Entries Tagged 'Meet Reports' ↓

While the official XC season ended for most of our athletes ended with November 3rd’s Sierra League Finals, several of our athletes competed in open XC meets.

On Sunday, November 15, soph Ross Brunett and and juniors Jon Carlo Nunez and Christian Arranaga took another shot at the 2.91 mile Mt.Sac course in the Southern California Association – USATF Championship meet.  Ross was 15th (18:04 PR) and Christian was 21st (18:57) in the Intermediate Boys  (born 1993-94) Division, and Jon Carlo ran a 17:59 PR to finish 10th in the Young Mens (born 1991-92) Division.  Full results are here.

The following Sunday, all three traveled to Escondido to compete in the USATF Region 15 XC Championships, along with athletes from all of Southern California as well as Arizona and Southern Nevada.  Ross was 30th, Christian 44th and Jon Carlo 26th in their divisional races.  Full results here.

The final XC competition was at today’s Footlocker West meet at Mt.Sac.  This is a qualifier for the Footlocker National meet but also has races for all levels of athletes.  In previous years, many of our athletes ran this meet, but since this year’s season extended all the way to the State meet, only three Tartan’s lined up.  Sophs Ross Brunett (19:29) and Chris Vega (20:41) took on the longer 5000 meter course – they’re times convert to 18:18 and 19:25 on the traditional 2.91 mile course.  Race Results are here.

Coach Ben Mejia also ran in the Footlocker Open race. Unable to find the form the led to his win in the open race at the Brea Invite, Ben finished 18th in 17:29 (16:24 converted).  Race Results are here, and complete meet results are here.

And with that, we’re done.  With XC.  Now it’s time for track season!

Eight Tartans went to the line at the California State Cross Country Championships in Fresno.  Junior Lauren Justus and the boys varsity team had qualified for the State Div. II finals – a first for the boys team while Lauren joined Christy Adamyk (’07) as the only Tartans ever to advance as individuals.

When the day ended, we left Fresno with a big trophy and a load of memories.

The day began with Lauren’s race.  She overcame a near fall about 300 meters into the race, needing to leap over a stumbling runner, but never quite found her best rhythm, finishing 67th in 19:18 on the rolling 5000 meter course.  You can view full results and a video of the race here.

The guys stepped to the line about hour later.  Fresh from our CIF Southern Section championship the previous week, the Tartans were ranked second in the State to national power Mountain View.  According the electronic chip timing system, new for this year’s meet, the guys were fourth at the mile split.  As the race opened up, the Tartans moved forward, and were second to Mountain View at the 2.1 mile mark.  Holding off a hard charge from Valencia over the final mile, the guys held their places to finish second with 158 points and a cumulative team time of 80:09.  Full results and race video here.

Junior Anthony Castro led the Tartans with particularly strong performance, finishing 13th in 15:32, probably the best individual performance ever by a GHS XC athlete – it’s superior to Thomas Finnigan‘s (’08) 15:17 at Mt.Sac and Joey Divizia‘s (’08) 15:35 at Bonelli Park.  Anthony was 35th overall combining all five divisions.

Next across the line, all running right at their lifetime bests were Kelly Hernandez (36th, 16:02), Austin Mendoza (38th, 16:03) and Shin Yamamura (60th, 16:15).  Our final three were seniors Austin Goodheart and Neill Netzeband, and junior Nick Orozco.

Second was great achievement for our team – our performance would have won the State Div. II race five out of the previous six years.  Champions Mountain View’s 78:26 team time was the fastest of the day for all divisions and the tenth best ever on the Woodward Park course.  But they graduate most of their team and we don’t, so next year…

There’s a nice feature in the SGV Tribune here.  Complete meet results are here, and here, and GHS splits and times are here:  11-28-09-state-champs.pdf

Special honor goes to seniors, team captains, and four year varsity lettermen Austin Goodheart and Neill Netzeband, who finished their GHS XC careers on Saturday.  Austin’s best race of the year was his win in the second Sierra League cluster meet, where he is 5th GHS AT, and at CIF Prelims, where his 15:44 performance is =6th GHS AT.  Neill’s best performances also came at the two Sierra cluster meets, where he was our critical fifth man and his best time of 16:40 was 15th GHS AT at Bonelli.

