Catching up with Lowell HS runner, Tamara Purpura...

Who is the fastest returning Northern California 800m. female high school runner from last year's state Track and Field meet?  Today we chat with that student as we hear from Lowell HS senior runner Tamara Purpura.  Last year, she finished 5th at the state meet with a time of 2:10.75 and is the 3rd fastest overall returner from last season (behind fellow seniors Paisley Pettway of Millikan-2:08.57 and Neausha Logan of Long Beach Poly-2:10.50).  She has won the 800m., 1600, and been a member of the winning 1600m. Relay team in each of her 3 seasons competing in the SF Section.  She is also a 3-time section champion in Cross Country (2007-2009).  Next year, Tamara will be attending UCLA on a Track and Field scholarship.

1) When did you start running xc and track and field?
I started to run as a freshman in high school. Before that, my only experience was when I ran in one meet during 6th grade in middle school.

2) What was your experience during your freshman season on the Track and Field team? Some of your achievements that year?
As a freshman, I was really excited to finally to be on a running team.  During that year, I ran my PR for the mile 5:03 and in the 800m I got a 2:15. I would PR every meet as a freshman. It was all so new and exciting.

3) When did you first start to believe that you could compete at the state meet with some of the best runners in the state?
I starting thinking I could compete with state meet runners when I got through trials at state meet (last season as a junior). I ran my best time of 2.11 and knew then that I could possibly place the next day.

4) What were some of your proudest achievements from last track season?
My proudest achivement last year was placing 5th in the state. I was really happy because I knew I ran the best I could for that season at the right time.

5) How has your track coach Andy Leong helped you become the runner you are today?
Andy has helped me become a good runner by always being positive and saying I can do it. Even if it is a bad day he is always understanding.

6) What are some of the more challenging workouts that you have done that you think help you in the 800m?
My most challenging work outs for the 800 are when Andy makes me run with the varsity boys in track work outs running repeat 200s and 400s . 

7) For somebody that is new to the 800m, can you explain some of the strategies you have used and how to best break up the race?
My strategy is usually to not take it out too fast the first lap and then kicking really hard the las 150 or so. But thats only if I'm running with good competition.

8) What are some of the reasons you ended up choosing UCLA? What other colleges were among your final choices?
I picked UCLA because i really liked the team and the coaches. the campus is also very nice. Its also by my big brother who goes to USC. My top two choices were UCLA and CAL 

9) What track and field meets are you looking forward to this coming season?
I'm looking forward to the Arcadia Invitational and Percy Knox Invitational. At Percy Knox we get to go to Magic Mountain the next day.

10) Favorite track meet? Favorite competitor(s)? Favorite place to run? Favorite cross country meet? Favorite cross country course? 
My favorite meets are in SF as far as weather goes. I HATE the heat. It is my worst enemy. As for competition, any meet in LA is usually good. My favorite place to run, just for a long run, is the great highway in SF next to the ocean. Its really pretty. I really dont like cross country. It is way too long to race, 3.1 miles is sooooo long. But I really liked the meet we ran in Oregon one time.

11) If you have to pick the most important qualities that are needed to be a successful distance runner, what are they?
If you want to be a good distance runner, you have to be excellent when it comes to the mental game. Running is only a fourth of the success. The other three-fourths is the mental game. As soon as you start thinking about how long your race is or how tired you're feeling and want to give up, your race is basically over.  You're never going to do well.

12) Anything else you would like to add.
I'm really glad I started running. Ever since I was in pre-school, my goal has been to be a gold medalist in track and field. Im going to continue chasing that dream through college and hopefully at least make it to the Olympic Trials one year.

Thank you very much for your time Tamara!  AJC.

As a side note to this article, if you are an athlete or parent in San Francisco, please check out SAN FRAN PREPS at  http://www.sanfranpreps.com/.  This site has done a great job picking up the slack covering sports in the San Francisco area due to the demise of many of local newspapers.

NorCal Friday/Saturday Meet Results...

San Rafael Twilight Relays

KBell Invitational Track Results
KBell Invitational Field Results
KBell Invitational Team Results

Will post the following results as soon as I get them.
Dan Gabor Distance/Sprint Invitational

Wildcat Relays at Watsonville HS

Will post Newark Memorial Cougar Invitational results as soon as I get them.

