Off to Fresno! (woohoo!)

The Puma Girls are at the California State Championships today and will race at 9:05 (!) on Saturday morning.  Go Pumas!


Link to live results.
More State Meet stuff here.

Links to (Many) NCS Photos

NCS Album - Courtesy of Don Roberts (103 photos)

• Girls Division 3 Race (courtesy of Eric Graham - 146 pictures)
• Girls and Boys Division 3 Races (courtesy of Margaret Gallagher / dyestat - 163 pictures)
• All Races (courtesy Joe Hartman / dyestat - 95 images)
• All Girls Races (courtesy Dave Waco / dyestat - 56 images)
• All Boys Races (courtesy Dave Waco / dyestat - 61 images)
• Girls Race (courtesy Spencer Allen / dyestat - 77 images)
  

2009 NCS: Girls Repeat as Champions, Boys 8th

The Maria Carrillo Girls defended their NCS Div III title at Hayward yesterday, while the Boys finished 8th in an extremely competitive field.

Boys: were led by Gus Greenstein's 14th place finish.  Gus just missed qualifying for State as an individual (he was the fastest Empire runner at the meet that failed to qualify).  As expected, the team competition was very tough, and the Pumas missed finishing 4th and a trip to State by a 45 points.  As it turned out, it would have taken an ideal scenario to break into the top 4 - and that was not meant to be this Saturday.  As mentioned, the Div 3 race was super competitive - had the Boys raced up in the Div 2 race they would have finished 2nd and qualified for a State berth (finished ahead of D2 2nd place Santa Rosa in composite scoring).

Overall, the Boys finished the year as the 15th fastest NCS team among the 99 teams in all of the 5 divisions. Not as high as we hoped, perhaps, but a very respectable result that everyone can be proud of.

Girls: speaking of ideal sceanrios, the girls put together a very special team performance.  The expected close team contest with Campolindo and Acalanes (ranked 6th and 7th in California) did not play out as all 5 of our scorers managed finishes in the top 14.  MCHS won with a score of 39 to Campo's 74 and 3rd place Acalanes' 78.  Seniors Lauren Curtin (2nd place) and Cara Curtin (6th place) brought home strong performances to lead the Pumas and effectively neutralized Campo's accomplished #1 and #2 runners (MCHS 8 points to Campo's 7).   The  35 points winning margin was created by the performance of our #3, 4, and 5 runners: Lauren Kraus (7th), Heidi Thiele (10th), and Brenna Thigpen (14th).  These 3 runners were the fastest #3,4, and 5 of any of the 76 scoring teams in all 5 divisional races on the day.  In fact, Heidi and Brenna both beat the #3 runners of all 76 teams except for one (Monte Vista in the Div I race).

Given this, it is probably not surprising that the Puma Girls were the fastest of all the 76 teams on the day, and by a fairly substantial margin (interesting to note that 3 of the top 4 NCS teams were in the Div III race).  Their combined team time of 93:25 was 20 seconds faster at Hayward than last years Puma squad that went on to take 3rd at State.  This is also the 7th fastest team performance for any NCS girls team in the 9 years of racing at Hayward High.

Other superlatives: Lauren Kraus was the fastest freshman girl in the Div III race, and the 2nd fastest in any of the 5 divisional races.  Brenna Thigpen was the 3rd fastest frosh in the D3 race, and the 8th fastest overall.  Heidi Thiele was the 3rd fastest soph girl in the D3 race, and the 10th fastest overall.

This North Coast Section title was the Puma girls' 4th in the last 6 years.  The years they did not win they finished 2nd (to Campolindo each time).

NEXT: California State Championships at Clovis on Saturday, November 28th.  The MCHS girls are currently ranked #3 in California in D3 behind perennial Southern Section powers Corona del Mar and Orange Lutheran.  These are the same two teams that finished ahead of the Pumas at State last year.

