Former Mt. Pleasant coach, Steve Nelson

My latest CA Coaching legend installment on MileSplit California is former Mt. Pleasant coach, Steve Nelson. You can read all about Coach Nelson at this LINK.

Interesting to note that since the formation of the Central Coast Section in 1965, there have only been 5 CCS teams that have won state team Track and Field titles including Coach Nelson's Mt. Pleasant girls' team in 2007. 

Los Altos Boys in 1970
Andrew Hill Girls in 1978
Woodside Girls in 1983 (All 38 points scored by Wendy Brown)
North Salinas Boys in 1993 (Co-Champions)
Mt. Pleasant Girls in 2007

Serra and Bearcat Invitationals Performance Lists

SERRA INVITATIONAL
http://serrahstrack.com/docs/2018_top_7_performance_list.pdf

BEARCAT INVITATIONAL
http://www.smhsrunners.com/uploads/6/4/9/4/6494060/2018_entries.pdf

Granada Distance & Sprint Festival

3200m – The girls will be lead by Lauren Lum of Alameda who has already broken the 11-minute barrier this season.  She’ll be followed closely by eight girls from five other schools who have run under 12 minutes this season.  The boys’ race features fourteen boys under 10 minutes, headlined by Division 3 Cross Country All-Stater Greg Aufderheide of Livermore and Sean Laidlaw of Lick Wilmerding.  They’ll be leading a group of boys trying to run in the 9:20s.


800m – The girls’ race has at least three girls that will be trying to break the 2:20 mark including Veronica Valenton of Livermore, Cynthia Rosales of Piner, and Jordyn Gleaton of Kimball.  The boys’ race has a ton looking to break 2 minutes, and features three that have already gone under that mark.  Parker Wilkerson of Las Lomas, Nate Harris of Tamalpais, and sophomore sensation Matt Strangio of Jesuit have proven credentials to run in the 1:55 range.


1600m – The girls’ race is loaded with big potential for multiple sub-5 performances.  The field includes Jenna Miles and Isabella Chao of Campolindo, Colleen McCandless and Kalea Bartolotto of Granada, Lauren Lum of Alameda, Amanda Olla of San Ramon Valley, and Kelli Wilson of Monte Vista—all of whom have ran under 11 minutes in the 3200 this season, and are seeking fast times as they step down to the 4 lap distance.  The boys’ race should be a great opportunity to break both the 4:20 and 4:30 barriers.  John Bennett (4:18/8:57) of Granada headlines, followed by Spencer Berkins of Bishop O’Dowd, Ethan Ash of Head-Royce, and Edward Buckley of Campolindo.


400m – The girls’ race has several hunting for their first sub 60 of the season in Maddy Doane of Campolindo and Veronica Valenton of Livermore.  Several boys are hovering around 50 seconds, including Elijah Sheppard and Matthew Friedler of Monte Vista as well as Will Watkins of Tamalpais and Tomas Kersulis of Foothill.


100m – The girls have two under 13 seconds this season: Belle Aduahe of Foothill and Giovanna Duley of Granada.  There are several others looking to get into the 12-second range for the first time this season.  The boys have a very fast heat with all at or under 11.5, including Alameda’s 10.96 dasher Ramir Smith.


100m/110m Hurdles – The girls’ field features Dublin’s Amayia Brandon at 16.86, Livermore’s Abigail Harnish 17.06, and Granada’s Kaila Kheirolomoom 17.75.  The boys’ race will showcase a great dual between Dublin’s Donald Davis 15.31 and Kimball’s Andrew Washington 15.55.

Catching up with St. Mary's Stockton senior, Karl Winter

Today, we chat with St. Mary's Stockton senior distance runner, Karl Winter. While other Sac-Joaquin athletes have been getting lots of attention this spring including Davis HS senior pole vaulter Sondre Guttormsen, Winter has been recording his best Track and Field season to date. He has already recorded multiple personal bests over the 1600 and 3200 distances and his current PRs now stand at 4:16.39 and 9:12.09. The latter mark took place this past weekend at the Arcadia Invitational as Winter recorded a victory in one of the Friday 3200 races. He also just recently announced that he has committed to attending Pepperdine University next fall.

You can check out my interview with Karl at this LINK.

North Coast Section news

The divisions for the 2018 Cross Country season have been posted:
http://static.psbin.com/r/y/0fdek8kuov3jn0/18_XCountry.pdf

Last night at the Arcadia Invitational, we had several additions to the NCS all-time lists.
The following link has not been updated for about a year but for the most part is still accurate. Cooper Teare's 8:41.46 as well as his 3:59.80 should be updated. The 3:59.80 is from the Sacramento Meet of Champions although he does have a converted mile time that is faster. 
http://static.psbin.com/k/6/mbxmt08mr35ooy/NCS_All_Time_List_Through_2016.pdf

Redwood runners Liam Anderson and Gillian Wagner both made their way onto the top 10 lists of the 3200m with their 8:52.74 and 10:14.11 respective times. If there are other marks that should be included as well, please let us know in the comment section below.

Arcadia Invitational Live Webcast

You can watch the entire meet at this LINK. You can also find links to the live results as well as accepted entries and heats. 

Feel free to chime in during the next two days on some of the top performances by Northern California athletes.

The reemergence of the 3200 meter distance

http://ca.milesplit.com/articles/236936-the-reemergence-of-the-3200-meter-distance

The graph to the left courtesy of Jesuit HS coach Walt Lange. It will be interesting to see how many boys will break 9 minutes at Arcadia tomorrow and how many will be from Northern California.

CCS "Lifetime Pass" honor for Bob Rush

Below is a partial letter to Bob Rush from the CCS office announcing his award. Bob has worked an ungodly amount of hours creating and caring for the Crystal Springs course since the 60s. The course has hosted many high school, college and open meets through the years and from 1972 to this day, the course has remained the same thanks to Bob. Congratulations are definitely in order here.

========

Dear Bob,

 On behalf of the CCS Awards Committee, the CCS Board of Managers and the CCS Office, I am thrilled to let you know that you have been chosen to receive the CCS “Lifetime Pass” Award for your contributions to the athletes and schools of the CCS.   The presentation of this award will be taking place at the CCS Board of Managers Spring meeting which will be conducted on Wednesday, April 4 at 8:00 am at the Campbell Union High School District Office which is located at 3235 Union Avenue, San Jose, CA. 95124.  A continental breakfast beginning at 7:30 am precedes the meeting.  The presentation of awards will take place at the beginning of the meeting.  After the presentation, the Board will move on to the business portion of the meeting.  You are welcome to stay or skip the rest of the meeting.

I look forward to this very deserved presentation.  

Steve

Steve Filios

CCS Assistant Commissioner

sfilios@cifccs.org

408 224-2994

Recap of Stanford Invitational

http://ca.milesplit.com/articles/236903-stanford-invitational-cranked-out-national-leaders

Includes a recap of Clayton Valley's Aiden Jackman and his three victories at the meet including a national leading 52.18 400m hurdles victory.

NorCal One-Day Multi-Event now back on at James Logan

Lee Webb will host this event on Wednesday and Thursday, April 4th and 5th. It will be hand-time, low key and no cost for all the competitors.

If you need additional information and are interested in attending, please reach out to Coach Webb at

Lee Webb <lwebb@nhusd.k12.ca.us>