Any other Northern California Invitationals that have not been posted online yet?

Will also post links to newspaper articles that cover above meets as I get them.

Most impressive marks from Friday or Saturday?

San Rafael Twilight Relays tonight...

You can find heat sheets at www.dyestatcal.com.

I will tweet as many of the top performances from tonight. You can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/CCExpress

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can all stay dry. Good luck to all athletes participating tonight.

Marin IJ story on Twilight Relays:
http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_14666627?source=rss

Early report from Dan Gabor Invite

winners of fast heats...


Deuel San Ramon Valley 4:25
Warren Campolindo 5:16
Kellogg Acalanes 1:55
Schneider Castro Valley 2:19
Eversole Castro Valley 9:23
Santisteban Castro Valley 10:55

Results will be posted as soon as I get them.

Dan Gabor Invitational - Friday Distance Heats

You can find every heat at the following link:
http://albertcaruana.blogspot.com/2010/03/dan-gabor-invitational-friday-distance.html

Race of the Day?

Going with...
Section 18 of 18 Finals
1 Kevin Griffith San Ramon Vl 1:53.89
2 Toshi Kellogg Acalanes 1:55.00
3 John McAnelly Woodland 1:55.95
4 Ryan Hammill San Ramon Vl 1:58.73
5 Brett Cantrell Acalanes 1:59.40
6 Adam Kelly-Strong Jesuit 1:59.73
7 Anthony Martore Castro Valle 1:59.83
8 Kellen Cole Amador Valle 2:00.90


What is your choice for race of the...actually night?

Catching up with former Stanford runner/coach Dena Evans...

Today we chat with former Stanford runner ('96 grad) and coach (2003 NCAA Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year), Dena Evans. To save me the embarrassment of missing some of her accolades during her time on the Farm, here is her coaching profile on the Stanford site.

http://www.gostanford.com/sports/c-xc/mtt/evans_dena00.html

Dena is now involved with Focus-N-Fly (Business Dev and Coach). You can check out her profile here:

http://www.focusnfly.com/newfnf/mgtteam.php

Dena is also now coordinating the New Balance Silicon Valley Club (formerly Peninsula Distance Club - Brooks).

So without further ado (it's ado...I looked it up), Dena Evans...

1) What sports did did you participate in during your youth?

I played a lot of sports informally with my dad and with friends. Where I grew up (on Mercer Island, WA), we spent a lot of time in the water in the summer, and I would torture my friends with impromptu triathlons and the like. I turned a lot of things into competitions. My first soccer team was in fourth grade, and for basketball, it was sixth. We sometimes played tennis at the park as well. Tennis is kind of a family sport on my dad's side. Once I started with the team sports, it was pretty much some form of soccer, basketball, and running until I had to come to the realization that Tara VanDerveer was never going to call!

2) When did you start getting involved in xc (not sure if you did xc) and track and field?

I did an alternative PE program in middle school called Outdoor Fitness. Our teacher, Miss Call, was a local legend who had been leading kids on some amazing adventures since the 70s, including taking 7th and 8th graders across the country on bicycles during the summer. In the class, we ran most days, although you had the option to bike twice a week. Then, on the weekends, there were all sorts of hikes and other adventures she would organize, from surviving overnight in the wilderness with a coffee can of supplies, to whitewater rafting, etc. There were several major challenges to do throughout the year, some of which I couldn't do because of weekend soccer commitments. However, I did do some of them, like the Mercer Island Half Marathon, a "Run to Tacoma" (29 miles in one day), and the walk around Lake Washington (55 miles in 22 hours). Sounds crazy, but we all did these, and some of our parents even joined in.