A Picture of Mental Toughness

There is a story behind this picture.  This is Gretel Petrie in the process of winning the 2009 NBL JV race.  You might notice she is carrying quite a bit of mud and dirt with her.  About two-thirds through the race, Gretel was leading but then took a hard spill coming down a slick trail.  She was passed and had to pick herself up and pull herself together over the last mile, but still managed to finish strong to win.

Something to think about -- in life things won't always go the way you hoped. The question is "how you will respond when things go wrong?"  Let's be ready to bounce back and finish strong!

Award Banquet Reminder - NCS Logistics Updated

Friendly reminder - reservation forms and money for December 5th end of season awards banquet are due to Kristina Gunderson by November 24th.  Please turn these in to Kristina or the coaches this week (and we know there are still too many of you that have not yet done this!)

Also, please note that depature times to NCS have been moved up:

• Girls Varsity Team = leaving MCHS Saturday at 6:30AM with Ruben and Greg
• Everyone Else = leaving MCHS at 7:15AM with Michael + parent drivers 

NCS and State Meet Logistical Details

Hello MCHS XC Varsity Parents and Athletes,

 

Here’s what’s going on for the next few weeks in preparation for our post-season NCS and State XC Championships!

 

Boys Varsity roster for post season = Gus, Daniel, James, Colin, Jesse, Austin B, Harrison (alternate = Martyn)

 

Girls Varsity roster for post season = Lauren C, Cara C, Lauren K, Margie, Heidi, TJ, Brynna (alternates = Gretel + Sarah T.)

 

Saturday, 11/14/09 = Field Trip to Hayward High School :

            -Leaving MCHS 1:30PM; arrive at 3PM to run the course > take group to dinner > expect to be back at MCHS 6:30-7PM (no extra drivers needed at this time)

 

Saturday, 11/21/09 = NCS Championships, Hayward High School (top 4 teams qualify for State Championships):

            -Leaving MCHS at 6:30AM (Girls Varsity) and 7:15AM (everyone else) note change!
            -Looking for a few extra drivers to help drive MCHS XC athletes/fans not running this day = reply via e-mail to Greg if you can drive + # of passenger seats you have available)  

 

NCS 11/21/09 Schedule:

DIVISION II GIRLS RACE 9:00 A.M.

>> MCHS = DIVISION III GIRLS RACE 9:35 A.M.

DIVISION II BOYS RACE 10:10 A.M.

>> MCHS = DIVISION III BOYS RACE 10:40 A.M.

DIVISION IV GIRLS RACE 11:10 A.M.

DIVISION V BOYS RACE 11:45 A.M.

DIVISION I GIRLS RACE 12:15 P.M.

DIVISION IV BOYS RACE 12:50 P.M.

DIVISION V GIRLS RACE 1:20 P.M.

DIVISION I BOYS RACE 1:55 P.M.

 

Friday, 11/27/08 (School Holiday ):

 

-Leaving MCHS at 9AM > stop for light lunch en route > arrive at Woodward Park Course in Fresno by 2PM > leave Woodward Park by 4PM > check into Hotel by 4:30PM; race Saturday AM > should return to MCHS around 5PM

 

-Hotel details = we are staying at the Fresno Airport Holiday Inn on November 27th. Address: 5090 E Clinton Way Fresno , CA 93727 (559) 252-3611 -Parents: We have rooms for the team, but you will need to reserve your own room if you are coming to spectate.  -You can call the Holiday Inn reservations line at 1 800 HOLIDAY (800) 465-4329  -If you cannot get a room, please let Greg know since he has a few "extra" rooms reserved in his name.

Austin Bartlett - Difference Maker

In case anyone doubts us coaches when we tell them that cross country is a team sport, read the following excerpt quoted from Jim Crowhurst's notes for the 2009 NBL Meet:

Maria Carrillo's Austin Bartlett had a double impact on the team championship. A number 6 runner on a team typically has no effect on the outcome but here it was the deciding factor for two reasons. First his placing before Piner's 5th runner bumped their score from 55 to 56 causing the tie. Then ties are broken by placing of the 6th runners on a team so again his placing (ahead of Piner's 6th runner) was the deciding factor in the league finals match.

