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N0rth Coast Section
Division I Rankings
September 28, 2008
Once of the benchmark points of each cross country season is the Stanford Invitational. A large number of teams compete here, and that provides a good early set of comparisons. Other teams from around the state, and from up and down the west coast also give us a contextual background to assess where each team is at this point in the season.
Not all teams were at full strength, and the heat (past 90 degrees for the later races) and course conditions (nice soft grass for cushioning, but nice soft grass for dampening full on speed) impacted different teams differently. Also, some teames used the race as a time trial, others were in survival mode, and still others looked at this as their version of the Olympics.
Even though the Stanford results will linger as comparison standards far into the season, perhaps these results are overly regarded. The season stretched another two months before us, and for many teams their final product is still being molded. It is important to remember that rankings and race results this early on are only indications of possibilites, and not divine directives that are not to be contravened for the rest of the season.
Boys:
1. Amador Valley 7th seeded race Stanford; 83:19 team time; great :20 gap 1-6; Brett Hornig and Kellen Cole still a great 1-2 punch.
2. Monte Vista 1st unseeded D-I race; 84:58 team time; Mike Roderick still a major stud in 2nd; back pack starting to bunch up.
3. College Park 2nd unseeded D-I race; 85:33 team time; Soph Jeff Bickart establishing himself as #1; very good 1-6 gap of :57
4. Granada 3rd unseeded D-I race; 85:51 team time; Alex Summers takes individual 4th.
5. San Ramon 6th unseeded D-I race; 86:40 team time; many-headed hydra of runners again swithc up finish order in close front pack.
Poised to pounce: Castro Valley -- Trojans take the Ram Invitational title with 1-2-6 finish. Soph Ben Eversole wins race in late surge over teammate Tom Ashby.
Fallen off the pace: Deer Valley -- Wolverines took 13th in unseeded D-I race at Stanford; 88:29 team time; Ryan DeVito and Nate Baker lead the pack
Amador boys have extended their hold on this division. The Dons are a very determined bunch, and their tight upfront cluster will be hard to break up come NCS time.
Monte Vista rides the coattails of Mike Roderick, and his trailing pack is not trailing by as much as it did. It remains to be seen if they can get and stay closer to their star.
College Park has its own nice grouping and that is always a good thing. Falcons possess a strong tradition.
Granada still hasn’t been able to gain any ground on the other teams, but stays tantalysingly close.
San Ramon apparently has an undecided top set of runners, but all close to each other.
Castro Valley’s sophomores are gaining experience. It remains to be seen if they can gain ground of the other teams in the division.
Girls:
1. Castro Valley 1st in unseeded D-1 race; 100:03 team time; Chelsea Schneider and Kelsey Santisteban finishe 5 & 10 individually
2. Monte Vista 2nd in unseeded D-I race; 102:24 team time; Kyla Aiuto and Nicole Aha lead Mustangs
3. College Park 3rd in unseeded D-I race; 101:07 team time: Alycia Cridenbring is excellent runner, 2nd here; trailing pack thinned out today
4. Granada 4th in unseeded D-I race; 104:18 team time; Hayley Swanson continues to open eyes with great 4th plae finish here.
5. California 8th in unseeded D-I race: 105:06 team time; Colleen Lillig handles field easily in dominant individual win; Elaine McVay very capable #2 girl.
Still not going away: Amador Valley -- 10th unseeded D-I, 108:15 team time and SAn Ramon -- 11th unseeded D-I, 108:06 team time.
Castro Valley appears to be very solid here with a good win. Monte Vista took advantage of a late-race College Park fade to edge the Falcons. Will this hold up over the season? Granada has a good #1 and a nice group. Calfornia has the stud in Lillig, and the can hold their own. Amador and San Ramon have some improving to do to seriously challenge the rest.
Thank you to Peter Brewer for his continued contribution to this blog with the NCS Division I rankings. If anybody would like to contribute rankings for any division in CCS, NCS, SJS, SF, NC or OAK, please send them to albertjcaruana@gmail.com and I will post your rankings.
News and Announcements
Annual Car Wash Fundraiser nets over $2200 towards the Year End Banquet!