Miss Call taught all of us in the program a great deal, some of it the hard way, since a few of us (myself included), were fairly headstrong and stubborn. For instance, barring pregnancy, I don't stop running to walk up hills, even if I am going "grandma pace." She used to hide along some of our running routes and bust people who walked. It was a major rule - you had to carry on, even if you had to slow way down to do so. On the other hand, it was also a rule that every time you passed another person in the group, you gave them a high five and told them good job. Without exception. Generally, she taught us to look out for each other and push ourselves mentally, lessons which have been very fruitful for me later in life. In eighth grade, our middle school had a fundraiser 5k and she said she was betting on me to beat this upstart 6th grader who had been ripping it up in age group track (and later was a high school track teammate). I was quite sure she literally made a wager, and that she didn't tell me for nothing. So, I was compelled to compete for the first time over 5k! All in good fun though. Soccer conflicts with cross country during the fall in the state of Washington, so I figured I'd do track in high school as there was no way I wasn't doing soccer in the fall.

3) When did you first realize you had the talent to do well in running?

In elementary school, we had a fundraiser called the "Metra-Thon." It was during and just after that Jimmy Carter time when everybody was supposed to embrace the metric system. Anyway, over the course of an in-service day at school, we could earn money from neighborhood sponsors by completing 1 kilometer laps around the school. A lot of schools have these lap-a thons - I'm actually working on one for my daughter's school this year. However, my friend Katie and I were pretty crazy about this thing, and my final year of elementary school, we did over a marathon in 6 hours, fueled on Tang and hot dogs. It was all about getting the trophy and your name in the paper as your school's top lapper. Also, I seemed to do well with the 600 yard run in the Presidential Fitness Test. Yes, I suppose I was a wee bit competitive.

4) What sports did you do during high school and what were some of your highlights?

Soccer, Basketball, Track. Had so much fun - too many highlights to recount, but a few were...

Soccer: we were pretty good my senior year, ranked in USA Today and all that. Unfortunately, there was another high school in Washington which was ranked above us and cleaned our clock in the state final. However, in our round of 16 game, the tournament made us trek all the way down to near Portland to play this team that just talked so much trash and had such rowdy fans before the game that it was one of the singularly distinct pleasures of our time together as a team to score three goals in the first five or ten minutes and leave them speechless. For some reason, that game always sticks with me. Maybe it was the long bus ride.

We also wanted to have cool, but expensive sweatshirts which we designed and paid for ourselves. Well, how to do it? We just did a car wash at Albertson's, raised all this money, ordered and screened the shirts, and then got in trouble with the school board because we didn't get it approved. Who knew you had to get such things approved?

Basketball: we made it to the state tournament my senior year, which was the first time for MI. We lost early, and I cried like a baby in the hallway because I knew it was the last basketball game I would ever play, although my dad periodically tries to goad me into one on one in the driveway. I also had a goal to average 10 rebounds a game my senior year. I had this poster of David Robinson in my room as motivation. I think I finished with 10.1 per game avg or something. Skin of my teeth. My husband still laughs at me about this, and I'm like, "What? What's wrong with rebounds? Have something against hard work or something?" Its like a running joke for him and I'm not sure why....I loved basketball though. Played with a lot of outstanding women.

Track: My sophomore year, I pr'ed by a big chunk and won the state meet 800m. Huge surprise. Out of nowhere. I then laid under a tree for about 2 hours completely out of it, after which I needed to get up and run the mile, which predictably, did not go as well. Senior year, our 4x4 team won state in a school record, and because the rest of the team were sophomores getting their first taste of the podium, it was particularly sweet.

5) Describe your training during high school (ie miles per week, favorite workouts, longest run etc.)

I did not work as hard as I should have during high school, in part because the meets were like workouts, and I often used those to get in shape. I should say that I did what I was asked and ran as fast as I could, but I didn't take the initiative I probably should have to do the extra things to be that much better. I kind of treated track practice like another team sport practice, instead of a lifestyle, which to be good, it probably needs to be. I had to learn about some of that. My coaches switched in and out a couple times through my high school years, which was interesting, because I got some different perspectives. I also usually only had a week or two after basketball before the first meet, so there wasn't much time for a base. My senior year, I got these new spikes from Eastbay, tested them out right out of the box at our first meet (11 days or something after our last basketball game), and was so sore afterwards that I couldn't depress the clutch on my car for three days following! Dumb stuff like that would sometimes hold me up. A workout which was fairly indicative of what we did were: warm up to the middle school track from our high school (force us to run 2.5 miles), 8x400 at goal mile pace on 4 min start to start, jog back. As I mentioned earlier, I definitely had run long in middle school, but in high school, I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to run a 3200. It was 1600/800/4x4 every week, rain or shine.

