Rankings...

You might think I saved the best division for last but the truth of the matter is that this is always the most difficult division for me to rank. While Division IV in NCS may not be the toughest division, the teams and individuals in this division have certainly fared well at the state meet. In the past two years, St. Mary's Berkeley has collected 3 state meet plaques (2 for the girls and 1 for the boys). The Piedmont boys won the state championship in 2005 before the onslaught of Big Bear victories the next 3 years. This year, the NCS also returns 3 runners who finished in the top 10 in their respective races at the state meet (Dan Milechman of Tamalpais, Dan Maxwell of St. Mary's and Theresa Devine of Marin Catholic).

What makes this division tough to predict is the fluctuation of teams that move from either Division III or V. Some of the teams also have small rosters which make for some great teams one year and not so competitive teams the next. The other part that makes it difficult is that some of the teams compete in leagues whose results you rarely see. That is hopefully not the case anymore. At this point, I can only take history into account as well as the results from last year's meets to give you an idea of the contenders for this coming season.

So what that in mind, here are my predictions for this coming season. The favorite to win the boys' team title has to be St. Mary's Berkeley. They return one of the fastest runners in the state, Dan Maxwell, and 5 out of their top 7 from last year's NCS race. In the past three years, they have won NCS twice ('06 and '07) and finished 2nd last year by 1 point to Tamalpais HS. I am pretty sure they will be plenty motivated this year to reclaim the NCS crown.

That was the easy part. Now comes the guessing part. Last year's champions, Tamalpais, returns the best runner in this division, Dan Milechman, but most of last year's team is off to college. The 3rd place team, San Rafael HS, just missed the NCS title by 5 pts. (68 to 73). They return their top 2 runners, juniors to be Trevor Ehlenbach and Cameron Bronstein but lose graduated senior Brian Hernandez and their best freshman from last year, Tyler Browne, as he is transfering to Redwood HS. 4th place team, Justin Siena, loses their excellent seniors (Kevin Cardey, John Masyczek, Dan DeBleuw and Michael Bozzini) who excelled at both xc and track and field. 5th placer, Piedmont, has veteran coach Doyle O'Regan who keeps churning out good teams in this division. The wild card could be Sir Francis Drake which drops down from Division III and they had a solid group of underclassmen this year that could make an impact.

The favorite to win the individual crown is junior Dan Milechman of Tamalpais. He ran 16:20 as a 9th grader to finish 21st in the always tough Division III race. Last year, despite playing golf during the '08 spring, Milechman had a breakthrough season as he won the NCS title and then went on to finish 3rd. at the state meet. This past spring, Milechman put the golf bag away, ran track and qualified for the state meet in the 1600m. (4:20.36). His road to retaining his title will not be easy as Dan Maxwell of St. Mary's finished 2nd in the NCS race last year after leading most of the first 2 miles. Maxwell also ran well at the state meet, finishing 5th in 15:45, just 8 seconds behind Milechman. He continued his fine running this past track season finishing 8th in the ultra competitive NCS MOC final in the 3200m. running 9:27.13.

The favorite on the girls side is no stranger to success in this division. The Piedmont girls have finished in the top 4 every year since 2001 including titles in '01, '03 and '06. They return their top 5 runners and 6 out of their top 7 from last year's 2nd place team. They have two top 10 finishers from last year (Nicole Peterson and Jamie Kent) that will definitely put them in the hunt. Their main competition will be the two time defending champions, St. Mary's Berkeley, who also finished second at the state meet the past two years. They return two of the best runners in this division in Taylor Lawson and Alex Choy but will need to fill the holes left by their talented departing seniors.

The rest of the contending teams will include Moreau Catholic which returns it's top 3 runners, including number one runner Anika Adeni (4th placer last year at NCS MOC in 18:55). Tamalpais has a nice group of sophomores as well as their #2 runner from last season, state meet qualifier Monica Milstein. Sir Francis Drake will be a factor on the girls side as well as they returns their top 7 runners and veteran coach Bill Taylor is no stranger to success.

The favorite to win the girls' title will be Marin Catholic's Theresa Devine. She is the defending champion here as she won last year in 18:14. She finished 5th at last year's state meet in a very competitive race as the 2nd through 6th place runners were seperated by 5 seconds. Devine also ran track for the first time last year putting the soccer ball aside to focus on her running. Her competition will come from the two St. Mary's runners, Taylor Lawson and Alex Choy, Anika Adeni of Moreau Catholic, Nochelle Ozard of Fortuna as well as the two Piedmont runners, Nicole Peterson and Jamie Kent.

