Christmas Tree Fundraiser - Last Chance!

Last chance to submit orders for Christmas trees, wreaths or garland!

Return forms no later than this Thursday, Nov. 15, to any coach or Nick Jensen. Call Jennifer Jensen with any questions at 478-2006.

Click here for more info on Christmas Tree Fundraiser and forms.

Plans for the next two weeks NCS and State Championships!

Practice and competition plans for the next two weeks, covering NCS and State Championships! 

...I know there are quite a few Parents where the NCS and State Championships post-season is a totally new experience, so please do not hesitate to contact Coach Greg (greg.fogg@comcast.net or Cell: 707-291-2967) if you have any questions about any of this activity!   -Our goal is to continue working out during this time frame, but to be reasonably flexible and accommodate everyone's Holiday plans.   -Please make sure to contact Coach Greg if you are going to miss any practice sessions!   ...OK to do some workouts on your own if you have Holiday plans, but still need to contact Greg! 

Notes: 
1) MCHS XC travel extends to the top 7 Varsity + the next 3 alternates (no JV)
2) Only the top 3 teams in the NCS Championships will qualify for the State Championships in Fresno; both our teams are ranked 1st going into the NCS Championships, so we feel good about our chances and planning for both teams going to Fresno!
3) There will be several changes in our "regular" 3:00 or 3:30 practice start times due to the Holidays as noted below: 

Next Week, preparing for NCS Championships = Nov 12th - 17th: 

Mon, Nov 12th: 8:30-9:30 AM Interval workout at Montecito Park
Tue, Nov 13th: 5:00 PM Tempo workout at MCHS Track
Wed, Nov 14th: 3:30 PM (regular time practice) 
Thu, Nov 15th: 3:30 PM (regular time practice)
Fri, Nov 16th: 3:30 PM (regular time practice)

Sat, Nov 17th: NCS Championships at Hayward High School leaving MCHS in two waves: 
-First wave = Boys leaving MCHS 7:30 AM; racing 10:40 AM
-Second wave = Girls leaving MCHS 8:15 AM; racing 12:15 PM
-Everyone should be back by 3:30 (may be 4:30 if we stop for lunch)
NCS Championship Bulletin link:http://cifncs.org/sports/cross_country/files/CrossCountry12.pdf
Sun, Nov 18th: EZ 4-6 mile run on your own


Last Week of the season, preparing for State Championships = Nov 19th - 24th: 

Mon, Nov 19th: 8:30-9:30 AM Tempo workout at MCHS
Tue, Nov 20th: 60 Min EZ run on your own
Wed, Nov 21st: 8:30-9:30 AM Interval workout at Montecito Park
Thu, Nov 22nd: Happy Thanksgiving! 45 min EZ run with 6 x :20 strides on your own

Fri, Nov 23rd: Everyone leaving MCHS at 10:30 AM
-Arrive at Woodward Park, Fresno ~3:00-3:30
-Check into Hotel 5:00-5:30, Dinner 6:00 or 6:30, Lights-out 10:00
-Hotel details: Holiday Inn, Fresno Airport, 5090 E Clinton Way, Fresno CA 93727 

Sat, Nov 24th: State Championships! 
-Boys race 10:40 AM
-Girls race 12:15 PM 
-Everyone should be back home by 6:30-ish, depending on traffic

Sun, Nov 25th: Rest!

Any questions or need more information?   

-Coach Greg
greg.fogg@comcast.net
cell: (707) 291-2967

Results of Mile Time Trial - Nov 7

Sixty five of our runners decided to jump in on a post-season 1600m time trial yesterday.
Thirteen girls finished under 6 minutes, fourteen boys under 5!

Click here to see results.  Many personal bests were established!

Click here to see last year's time trial results.

More NBL Superlatives

A final wrap-up with a summary of some "under the radar" accomplishments from the NBL Meet.

• By running 16:17 while winning the JV race, Colin Bartlett ran the fastest JV time at NBLs when run at Spring Lake  (previous best, 16:40 by Chris Bendana in 2005).  Spencer Jones (16:23) and Jordan Scobey (16:24) also ran faster than the previous best.
• Allie Ahern's 19:55 effort in taking the Girls JV race was also the fastest JV time on record (previous best 20:21 by Jenna Lundgren in 2007).  Sam Perry ((19:56) and Abby Orgish (20:12) also finished under the previous standard.
• Not surprisingly given the above, both JV teams put together the fastest JV team times ever recorded, and by very large margins.
• Boys team time of 1:23:22 beat the previous best of 1:24:29 set by MCHS last year
• The Girls' 1:40:45 crished their previous best of 1:44:16 set in 2009.
• The JV Boys time would have placed them in a tie for 4th in the NBL Varsity race this year.
• Combining SCL and NBL results, 29 boys from all schools ran 16:24 or faster - 10 of them were Pumas.
• The JV Girls' time would have placed them 3rd in the NBL Varsity race this year, and 3rd among all Sonoma/Mendocino County high schools.  Only Casa Grande's varsity from other schools was faster this year.
• Combining the 2012 SCL and NBL Meet results, a total of 46 girls from all schools ran faster than 21 minutes at Spring Lake - 18 of the 46 were from one school: yep, MCHS!  Next best was 7 by Casa Grande. 
• Out of 20 total girls breaking 20 minutes, 8 were Pumas
• MCHS girls have won the last 10 consecutive JV titles, and a Puma girl has taken first 9 out of the last 10 years.
• Kayla Hordyk was winner in 2011!
• MCHS boys have won the last 9 consecutive JV titles, and a Puma boy has taken 9 out of the last 10 JV titles.
• Gus Murray was champ in 2011!
• You can see more history by the Pumas at NBLs by clicking here.