6) Tell us a little about your Stanford experience and what were some of your highlights there?

I had a wonderful experience at Stanford. I ended up majoring in American Studies, then sticking around for my Master's / Teaching Credential in the STEP program while my (now husband) boyfriend did a fifth year co-term Master's in football (ha ha, I'll get in trouble for that one, it was actually Sociology). I roomed with another two sport athlete for all four undergraduate years, Maureen McLaren. Normally, that doesn't happen - it was kind of a freak thing to have two athletes randomly assigned freshman year. Anyway, we were and are totally different in so many ways, but similar in a lot of others, and the experience really defined a lot of how I remember those years. I had the chance to get to know and learn from a lot of amazing student-athletes, including those on the teams on which I participated, as well as the teams she was on (swimming and volleyball). I was involved with the student-athlete advisory committee, was active with the Stanford Athletes in Action group, and even joined a sorority, though in those days none of them were housed. Those activities also allowed some opportunity for service, along with the fun.

As for sporting highlights, I would say in soccer, our trip to the Final Four was pretty exciting, although heart wrenching as well. It was 1993, Stanford's first trip, and we lost in the semis to George Mason, on penalty kicks. I had been injured for much of the year, so I was glad to at least be doing well enough to participate and play in that bittersweet experience, especially as we didn't end up making it back my junior or senior years. During my time at Stanford, it really was the golden era for many sports - for example, my roommate Mo won 6 team NCAA titles (four in swimming, two in volleyball), which I believe is still a record for one person. Our soccer team was strong, but our track team was really not achieving too much at first. As Coach Lananna started getting some better and better recruits, we got to the point where we were fairly decent. My freshman year, we were next to dead last in the 4x1500m at Penn, and by my senior year, we were pretty much in the lead the entire way and just got nipped at the end. That race really stuck with me, because it reflected the growth of the program. Sure enough, the other three women on that relay ended up playing a big role as Stanford won NCAA's in cross the following fall. When we won the 4x1500 finally in 2004 when I was coaching, it was fairly emotional for me as it symbolized the trajectory of the arc our program had been traveling, although the Penn Relays 4x1500 is kind of a random race. I was honored to still be contributing in some way.

7) You played soccer and track and field while at Stanford. How did you work that out with both coaches and what was the most difficult part in juggling both sports?

Well, I knew I wanted to do both from the beginning, so it was always a part of the deal. It was different then - we had spring practice for soccer, but not nearly the intense schedule they keep now. So, both coaches were open to it, as were coaches at other schools. I would show up at the track office the Monday after my last soccer game, and would show up for pick up or to kick around the week after the last meet. My junior year, I did a bit of spring soccer practice as well. I suspect I would have been better at either if I had not done the other, but I learned so much from both experiences that I would never trade the path I took for another. The other huge difference from then to now is that there are so many more participation and scholarship opportunities in soccer - back then, there were several great track schools with strong academics that didn't field a women's soccer team, and that I might have otherwise looked into if they had.

8) Biggest differences for you between high school and collegiate running and racing?

The other 22 hours of the day. Nutrition, sleep, stretching, weights, etc.

9) When did you first become interested in coaching? What have been some of your coaching highlights?

I had done a bunch of camp coaching in all the sports during college summers, and had worked part time in the track office during my grad year, but had not considered it seriously until Coach Lananna brought it up to me. However, I had always been a pretty vocal person on teams even as an underclassman, and not afraid of that type of role - organizer, rabble rouser, etc. For me, the thing about coaching at Stanford was as much about the school and the program(and my feelings toward them), as the coaching itself. For Coach, I am sure that knowing me as well as he did - knowing that I knew him, the program, the school, the people involved, etc played a huge role in why he approached me. It was just timing and the particular relationships involved.

10) Who do you consider your coaching mentors? What did you learn from those coaches?

Well, without question, Vin Lananna changed the trajectory of my life by encouraging me to start coaching. From him I would say that I learned to think of solutions to challenges in terms of "how" instead of "if." Jeff Johnson taught me the value (literally and figuratively) of date pace vs. goal pace. Like I alluded to earlier, there is a little bit of Miss Call that affects what I do every day, and there is a really long list of people - coaches and non-coaches alike - that I have learned from....including each person I get a chance to coach. You learn something new every day.