And even greater honor goes to our head coach Don Sumner.  Our success in 2009 is the culmination of 14 years of his hard work and dedication to our program.  Well done and congratulations, Coach.

The Tartan guys and junior Lauren Justus went to the line at Saturday’s CIF-SS Finals with big expectations.  The boys team had advanced to finals for the first time, and had done so with the top time in Div. II, a GHS record 78:42.  Lauren was also coming off a big PR in prelims that brought her to the Finals starting line for the first time two.

Lauren led off in the first race of the day.  She got caught in the crowd a bit during the first mile, and was 5 seconds behind her mile split from the previous week.  She moved up a little the second mile and then made a huge charge up Reservoir Hill to move all the way up to 8th at the top.  She gave a way a few spots on the downhill, but ran to the line in 18:06, good for 11th place and a place in the State meet.

The guys a ran ambitiously in the first mile, with Anthony Castro and Kelly Hernandez running near the front as the leaders went through the half mile in 2:14!  The paid a little for this later, but the guys once again strung together a group of strong performances for the win. We scored 96 points to defeat Valencia by 23 and Loyola by 34, with another school Mt.Sac record of 78:38.

Anthony was again our leader in 15:20, with his 7th place finish earning him a medal and first team CIF honors.  He was followed by soph Austin Mendoza in a PR 15:44, and then closely by Kelly in 15:45.

The biggest performance came from junior Shin Yamamura, whose 21 second PR of 15:56 slammed the door shut.  Shin was the fastest fifth man in the race by 16 seconds, and this allowed us to put five below four on all but one team in the field.  If Shin had merely run his previous PR, we would have finished third.  So thank you, Shin.

Shin’s performance moves him 8th on the GHS All-Time Performers list, and Austin M moves up to =6th.  Lauren improved her mark but remains second on the list.

Shin also jumped to 7th performer on the 2009 SGV at Mt.Sac list, where we have an amazing five of the top seven spots on the guys list.  Lauren’s mark improved her lead on the list, which you can view here.

Complete results are here.  GHS times and splits are here: mtsac-summary-4-meets (this actually has the times and splits for all four of the meets we ran at Mt.Sac.  The SGV Tribune’s coverage of the meet is here.

On to Fresno.

The Tartan boys and Lauren Justus stepped to line favored to advance, and advance they did.  On easily the best day of Glendora XC history, the boys advanced with the top time of the day in Div 2 and Lauren easily moved on.  Eight of our nine runner’s PR’d, and the guys set a GHS Mt.Sac team record by almost 1:40.

Lauren advanced as an individual, so she stood alone on the line without teamamtes, and was nearly alone at the end.  She ran a controlled, tactical effort to finish third in her heat in a PR 18:11, the tenth best time among the Div. 2 girls.  Her time moves her from the 3rd to 2nd on the GHS All-Time Performers list on the Mt.Sac course.

The guys went to the line rated 3rd in Div. 2, and so we were the top team seed in our heat.  The guys lived up to their ranking by winning the heat with only 36 points (and 3 minute and 54 point gap to the second team), with a combined team time of 78:43.  This broke our team Mt.Sac record set at the Invite, and was the fastest Div. 2 of the the day by almost a minute, and was the sixth fastest combining all the divisions.

The Tartans were led by a breakthrough performance from junior Anthony Castro.  Anthony won the heat in a huge 15:17 PR.  Third fastest Div. 2 runner on the day, he missed Thomas Finnigan‘s (’08) school record by 1 second.  We placed an amazing four runners in the top 7, with a 5-6-7 finish from Kelly Hernandez, Austin Goodheart, and Austin Mendoza, all in PR’s.  Shin Yamamura closed the door with a 16:17 PR for 19th place.  Off of these results, Anthony is now 2nd best GHS A-T at MtSac, Kelly is 4th, Austin G. is 6th, Austin M. is 7th best, and Shin is just outside the top 15.  Wow.

This was a great day for our team, and the boys team advances to the CIF finals for the first time.  While the guys will be favored to win and Lauren to advance, these results only get us to the starting line.

Next Saturday, we’ll need an even better set of efforts to get us to where we want to be at the finish line.

Glendora results here, complete results are here, and the split sheet is here: 11-14-09-cif-prelims.pdf

We started the season with high expectations.  Our guys won the Sierra League for the first time in six seasons last year, and we were looking to repeat, and more.  Our girls were looking to move up in the league and we thought that the individual titles were in reach.