Division IV Boys (Top 3 Advance to state)
1) St. Mary's Berkeley-Looking for 3rd title in last 4 years.
2) Piedmont-5 out of top 7 back including top 2.
3) San Rafael-Finished here last year.
4) Tamalpais-Defending champions need young runners to step up.
5) Sir Francis Drake-Bill Taylor's 27th year at the helm of the boys.
On the bubble: Arcata, El Molino, Moreau Catholic

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) & 2008 NCS meet time:
Dan Milechman (1) Tamalpais 15:18
Dan Maxwell (2) St. Mary's Berkeley 15:55
Trevor Ehlenbach (5) San Rafael 16:14
John Whitman (6) El Molino 16:14
Brian King (8) Cardinal Newman 16:22

Division IV Girls (Top 3 Advance to state)
1) Piedmont-6 out of 7 are back after 2nd place finish last year.
2) St. Mary's Berkeley-Two time defending champions.
3) Moreau Catholic-MC in first year of post Phil Wilder era.
4) Tamalpais-Milstein will lead the way.
5) Sir Francis Drake-Sleeper that could challenge state meet contenders.
One the bubble: Arcata, Terra Linda

Top 5 returning individuals, (place) & 2008 NCS meet time:
Theresa Devine (1) Marin Catholic 18:14
Taylor Lawson (2) St. Mary's Berkeley 18:51
Anika Adeni (4) Moreau Catholic 18:55
Alex Choy (6) St. Mary's Berkeley 19:10
Nochella Ozard (8) Fortuna 19:21

Let me know your thoughts. Did I miss anybody? Who is looking good this summer? Any freshmen that will have an impact in this division? Norcal rankings will be up next.

Maggie Vessey racing this Thursday in Los Gatos

Maggie Vessey (seen above following her victory at the Pre Classic this year) will be running a 400 at the Los Gatos All-comer this Thursday. This is your chance to watch a world class athlete run in her final tuneup before the World Championships begin on the 15th.

2008-09 Participation Survey

The following link is from the California Interscholastic Federation website with participation numbers from every sport in our state. The survey was taken in 2009.

Interesting numbers to check out:
http://www.cifstate.org/media/pdf/partsurvey07.pdf

Photo of the Week

From the 2009 CCS 3200m. final. In the picture you can see winner Lance Wolfsmith of Sobrato, 2nd placer Garrett Rowe of Mountain View, 3rd placer Philip MacQuitty of Palo Alto, 4th placer, Mitch Moriarty of Aptos, 5th placer Nohe Lema of Willow Glen (partially hidden) and 6th placer Paul Summers of Gunn. One of the better CCS 3200m. races as Summers recorded 9:13.68 to finish in 6th and 4 runners ran faster than the at large time (9:12.57).

If you have a cool picture from this past track and field season, send it my way at albertjcaruana@gmail.com

CCS Comparisons - 2009 by Walt Van Zant

Walt Van Zant (Wilcox HS Coach seen here on the left) has once again done amazing work collecting the times from the '08 cross country and '09 track and field seasons of every team participating in the Central Coast Section. You can take a look at the following link and find out where your team belongs as of this point in CCS.

Walt will update the following lists as the season progresses.

CCS Comparisons - 2009

Any feedback? Any corrections? Who are the fastest incoming freshmen in CCS?

2009 Track and Field World Championships

While most high school and college runners are gearing up for cross country season, the pros (who qualified) are now getting ready for the 12th IAAF Track and Field World Championships. They will take place this year in Berlin starting on Saturday, August 15th. Below is a list of websites and links of all the coverage you will need to follow the event.

Official Website:
http://berlin.iaaf.org/index.html

Television Schedule (eastern times):
http://www.usatf.org/calendars/TVSchedule.asp

Coverage on Universal Sports:
http://www.universalsports.com/main/Schedule.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=

Official USA Track and Field website:
http://www.usatf.org/

Home of World Athletics:
http://www.iaaf.org/

The Bible of the Sport since 1948:
http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/

where your dreams become reality:
http://www.letsrun.com/