11) What would be your advice for high school runners who have hopes of running in college?

Not necessarily with regard to running in college specifically, but for females in particular, I would encourage frank and frequent conversations between high school athletes and whoever is guiding them about menstruation, bone health, nutrition, and body image. Too often those conversations get shelved until a problem or an injury forces them, or people are skittish to talk about those issues, even as they spend hours talking about mileage, intervals, or race strategies.

For runners themselves, I would encourage them to relish every opportunity they get to take part in a team goal while achieving their individual aims. It always piqued my interest to see someone who was unstoppable with a baton in their hand or who obviously was a positive contributor to their team atmosphere in cross. That kind of person usually has a good chance of finding themselves on a travel roster or a meet lineup sheet even if all other things are equal.

Thank you very much for your time Dena! AJC

Northern California High School Track and Field Leaders

Through March 8, 2010

by Keith Conning
e-mail: conning@aol.com
Web site: www.the conningtower.blogspot.com

BOYS
100 10.86 -0.7 R.J. Frasier (Jesuit, Carmichael)

200 22.32 +0.1 Joseph Ruffaine (Jesuit, Carmichael)
Wind-aided: 22.32 NWI *Ali Roosevelt (St. Mary's, Berkeley)

400 49.60 *Chance Moses (St. Mary's, Berkeley)

800 1:52.47 Jason Coupe (Galt)

1600 4:24.34 Josh Mercado (Del Campo, Fair Oaks)

3200 9:27.12 Chris Kigar (El Camino Fundamental, Sacramento)

110H 14.30 +1.6 Noah Blue (Skyline, Oakland)

300IH 38.19 Noah Blue (Skyline, Oakland)

4x100 42.80 Skyline, Oakland

4x400 3:23.69 Deer Valley, Antioch

HJ 6'8" Maurice Spikes (St. Mary's, Berkeley)

PV 14'6" Shawn Toney (St. Francis, Mountain View)

LJ 21' 8" +0.5 Jory Rucker (Franklin, Elk Grove)
Wind-aided 22'7" NWI Mike Kennedy (St. Ignatius, San Francisco)

TJ 42' 4" -1.2 Ian Rock (Davis)
Wind-aided 44' 8.5" NWI Trentan Trammell (Bishop O'Dowd, Oakland)

SP 53'1" *Stephen Boals (Jesuit, Carmichael)

DT 159' 9" Zach Coniglio (Alhambra, Martinez)

GIRLS
100 12.17 -0.6 *Strangenae Campbell Pinole Valley, Pinole

200 24.89 +1.7 Chizoba Okodogbe (Deer Valley, Antioch)

400 55.12 Chizoba Okodogbe (Deer Valley, Antioch)

800 2:19.70 *Christine Zavesky (Granite Bay)

1600 5:10.43 Colleen Lillig (California, San Ramon)

3200 11:20.52 Kelsey Santisteban (Castro Valley)

100H 14.95 -1.8 **Daje Pugh (Fairfield)

300H 46.15 Taylor Lawson (St. Mary's, Berkeley)

4x100 48.72 Deer Valley, Antioch

4x400 3:56.18 Deer Valley, Antioch

HJ 5'6" **Lawrell Dobbins (Foothill, Pleasanton)

PV 12' 6" *Nicola Garoutte (Piedmont)

LJ 17' 10" -0.1 ***Daijahi Joe-Smith (Florin, Sacramento)

TJ 36' 0" +1.4 **Kendal Nielsen (Bear River, Grass Valley)
Wind-aided: 36' 8" NWI Shanique Walker (Mt. Pleasant, San Jose) and Dominique Corley (James Logan, Union City)

SP 42' 8" Meagan McKee (Santa Teresa, San Jose)

DT 118' 3" Brianna French (Vacaville)

EBAL divisional proposal for NCS

The following is a proposal by EBAL coaches (in NCS) in order to have equitable competition at the California State Cross Country Meet. As it stands now, teams in several Northern California sections are competing at the state meet against much larger schools (which is quite an advantage).