MCHS All-Time Spring Lake Lists Updated

Check out the updated all-time lists! 
See where you rank or start setting goals for next year!

Click Here to See the Lists

Fantastic Improvements at NBLs!

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever"  - John Keats

These words came to mind as we looked at the results from yesterday's meet - that was certainly a thing of beauty. And it was truly a joy to see everyone's hard work paying off.  The coaches are very proud of your efforts!

Great job everyone for setting a high standard this year and consistently working toward it as a team!

It's a good time to remember that we are not any more talented than other teams.  Any sustained success we enjoy comes from consistent and focused work on improvement expended over a very long period of time.

So... here is the info everyone has been waiting for.  Who gets socks?  Well, lots of people, actually.

• Click Here to see PR Report from NBLs (all on this list are eligible to pick out socks next week!)
• Click Here to see where your PR ranks 

A Few Highlights -

• 54 of our 73 runners that ran yesterday achieved lifetime PRs!  The average improvement was a little over 3%- this means the typical person was dropping about 40 seconds off their previous best time - wow!
• It was great to see our novice runners succesfully complete the transition from a tentative "finisher" mentality to an aggresive and confident "racer" mentality -- welcome to the sport of cross country!
• A few "milestone" improvements we'll call attention to
• BOYS:
• COMPLETELY SKIPPING THE "19's" - Quinn Gavin and Gabe Schoenbach came into the meet with PR's in the 20's - they decided they might as well just skip the 19s and get into the 18's as soon as possible - Gabe improved 6% and ran 18:53, Quinn improved 9% and ran 18:20!
• BREAKING 18: David Eik, Lucas Azcarraga, Antoine Thibault, and Ean Franceschi made big steps forward with efforts dropping them from the 18's to the 17's.  16's are just around the corner now! 
• BREAKING 17: Ryan Nguyen - achieves Varsity Letter!
• BREAKING 16: Nick Jensen - he's a big boy now! his name goes on the board
• GIRLS:
• BREAKING THROUGH 22: Clara Daly, Ellie Petty, and Tessa Nicklas - WOOHOO!
• BREAKING 21: Gracie Issel (!), Haleigh Frye, Allison Bartlett, and Emma Wright - each earns their Varsity Letter!
• BREAKING 20: Sam Perry - nice!
• BREAKING 19: Shaz Breedlove - your name goes on the big board!

Pumas Make it a Clean Sweep at NBLs!

AWESOME JOB PUMAS!

Pumas swept all four divisions at NBLs today! We will be adding to this post through the evening.

• Link to Complete Boys Results
• Link to Complete Girls Results
• Link to PD Story

Varsity Girls

• Girls win their 10th consecutive NBL pennant!
• Team led by fantastic PR 18:20 effort by Brynna Thigpen - closing over 150 yards in last mile to finish a close second.  Time is 33rd all-time, 9th fastest Puma girl ever!
• Girls team time is 15th fastest ever at Spring Lake, 8th fastest ever MCHS team!

Varsity Boys

• Dominating team effort!  Team time of 79:09 sets school record and is 6th fastest ever team all-time!
• Huge PR for Ryan Anderson of 15:13 coming in 2nd - effort equals 10th fastest time ever! #2 ever at Maria Carrillo behind Steve Laurie (15:01 in 1998)
• All 7 boys finish in top 13! 

JV Girls:

• Set the tone for the entire afternoon by leading off with the the top 19 places in the first race (wow!)
• Team time beat all the Girls Varsity teams except ours and Casa Grande's
• Had 11 girls under 21:00 - only 17 varsity girls from all other NBL teams broke the 21:00 mark!
• First two finishers - Allie Ahern and Sam Perry are the only two girls on record to ever break 20:00 in the JV race
• Team took 10th consecutive title!

JV Boys:

• Team time matched the 4th place team in the Varsity race
• Led by fine time of 16:17 by Colin Bartlett
• Jordan Scobey ran 8th fastest freshman time ever - 16:24
• 9th consecutive NBL JV team title
• 4 guys under 17:00, 10 guys under 18:00!

Videos of Races

• Varsity Boys
• Varsity Girls
• JV Boys
• JV Girls