Some might say we got lucky in this situation.  I would disagree - I think this just highlights one of our team's great strengths - the depth of quality athletes in our "Group 2" that bring tremendous focus and commitment to practice every day and always compete at a very high level.  I just see this as another great example of "harambee!"

Great job Austin, and great job Pumas!

Maria Carrillo Covers All the Bases at NBL Finals

Congratulations to all the Pumas - awesome job today!  Once again, MCHS walked away with team awards in all the races - Boys JV, Girls JV, Boys Varsity, and Girls Varsity.  The Boys Varsity race was as close as it could get - a tie with Piner was decided by the finish of our 6th place runner (Austin Bartlett).

Click here to see meet results and photos.

MCHS added to its collection of NBL Penants - it was the Girls' 7th in a row, and for the Boys it was their 6th in the last 7 years. For the girls - they have won their last 98 consecutive NBL matchups.

The JV teams had terrific performances.  The JV girls were the fastest ever Carrillo girls JV team (and only 6 seconds behind Montgomery's 2002 team!)  The JV girls were the 4th fastest squad at the meet - only the MCHS, Montgomery, and Santa Rosa varsity teams were faster.  Similiar to the Girls, the Boys JV were the 4th fastest boys team on the course today - finishing only behind the MCHS, Piner, and Santa Rosa varsity teams.

Twenty eight athletes set PRs at the race today, and thus they are eligible for 2 pairs of socks!  Here they all are (was missed on the first posting, but Jesse Lucia should also be on the list below - his 16:30 was a 0:10 PR!):

Name	PR Coming In	Time on 11/6	Improved Time	Improved %
Gallagher, Drew	20:55	19:11	1:44	8.3%
Lao, Steven	22:51	20:59	1:52	8.2%
Srisengfa, Tab	25:29	23:27	2:02	8.0%
McFarland, Brett	20:57	19:59	0:58	4.6%
Matoes, Brett	20:37	19:45	0:52	4.2%
Gunderson, Ashley	21:49	21:01	0:48	3.7%
Birkland, Kelly	21:25	20:56	0:29	2.3%
Nicklas, James	18:32	18:08	0:24	2.2%
Ramos, Sophia	21:26	21:00	0:26	2.0%
Smith, Myriah	23:51	23:27	0:24	1.7%
Faust, Kai	21:27	21:06	0:21	1.6%
Thiele, Heidi	19:24	19:08	0:16	1.4%
Silverstein, Grant	18:12	17:58	0:14	1.3%
Halverson, Jessica	21:16	21:01	0:15	1.2%
Thigpen, Brynna	19:31	19:18	0:13	1.1%
Sullivan, Sidney	22:02	21:51	0:11	0.8%
Henderson, Martyn	17:06	16:58	0:08	0.8%
Garza, Margie	19:12	19:04	0:08	0.7%
Herniman, Sam	19:37	19:29	0:08	0.7%
Jones, Tyler	18:26	18:19	0:07	0.6%
Kraus, Lauren	18:57	18:50	0:07	0.6%
Bartlett, Austin	16:44	16:38	0:06	0.6%
Ramirez, James	16:09	16:04	0:05	0.5%
Christensen, Erik	18:11	18:07	0:04	0.4%
Gibson, Colin	16:17	16:14	0:03	0.3%
Talkington, Lauren	24:58	24:55	0:03	0.2%
Lowder, Dalin	19:58	19:57	0:01	0.1%

Videos to Help Visualize Championship Racing

Following are videos of the 2009 Pac 10 Conference Women's and Men's championship meet.Watch these to help you visualize your own performance this week...

Pictures from Cal Poly Invitational

Click here or on the image below to see more photos of Cal Poly Invitational, October 17 (thanks to Kristin Thigpen).