NCS divisional restructuring proposal:

D1 = 2400+
D2 = 1900-2399
D3 = 1250-1899
D4 = 500-1249
D5 = 1-499

We propose restructuring the NCS cross country divisions beginning with the fall 2010 season per the attached spreadsheet for a variety of reasons. First, it is important to consider why there are divisional structures in the first place. The idea behind these divisions are, presumably, to facilitate fair competiton. (The rationale behind the division of a section by school size is that bigger schools have a larger pool of students to draw from and therefore have a greater chance of fielding faster teams. Empirically, this is the case. Virtually every year the teams in division 1 are faster on average than the teams in lower divisions. There may be a few teams here and there that buck the trend, but the trend is undeniable.)

So what does this have to do with the NCS? We have equally divided sections to ensure fair competition. As you are aware, each section in the state is free to set divisional cutoffs where they will (except for the top end of D4 and D5). For example, in the southern section--by far, the biggest section in the state--leadership has decided to divide the schools into divisions as evenly as possible as well. So the problem arises when teams from NCS have to compete against teams from other sections where the section leadership has set divisional cutoffs higher than ours--in some cases much higher. When that takes place, many NCS teams are no longer competing against their peers on the proverbial level playing field. For example, 7 teams in NCS division 1 would be D3 schools in the Southern Section.

It is worth considering the pros and cons on this proposition, of course. As we see it, the only drawback--and a temporary one at that--is that NCS Division 3 will grow and some teams in that division will find it somewhat harder to qualify for the state championship. However, this is merely a temporary situation because adjusting our divisional structure to reflect numbers that resemble those in the Southern Section will actually earn NCS more berths in the state meet over time, so that the number of our most competitive teams who have the opportunity to compete at the state meet will actually go up. In addition, greater success at the highest levels of competition will breed a sense of greater pride and excitement in cross country. In turn, this will strengthen the sport in our section. One might point out that other sections have divisional cutoffs that are even lower than ours. In response, we would point out that those divisions are penalizing their athletes just as we are currently penalizing ours. If we were members of those sections, we would be presenting this proposal to our leadership there.

The bottom line is that the current system in unfair to the NCS teams in Division 1 and 2, primarily, who are not competing against their peers. In these cases, the divisional structure is doing the opposite of what is was intended to do; it is making the competition inherently unfair for our athletes. The system isn't fair and we owe it to our athletes to adjust it.

Thanks for your time and attention.

James Logan 4315 9 teams
Berkeley 3418
Deer Valley 3349
Castro Valley 2920
Antioch 2824
San Leandro 2675
Amador Valley 2590
California 2435
Pittsburg 2406
-----------------
Freedom 2385 20 teams
Granada 2330
Foothill 2298
Monte Vista 2207
Mission SJ 2156
Newark Mem 2155
Heritage 2114
De La Salle* 2102
Livermore 2076
Liberty 2057
College Park 2053
San Ramon 2032
Irvington 2032
Santa Rosa 1998
American 1989
Arroyo 1980
Mt. Eden 1962
Washington 1946
Casa Grande 1909
Alameda 1902
-----------------
Clayton Valley 1876 28 teams
Windsor 1781
Rancho Cotate 1771
Montgomery 1756
Ukiah 1720
Hayward 1685
Carondelet* 1622
San Lorenzo 1618
Maria Carrillo 1590
Concord 1543
Dougherty Valley 1503
Northgate 1496
Dublin 1490
Redwood 1477
Las Lomas 1456
Tennyson 1450
Eureka 1409
Campo 1408
Petaluma 1385
Acalanes 1368
YV 1365
Alhambra 1349
JFK - Fremont 1337
Novato 1346
Albany 1330
Sonoma 1320
Miramonte 1280
El Cerrito 1257
-----------------
Piner 1242 20 teams
Encinal 1210
Bishop O'Dowd 1200
Hercules 1196
Tamalpais 1128
Terra Linda 1114
Sir Francis Drake 1056
San Marin 968
San Rafael 934
Moreau 900
Cardinal Newman 892
Arcata 868
El Molino 864
Piedmont 864
Marin Catholic 745
McKinleyville 663
St. Mary's 617
Justin-Sienna 606
St. Pat/St. Vincent 603
Willits 547
-------------
Cloverdale 446 22 teams
Berean Christian 441
Lick Wilmerding 440
St. Joseph 417
Marin Academy 403
SF Univ. 389
Upper Lake 385
College Prep 352
Urban School SF 350
Head-Royce 337
Stuart Hall 328
International HS 318
Athenian 300
Bentley 297
South Fork 261
Redwood Christian 253
Chinese Christian 225
Sonoma Academy 212
CA School for the Deaf 186
Rincon Valley Christian 165
Santa Rosa Christian 92
Leadership (Hayward) ?
* M or F only

