Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Few Words from Coach Danny:

Congratulations to all three teams: Varsity Boys, Varsity girls, and JV Boys for bringing Conference Championships plaques home for the second year in a row. I'm so proud of the way the teams responded to the challenge of repeating and defending their conference titles. Of the 31 athletes that ran at CMC, 29 of them PR'd. That's some great running! All year long the kids have worked hard to become a team and support one another and at the CMC meet all that working together and all that team spirit was on display through their performances. These kids make me look good as a coach.
            Thank you so much to the parents, Michael and Julia for making this such a successful season.

What's Been Happening:
            Last Wednesday we went to Ft. Bragg for the CMC championship. We took a nice bus ride up highlighted by song and laughter. The first race of the day was the JV Boys race. The JV Boys scored 38 points, beating 2nd place Cloverdale by a scant 6 points. The JV team was lead by Eli (Johnny) in 5th place at 20:47. This boy is going to make a strong bid for Varsity next year. In 7th was Hayden (21:12) with a very fine performance. 8th place was Eli (21:14) in a nice bounce back race from last week. In 12th was Billy (21:59) who continues to run very strong races. Justin (23:00) came in 16th and as the 5th scorer secured the team win. In 20th was Oscar (23:40), one of the most improved runners from last year's team. In 23rd place was Chauncey (24:00.) His performance is showing good things to come. In 25th place was Chris (24:18) who continues to be one of the most improved runners from the beginning of the season until now. In 29th place was Sean in (24:58) a nice season ending run.
            The second race of the day was the Varsity Girls. The girls won with a score of 54 to second place St. Helena's 66. The girls were lead by 2nd place Katy (21:27) - a purely gutsy race by a very gutsy girl. 4th in 22:58 was Kiana. I knew she was saving her best races for the end and she did just that. 14th was Yzzy in 25:46, the most improved runner on the team. A year ago Yzzy was in the bottom 20 and now she is in the top 20. 18th was Emily (26:26), she ran a well pace race with a lot of confidence. 22nd was Amy (26:54) with another solid race. She was our 5th scorer, locking in the title for the girls. 23rd was Claire (27:20). it was nice to see her aggressive running style. In 29th was Sinclaire (27:45), the top freshman on the team and the only one on the team to go to NCS. 47th in 29:17 was Lilly, with a very fine end of season run. In 48th in 29:31 was Zoe who is continuing to have a very fine season. In 55th in 30:31 was Maddy who keeps working her way right up the team ladder. In 59th in 30:43 was Nora with a much better run than last week. In 64th in 31:31 was Katherine finishing her senior year on a strong note. Shani came in 67th in 31:57 looking strong.
            The third race of the day was the Boys Varsity. The boys won in 20, followed by Cloverdale at 94. The 20 points that the boys scored was the lowest total put up by a team since 1968. Leading the way in second was Jax in 18:13. That performance earned Jax the Heart & Sole Athlete of the Week. It was an amazing run. Third in 18:33 was Aaron with a big break through run. I look for big things from him at NCS. Fourth in 18:41 was Jacob, as always, solid as a rock. Fifth in 18:51 was Austin O. with another amazing effort. 6th place in 18:57 was Patrick with another big time performance. In 16th in 19:48, Graham ran a solid race in borrowed shoes. In 24th in 20:12 was Morgan with another solid effort post injury. 28th in 20:25 was Austin G. It was a great season by Austin.

What’s coming up:
            From here on out it will be Varsity only.
            Friday we will be having a Varsity pasta feed at the Johnson's. Time and directions will be given out later in the week.
            The NCS Championship meet will be in Hayward at Hayward High School on Saturday 11/19. For anyone who needs a ride, we will be leaving from the school at 6:15 AM sharp. If you are driving on your own we would like to have the girls there no later than 8 AM and the boys no later than 8:30. The girls will be running at 9 followed by the boys at 10. The top five teams in each race will get to go to the State Championship in Fresno along with the top 5 individuals. Last year Katy Lee and Jax Reiff made the cut as individuals.
            After the meet, Christine Lee has made us reservations at Mary's Pizza at 121 San Marin Drive in Novato. Folks who are not able to make it to the meet, are welcome to join us for the after party. We should be there about 2 PM.
            Chris has already made reservations for the athletes in case they make it to Fresno. After NCS, any parents who are interested in going to Fresno with us should contact Cate (cate1802@hotmail.com) for hotel info.