Cal Poly

Updates - 2 Mile Time Trial Cancelled, NCS Field Trip, State Meet Lodging Info

• The two mile time trial is cancelled for November 14th
• (Varsity Only) We decided we are going to take a "field trip" to check-out the NCS course at Hayward High School around 3PM on November 14. Leaving MCHS at 1:30PM then drive to Hayward High School, then stop in the city for a early dinner.
• (Varsity Only) For the State meet, we are staying at the Fresno Airport Holiday Inn on November 27th. Address: 5090 E Clinton WayFresno, CA 93727 (559) 252-3611 - Parents: We have rooms for the team, but you will need to reserve your own room if you are coming to spectate. You can call the Holiday Inn reservations line at 1 800 HOLIDAY (800 4654329) -If you cannot get a room, please let Greg know since he has a few"extra" rooms reserved in his name.

Up Next - North Bay League Championships

Our next competition, the North Bay League Championships, will be held on Friday, November 6 at Spring Lake.  For most of our team, this will be their final cross country competition of the season, and for a few, the last cross country meet of their high school careers.

What's at stake this coming Friday?

• 4 races to determine league Boys JV, Girls JV, Varsity Boys, and Varsity Girls champions.  All 8 schools in the North Bay league will be participating in the meet.
• The Pumas have a great tradition of "wow" performances at this competition - we take tremendous pride in delivering our very best efforts at league finals.  We would like to join many Carrillo teams from previous years that were able to sweep first place team awards in each of the 4 contests.
• Varsity Boys: will face a very tough challenge from Santa Rosa High.  The Pumas narrowly won when these schools faced off in their regular season league meet.  The Puma boys seek to improve on their 12th all-time team time set last week against Montgomery.  Santa Rosa's team ran the 13th fastest team time just two weeks ago - so these teams are very evenly matched.
• Varsity Girls: will seek to win their 7th consecutive NBL title and extend their league winning streak to 98 consecutive contests.  They will try to improve on their 15th all-time ranking as a team at Spring Lake.
• JV Boys: This will be the final competition of the year for our JV teams and a final chance to run best times at the Spring Lake course.  Conditions permitting, our goal is to see 9 guys run below 18:00 - including 2 guys under 17:00.  The team time goal is to beat the all-time best JV time of 1:27:22 (2005).  We will challenge the JV boys to be the 4th fastest boys team time on the day - meaning that they will seek run faster than all but the Varsity teams of 2 other schools in league.
• JV Girls: If conditions permit, we think its possible to see 7 girls finish under 22:00 - including 5 under 21:00, and perhaps one under 20:00.  The team time goal is to beat the all-time JV best of 1:45:27. Similar to the JV Boys, we will challenge this group to post the 4th fastest team time on the day (including varsity results).

We encourage all parents and friends to make a special effort to come out and support the team this week!

Washington Women Repeat as Pac-10 XC Champs, Stanford Men Unseat Oregon

Next week is North Bay League Championship week for the Pumas!  It's also the beginning of championship season in college running. Follow this link if you are interested in seeing what championship level Cross Country at the NCAA Div I level looks like (has 2008 race highlights and 2009 results).

Washington women held off Oregon to win the women's title on Friday, October 30th, while Stanford unseated Oregon as the Pac-10 men's championship team.

Meet Results - NBL Meet #4 vs Montgomery, CN, Ursuline

Hey Pumas! How do you feel? You ought to feel GOOD - oh so good.  Simply an awesome set of performances today - and great outcomes for every race.  Each team - Boys Varsity and JV and Girls Varsity and JV - completed undefeated NBL dual meet seasons today.


Follow this link to see the complete meet results.


For the Varsity Girls, today marked their 90th and 91st consecutive NBL wins.  Last time the Puma girls lost in NBL competition was 2002! Their cumulative team time today of 95:38 was the 15th fastest ever team in the 22 year history of the Spring Lake Course,  and the 7th fastest Puma girls team.  Also, in case you missed it, Lauren Kraus ran 18:57 - the 10th fastest time ever for a freshman girl - (not too shabby).  Only Jenny Aldridge and Amy Robinson ever ran faster for the Pumas as freshman. 