Divisions for 2009 (as you can see, sections have the ability to determine their own #s)
SS
I 2640+
II 2160 - 2639
III 1251 - 2159
IV 501 - 1250
V 1 - 500

NCS
2051+
1601 - 2050
1151 - 1600
500 - 1150
1 - 499

SDS
2490+
2001-2489
1251-2000
315-1250
1 - 314

SJS
2191+
1701 - 2190
1126 - 1700
301 - 1125
1 - 300

CCS
1945+
1564 - 1944
1214 - 1563
501 - 1213
1 - 500

Any thoughts on this proposal? Any other ideas on how we can make the state competition in XC fair? Are you more concerned about doing well in your own section or at the state meet?

More NorCal Results...

JUST ADDED from the Press Democrat:
3/6 Big Cat: Second draft of results
==============================================
From the Big Cat...results will be posted shortly but until then:

Reesey Byers: 4:20/1:58/9:40/53split 9:40 was run in 4:58/4:42 with a 64 last lap. The 1:58 was 59.5/58.5.

Jacque Taylor: took it out hard in the 1600 (70 first lap) and ran 5:00. Ran 2:19/20 in the 800. Anchored her 4 x 400.

Julie Nacouzi: ran 5:20/11:35.

Hugh Dowdy did not run ... nursing an achilles.

Luis Luna ran 4:31/9:46 or so.

Zellman ran 2:00/2:01 and around 11:00 for 3200.

Casa Grande girls mid-distance look good... 3 girls well under 2:30.

Jeremy Thompson of Carrillo looks good in hurdles.

Michelle Stone made 12' in the PV but got it remeasured and it was 11'9".
======================================================
From Dual Meet between Drake and Marin Catholic on March 4th:
Marin Catholic's Theresa Devine hasn't let any moss grow under her feet since State and Footlocker XC performances. She ran solo in her dual meet debut 1600m with 5:12.4 and doubled back, chasing a Drake boy in a mixed 3200m with 10:58.1. It was sunny Thursday for the meet. Lots of exciting performances from both teams.
======================================================
For the San Lorenzo Valley Team: 8:11 today 4x800 2:02.42, 2:03.65, 2:02.76,2:01.89 and another boy 2:03.76 in the SMR. County Relays at aptos the boys 4x800 lapped field B team was 2nd.
======================================================
East Bay Invitational Results courtesy of www.dyestatcal.com
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Sacramento High School Track and Field Classic courtesy of www.dyestatcal.com
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Willow Glen Invitational - March 6, 2010 courtesy of www.lynbrooksports.com
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Mt. Pleasant Relays - 3/6/10 courtesy of www.lynbrooksports.com
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Watsonville Winter Time Trials courtesy of www.lynbrooksports.com

Good stuff so far...

Bay Area Conference #1 Results

Division V schools battled it out in their first league meet at San Francisco State.
Looks like darkness caused the cancellation of the 1600m. Relay races. 

Most impressive?
Double victory for '09 state participant Lucy McCullough of Marin Academy (2:24.26/5:13.59).
Sub. 12 minute effort in the 3200 for freshman Jennie Callan of UHS with 11:45.87.
Triple victories for Kai Wilson of College Prep in the 400m. Relay, 400 and 200.

Josh MacDonald of Redwood Christian rolling in the 1600 (4:29.57) and 3200 (9:34.11).
Lawrence Doherty of International winning the 400m. in 51.49.

FULL RESULTS
Bay Area Conference Meet 1 - 3/2/2010

If you have any Northern CA results that have not been posted on www.dyestatcal.com,
send them to me at albertjcaruana@gmail.com and I will post.