So how’d we do?  Lauren Justus and Kelly Hernandez are individual Sierra League Champs, and the boys Varsity won the league for the second year in a row.

It was a hot day, especially for the early races, and this kept the times down. (Less than half of our athletes PR’d)  But the overall quality was strong.  Kelly led soph Austin Mendoza and senior Austin Goodheart across the line in a controlled 1-2-3 sweep, and junior Shin Yamamura PR’d for a 7th place finish, making 4 of the 7 First Team All-Leaguers Tartans.

On the girls side, junior Lauren Justus led from the top of the Switchbacks and had big lead at the top of the final hill.  She cruised in for an easy victory and a CIF spot.  The team finished a clear fourth, our best finish of the year.

On the lower levels, the Tartans were a strong second place in the boys Frosh/Soph division, with sophs David Reber, Cameron Bullock, and Paul Salessi (all in their first year of XC) placing in the top 10.  Soph Christina Villalobos was our top finisher in the girls JV division, while junior Tim McDougall led the JV boys with a 6th place finish.

Special honor goes to seniors Taylor Oberlander, Sharon Lee, and Dayna Morales, all of whom ran their final high school cross country race.

So now, for Lauren and guys, it’s on to CIF, and it’s time to take the next step.

GHS results are here (revised F/S) complete results here.  Splits sheets: 11-03-09-boys-siera-final.pdf (revised F/S) and 11-03-09-girls-sierra-final.pdf

Saturday was a long day for the Tartans, with our JV guys in one the early races in the morning and our Varsity Girls running the last race of the day. In between, there were scores of excellent performances, topped by our Varsity Boys.

The guys Varsity ran in the top race of the meet, the Team Sweepstakes, and finished 13th overall, and 3rd among Div. 2 schools. We were the top Southern Section Division 2 team in the meet, with a school record team time of 80:34, and this was with a couple of our guys having a rough day.

Junior Kelly Hernandez and soph Austin Mendoza led the Tartans with big PR’s. Kelly was 15:42, which is third best All-Time GHS on this tough and very hilly 2.91 mile course. Austin was just behind in 15:49, which is equal fifth best A-T GHS, and was the sixth best time by a sophomore in this year’s meet. Shin Yamamura (16:32) and Neill Netzeband (16:53) both recorded Mt.Sac PR’s, and Nick Orozco ran his way back onto the Varsity with a 17:09 effort, a 3:17 improvement from his time in last year’s meet.

The girls were led by Lauren Justus, who continued to round into shape after her illness with a 19:01 for 7th in her heat. She was followed by Allison Mayo, whose 20:25 is 2:07 better than last year, and frosh Holli Morrow, whose first trip around the course was very fine 22:51.

Now it’s back to training so we can all make the most of our next crack at the famous Mt. Sac course: the Sierra League Championship Finals on Tuesday, November 3.

GHS Results are here. Complete meet results are here. Splitsheets for boys: 10-24-09-boys-mtsac.pdf and girls: 10-24-09-girls-mtsac.pdf

Lots of additional coverage at Dyestatcal, Flotrack, and Runnerspace, which has start/finish videos of every race.  And be sure to check out the coverage at the new regional XC & Track site.

Specifically, here’s Flotrack’s video of… the JV race, the boys Varsity race.

Tartan junior Laruen Justus continued her recovery from illness with a strong solo win today at the Bell Gardens Invitational.  Lauren led from the start and ran mostly alone over the flat 3 mile course at Whittier Narrows Park.  Her 18:36 was easily the best of the day.

The meet is very generous with medals, so many of our athletes came home with something hanging from their necks.  Other notable finishes were from Allison Mayo (8th in the junior race), Maggie Su (15 junior), Nick Orozco (13th junior) and David Reber (9th soph).

You can view Glendora results here.  This meet doesn’t publish results on the internet, but Update: Complete results (for the first time!) here.  You can read some coverage here – this is a new site covering XC in the East SGV.  Split sheets are here: 10-17-09-boys-bell-gardens.pdf and 10-17-09-girls-bell-gardens.pdf

Update:  Awesome photo galleries from the Ziesmann’s: frosh, sophs, juniors, and everybody!

