The Monte Vista Invitational - Home of the Eliminator!

North Coast Section Championships
Sat Nov 17th - Hayward HS


Mustang varsity squads turn in their strongest performance of the year in the meet that matters most:

BOYS TEAM - NCS D1 CHAMPIONS!!!
Advance to the State Meet in Fresno
5 in the top 20 - 15:47 average team time!
Mustangs turn back Amador Vly: 66 - 91
Bhavik Kanzaria 4th, Mike Roderick 9th
Harry Nunns 14th, Dustin Harris 19th, Danny Bartz 20th
EBAL Sweeps top three (Amador 2nd, Granda 3rd)

GIRLS TEAM - 4TH Place D1 TEAM! 
Season best 19:53 avg team time
Sr Chloe Wood is 12th overall in 19:08
Nicole Aha 19th, Brett Zorich 26th, Kimmy Abood 35th, Anna Hoyt 47th
Girls get by Cal HS 139 - 144 in overall scoring, improve upon pre-race ranking.

At 10:30 am on Saturday Nov 17th, the gun went off for the North Coast Section Division 1 Boys Championship race.  For the Mustang varsity boys team, this gun was not the start of the race.  This race started back in June, as they laid the ground work for the season to come by getting together to start building the base.  The gun had gone off in July, with the running camp and the steady diet of miles.  It had sounded in August, with the Mt Diablo run and more intensity to their workouts.  It sounded loud and clear in September and October, and the team trained and raced itself into form.  And it certainly had sounded in November, with the EBAL Championship meet, and the lost opportunity to capture the league title.  So now in mid-November, with a mixed sense of confidence and urgency, the boys came to the line to try to put the exclamation mark in what had been a stellar season - although one that still needed the final lines to be delivered.

Each runner pledged that they individually 'owned' the results.  Each runner pledged that today there would be 'no bad races'.  And each runner knew that there were 6 teammates who had the same clear focus as they did.

So once the gun sounded, the Mustangs completed what they started months ago, and turned in a performance that will rank among the best at the North Coast Section meet.  Pushed by a most worthy rival in Amador Valley, the team took it out hard and did not let up.  While individual tactics varied, the end result was an amazing team effort:

- Five runners in the top 20
- Crazy-fast team average time of 15:47 - all 5 scorers under 16:00
- 35 second #1 - #5 gap.
- Fastest 6th runner in all divisions
- Second fastest 7th runner in all divisions
- Total team time bettered only by #1 Norcal ranked Petaluma - by only 7 seconds.

and most importantly:  First place at NCS and an automatic berth to the State Meet!

The boys finally turned the tables on Amador, beating them 66-91 on the day.  Granada surprised the field and proved how tough the EBAL league is by taking third.  Pre-race talk had centered on Castro Valley and Deer Valley and College Park, yet those teams were well off the pace set by the Stangs today.  Sr. Bhavik Kanzaria once again led the MV pack, running with the lead runners all race  before settling for 4th place overall. Bhavik's time of 15:24 put him the top ten all-time at the Hayward course.  Jr Mike Roderick broke into the top 10 as well, with his 9th place finish and a huge 15:44 effort.  Sr Harry Nunns - who loves this course - was the third MV runner in 14th place, while seniors Dustin Harris (19th) and Danny Bartz (20th) completed the scoring, just beating the 16 minute mark.  Sr Clinton McAdams was 6th in 32nd place while Jr Connor Donley was in by the 46th place - out of 120 runners!  Varsity training teammate Jr Alex Morris was the alternate today, ready to go if needed!

With a large crowd of supporters filling the seats, the team paid proper respect to Granada and Amador before the crowd went wild when the team was presented with the NCS banner and plaque.  This is the first ever NCS title for the Boys Cross Country program, and appears to be the first time in school history that the entire team qualified for State!

With confidence growing each week, the team heads to Fresno to race hard, not content at just getting there.
http://ezmeets.com/2007NCSXC/DivisionIBoys.html
Division I Boys Results
3.00 Miles, 4.84 Kilometers