As impressive as the Girls did, the Boys did even better.  Their team time of 80:51 was the 12th fastest ever team and the 3rd best Carrillo team time in the history of the Spring Lake Course.  Gus Greenstein became the 30th fastest all-time and the Pumas 5th fastest boy ever with his 15:41. The Varsity Boys are now 88-3 vs NBL competition over the past 7 seasons.


At this point, I know what you are thinking.  "That's all very interesting, but what about socks?"  I was getting to that.  Today we had 29 runners earn socks by running PRs.  Great job everyone!  Following is the list of PRs - led by Desiree Purugannan's 5:06 improvement (say what?)  since her previous Spring Lake run earlier this season!  While Desiree's improvement was impressive, the coaches noticed all of our less experienced runners were now fully engaged in real cross country racing instead of "just finishing."  Congratulations to all of you - you have graduated to the "next level" of your competitive careers.

Name	Time on 10/28	Previous PR	Time Improved	% Improved
Purugganan, Desiree	24:49	29:55	5:06	17.0%
Dedrick, Jamaeca	22:56	25:30	2:34	10.1%
Gunderson, Ashley	21:49	23:52	2:03	8.6%
Birkland, Kelly	21:25	23:12	1:47	7.7%
Connors, Chris	17:56	19:17	1:21	7.0%
Thigpen, Brynna	19:31	20:52	1:21	6.5%
Halverson, Jessica	21:16	22:16	1:00	4.5%
Kraus, Lauren	18:57	19:40	0:43	3.6%
Nijjar, Harsimmer	19:19	19:59	0:40	3.3%
Lynch, Austin	21:06	21:46	0:40	3.1%
Dearden, Daniel	19:42	20:19	0:37	3.0%
Thiele, Heidi	19:24	20:00	0:36	3.0%
Luft, Harrison	17:01	17:32	0:31	2.9%
Horner, Emilio	17:09	17:38	0:29	2.7%
Matoes, Brett	20:37	21:05	0:28	2.2%
Brady, Connor	19:38	20:02	0:24	2.0%
Lucia, Jesse	16:40	17:00	0:20	2.0%
Murray, Gus	17:57	18:18	0:21	1.9%
Greenstein, Gus	15:41	15:52	0:11	1.2%
Christensen, Erik	18:11	18:23	0:12	1.1%
Graham, Taylor	19:28	19:40	0:12	1.0%
Ramirez, James	16:09	16:18	0:09	0.9%
Gibson, Colin	16:17	16:26	0:09	0.9%
Kerr, Carolyn	22:58	23:10	0:12	0.9%
Petrie, Gretel	20:11	20:21	0:10	0.8%
Henderson, Martyn	17:06	17:13	0:07	0.7%
Lowder, Dalin	19:58	20:06	0:08	0.7%
Ramos, Sophia	21:26	21:33	0:07	0.5%
Hauptman, Daniel	16:04	16:09	0:05	0.5%

NBL Standings after Third Round

BOYS

5 - 0 Maria Carrillo
5 - 1 Santa Rosa
3 - 2 Piner
3 - 2 Montgomery
2 - 3 Rancho
2 - 3 Ukiah
0 - 4 Cardinal Newman
0 - 5 Elsie Allen

GIRLS
5 - 0 Maria Carrillo (89 consecutive NBL wins)
5 - 0 Montgomery
4 - 2 Santa Rosa
2 - 3 Piner
2 - 3 Rancho
0 - 3 Ukiah
0 - 3 Ursuline
0 - 4 Elsie Allen

End of Season Banquet and Awards Presentation - Saturday, Dec 5

All athletes and parents are invited to the PUMAS

Cross Country End of Season
Banquet

Awards Presentation

When:                      Saturday,
December 5, 5:30 to 8:00 pm

Where:                     Maria Carrillo
High School large gymnasium

Join the team for dinner, a
lively slide show featuring season highlights and an awards presentation.