The Tartans competed in the second Sierra League cluster meet today over the 5000 meter course at Bonelli Park.  It was a rainy day, a new experience for many of our athletes, and many of those athletes had the experience of running faster than they ever have on this course.

Our Varsity boys took another big step forward toward the Sierra League championship and beyond, finishing 1-2-3-5-6 for a score of only 17 points, five better than last time.  For the first time, the Tartans were led by senior Austin Goodheart who won in a fine time of 16:18.  The heavy rain during the varsity race kept the times down, with both Kelly and Austin M. falling during the race.  Nevertheless senior Neill Netzeband (16:40 for 6th) and junior Shin Yamamura (16:43 for 8th) managed course PR’s, with Neill entering the GHS top performers list for Bonelli at 15th.  (And to be fair, we should note that Ayala raced at Clovis on Saturday, while Damien and Diamond Bar raced at Mt.Sac, which made today’s meet a tough task for them).

The girls moved from 6th to 4th place in the Sierra League, helped by the return of junior Lauren Justus from illness.  Lauren ran a controlled 19:15 for third place, just off her course PR.  Junior Allison Mayo also had a strong race, turning in another course PR, 20:35 for 16th place, just five seconds outside of the GHS Top Ten.

GHS results are here.  Complete Varsity results and scores and top 15 for other divisions here:  league2resultsoverall09-1.pdf Split sheets are here: 10-13-09-boys-sierra-2.pdf and 10-13-09-girls-sierra-2.pdf.

We will update the article further tonight and tomorrow.  Please email photos to the address on the right.

A great day for the Tartans today at the Brea Invitational.  This was a new meet with a tough, unfamiliar course that featured sandy footing, lots of rolling hills and one big hill – all of which we handled really well.

The boys varsity team finished second overall, behind state-ranked Div. 1 power Arcadia, and defeated several teams with post-season ambitions.  Anthony Castro was again our team leader, finishing 4th overall in a very strong 16:24.  The girls were led again by Allison Mayo, who rolled over this difficult course in 22:03.  While this course was 5000 meters like Tuesday’s Sierra League race at Bonelli, it was considerably slower – about 45 seconds slower for Varsity boys and probabaly about 1:05 slower for our top girls.

Despite the heat and the slower course, several of our newer runners actually ran faster than Tuesday.  Holli Morrow, Patrica Reyes, Camron Sharp, and Sebastian Lopez improved their times from Bonelli.  And we must take note of Ben Mejia’s (pictured above) dominating win in the coaches’ race.

You can view Glendora results here.  Complete results are here.  GHS split sheets are here:  Girls and Boys

Update:  You can view a partial photo gallery from Mr. Ziesmann here.  You can view another smaller gallery here, and a gigantic one here.  Race videos (!) are here.

And an Important Update: Our training schedule for the next two weeks has changed.  Please download a copy of the new schedule:  ghs-xc-09-training-2.pdf

A big day for our boys Varsity team, probably the best single day our team has had, maybe ever.  Our team time of 81:47 (for the first five finishers) appears to be a new Sierra League course record.

We placed four in the top five and had six of the first eleven scoring only 22 points with Ayala, our nearest rival, coming in at 48.  The Daily Bulletin paper covered the meet (from Ayala’s perspective): “Ayala Has Catching Up to Do“.  You can view the paper’s photo album from the meet here.

Our top four performers, Anthony Castro, Austin Goodheart, Austin Mendoza and Kelly Hernandez all had performances that rank in the eleven best All-time for GHS on this course, and our numbers five and six, Neill Netzeband and Shin Yamamura, both PR’d.

On the girls side, we were missing two of our top five, but junior Allison Mayo stepped up to lead us with a 20:48 effort, an improvement of almost three minutes from this meet last year, and a time that ranks just outside our All-Time Top 10.

Allison was not the only one to make a commitment to training and make a big improvement.  We also saw big drops from Nick Orozco (2:29), Jon-Carlo Nunez (2:08), Chris Shaffer (1:59), with the biggest coming from Christina Villalobos, who knocked a whopping 4:03 from last year’s time.  Hard work pays off.

Glendora results are here.  Download GHS times and splits here: boys and girls.  Complete Varsity results here: boys and girls.  For the other three races, you can download a pdf of the actual race tags and timing tape here: frosh/soph_boys.pdf jv_girls_.pdf jv_boys.pdf