Despite the chilly, windy day, the Cross Country squad showed up in force to wash cars and raise funds for the team. The first shift was the coldest, but had more runners signed up to work, so the cars flowed smoothly. The first shift was treated to an interesting display of student driving (fortunately no XC athletes were hurt, nor their cars).
Coach Austin was certainly in fine form, becoming one with the Bullhorn and producing a steady stream of 'encouragement' to the washers and driers!
The second shift was smaller, but also cranked through the cars and closed up the operation on time!
As you pile on the food at the banquet, you can feel good about your hard work today! If you have not yet turned in our $$$, please do so ASAP (to Coach Austin).
For many years, the varsity runners have done the famous "drop off" runs, where they are driven to some far point and dumped out, with the only option that of running back to Monte Vista. Last week, Coach Davis, with help from Mrs Lisa Roderick, took it up a notch. Blindfolding the guys while in the MV parking lot, they were driven to an obscure elementary school in western San Ramon (Twins Creeks). Once there, they were lead one-by-one into a fenced area reserved for bikes, and were told to remove the blindfolds only when they could not hear Coach Davis' VW in the distance. However, they could probably hear him laughing, as it was quite a spectacle indeed. In fact, the guys were chewed out by a local preschool teacher who found their presence in the bike cage somewhat disturbing.
9 miles later, they found their way back to MVHS! A tradition is born!
NCS D1 Rankings - Updated thru Stanford 9/27/08
Sunday, September 28, 2008
NCS Division I Rankings by Peter Brewer (Update #4)
HEADLINES BELOW THIS POINT ARE FROM THE 2007 SEASON OR BEFORE
NCS D1 Rankings - Updated thru 9/20/08 meets
Mustang's varsity teams still ranked in the top 5 after the Nike Invitational on Saturday the 20th. Rankings posted on Cross Country Express.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
NCS Division I Rankings by Peter Brewer (Version #3)
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9/24 NCS Division I rankings
Boys:
1. Amador close 2nd at DLS Invite to Jesuit
2. College Park 5th at DLS, right behind DLS
3. Granada 6th at DLS
4. Monte Vista 7th at DLS
5. San Ramon 9th at DLS
Amador continues to have the hot hand this season as they popped their top 5 within :37 for a real good run at the DeLaSalle/Carondelet Invitational. The rest sorted out by place as they all ran the same race, with a bit of reordering from last week. College Park seemed to have made the best transition to the 3 mile distance in leap-frogging the other ranked teams,while San Ramon appeared to have drifted back a half-step.
Mike Roderick of Monte Vista still is the D-I runner of note, but Brent Hornig of Amador is leading the rest of the pack in the chase for individual glory. Austin Snyder threw down an excellent runaway win at the Farmer Invite on the Hayward course to also jump into the individual picture.
Of the lurking teams, Castro Valley called up a frosh-soph runner and improved to a nice 3rd in their race at the Lowell Invite in Golden Gate Park, and 6th overall between the two varsity races.
Lurking: Deer Valley (did not race), Castro Valley (3rd at Lowell)
Girls:
1. Castro Valley 3rd at Lowell
2. College Park 2nd at DLS
3. Monte Vista 3rd at DLS
4. Granada 5th at DLS
5. California 6th at DLS
In the shadows: San Ramon (7th at DLS)
Castro Valley ran a close 3rd in their race and 4th overall to finish behind NorCal powers Mountain View, Aptos, and a very aggressive Livermore team. College Park is not backing down from anyone as they powered to a solid 2nd behind the Carondelet steamroller at the DeLaSalle/ Carondelet Invitational. The Falcons were closely followed by an improved Monte Vista team. Granada jumped into the picture by edging out California and San Ramon in the scoring.
Colleen Lillig of California, defending D-I NCS champ, continues to burnish her credentials as the top runner in D-I this year as she chased after Carondelet’s Nicole Hood for a good 2nd individual run at DLS. Alycia Cridebring continues to lead the College Park Falcons with fine front-running of her own. Castro Valley’s Kelsey Santisteban was 3rd individual at Lowell. Hayle Swanson of Granada impressed with a top-10 finish at DLS.