Cost per dinner is $6.00
(includes pork pulled sandwich, pasta primavera, salad and dessert.) Dinner will
be catered by MCHS culinary class students.

Athletes are asked to please
bring drink donations and uniforms to the banquet.

Please submit your
reservation below with payment to teammate Ashley Gunderson at school or by mailing to Kristina
Gunderson at  2327 Rancho Cabeza Dr.
95404  no later than
Tuesday, November 24.  For questions, please contact Kristina at
Kristina_Gunderson@yahoo.com or 695-6462.

Volunteers are needed to
help as follows:

__4:30 – 5:30  set up                     __
decorations

__8:00 – 8:30 clean
up*                __
ice pick up and delivery to gym

(*athletes are expected to
help)

To volunteer, please
contact Kristin Thigpen at 539-1708 or email
at Kristin@thigpendesign.com.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                               PUMAS
Cross Country End of Season Banquet

Name:
______________________________________________________________

Phone Number:
________________         

Total number of dinners          Cost per
dinner            Total
Amount Enclosed

__________                             x      $6.00 each          =     $________________

Please make checks payable to Kristina Gunderson. Submit
this form with payment to Ashley Gunderson at school or mail to Kristina
Gunderson by November 24.   Questions?  Please contact Kristina.

Athletes
– remember to bring drink donation and uniform to banquet!

PRs set at 10-21 Meet at Rancho Cotate

25 runners set new "Personal Records" at our dual meet against Rancho - and are thus eligible for socks!  Jessica Halverson and Dan Dearden led the group with massive improvements over their time set in early September.  Great job everyone!

Rancho Cotate HS - 2.95 Mile Course
	2008	9/4/2009	10/21/2009	Name	New PR	Time Improved	% Improved
1		23:12	21:23	Jessica Halverson	21:23	1:49	7.8%
2		21:31	19:50	Daniel Dearden	19:50	1:41	7.8%
3		21:43	20:10	Dalin Lowder	20:10	1:33	7.1%
4		17:46	16:41	Jose Ramirez	16:41	1:05	6.1%
5		17:58	16:54	Harrison Luft	16:54	1:04	5.9%
6	22:46	18:50	17:47	James Nicklas	17:47	1:03	5.6%
7		21:49	20:52	Sophia Ramos	20:52	0:57	4.4%
8		19:24	18:34	Harsimmer Nijjar	18:34	0:50	4.3%
9		20:19	19:27	Heidi Thiele	19:27	0:52	4.3%
10	22:43	21:01	20:11	Gretel Petrie	20:11	0:50	4.0%
11		21:13	20:28	Brett Matos	20:28	0:45	3.5%
12	22:22	18:23	17:45	Gus Murray	17:45	0:38	3.4%
13		20:25	19:43	Conner Brady	19:43	0:42	3.4%
14	25:01	22:56	22:15	Carolyn Kerr	22:15	0:41	3.0%
15		20:23	19:47	Brynna Thigpen	19:47	0:36	2.9%
16	24:50	21:53	21:18	Austin Lynch	21:18	0:35	2.7%
17	21:02	18:11	17:46	Erik Christensen	17:46	0:25	2.3%
18	20:12	18:03	17:39	Grant Silverstein	17:39	0:24	2.2%
19	19:55	17:26	17:03	Emilio Horner	17:03	0:23	2.2%
20	23:58	21:00	20:34	Brett McFarland	20:34	0:26	2.1%
21	22:43	20:23	20:07	Margie Garza	20:07	0:16	1.3%
22		19:18	19:05	Lauren Kraus	19:05	0:13	1.1%
23		20:18	20:07	Kyle West	20:07	0:11	0.9%
24		19:56	19:49	Schuyler Mortimer	19:49	0:07	0.6%
25		19:02	18:57	Cara Curtin	18:57	0:05	0.4%