CIF FINALS 2009
Well, it's been a long season and we have a great deal to be proud of. Every year, it seems like teams just keep getting faster, and this year that theory did not disappoint.
BOYS DII: The CIF Championship was won this year by Sierra League's own Glendora boys, running a phenomenal team time of 78:38. All 7 qualifying teams were under 80:00 which is huge!!! Top 3 boys in the race ran sub 14:42!
Our boys have a great deal to be proud of. We never make excuses, and that was highly evident when the boys rallied after learning their #3 Cole Firman was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his leg on Friday and was out, and alternate Alfredo Contreras was thrown into the mix. Every boy stepped up to the line knowing that they would have to have the race of their lives...and they did! Despite the adversity thrown their way, the boys ended up running 80:42, their 3rd fastest time ever at CIF Finals and 2 seconds off their projected PR time. The boys were helped by tremendous efforts from Justin Wright (15:38), placing 19th and making him All-CIF, and Alex Keifer breaking 16:00 for the first time in 15:57, placing him 39th. The boys team set 4 pr's on the course, peaking perfectly for CIF Finals. They placed 10th with the top 7 teams moving on to the State Meet.
GIRLS DII: For the 3rd year in a row, the #2 ranked team in the nation ran another phenomenal time of 89:15 with the next 5 teams under 93:30. We knew in order to move on, the girls would need to run 95:00 and sure enough, the last place qualifier ran 95:06. The first 9 individuals in the race went from 17:22-17:57, by far the fastest year ever in girls DII!!
Our girls team had a tremendous season and took back the Sierra League Championship after a two year absence. Since winning the CIF Title back in 2006, the girls have been re-building a dynasty that saw the Ayala Girls at the State Meet 5 out of 7 years. The past three have not proven as lucky, but they are on the right track. Many schools would give their right arm to make appearance after appearance at CIF Finals. 2009 saw the Ayala girls run some phenomenal times at the various races, unfortunately we could not put those times together on the day that it counted the most and we know they're disappointed for their seniors, but they had a great season and a great deal to be proud of. As Justin did on the boys side, his sister Heather PR'd with a 19:38, and Katie Weitz was back as our number 1. The girls placed one up from last year and finished 12th.
As coaches, we talk about the potential of team. These two teams had just that, and much of it was realized this season in so many of our races. Some of the hardest translations between a coach and an athlete is in getting them to believe they can do the great things we know they are capable of. This was a season of tremendous pr's. Our CIF Teams bring back 5 girls and 4 boys, with many more poised in the wings for 2010. It was a great season and we will see all of you at the Banquet December 14th to celebrate!
MSAC INVITATIONAL
We had a tremendous time at the 2 day carnival, affectionately known as the MSAC Invitational. Those of you who came to watch got to see first hand all the hoopla that makes Cross Country so dang fun! Who knew over 10,000 runners would traverse the hills of MSAC - Switchbacks, Poopout and Resevoir. Hopefully most of you realized that as death defying as the hills were, the payoff rewarded on the downhills was there for the taking.
Girls Varsity won their Division and Varsity Boys took 5th.
We started with the JV Races Friday - something new for MSAC. Ayala showed up and graciously provided the Race Winners for the Day in Joseph Zoetemelk (16:58) and Kassandra Cervantes (21:00), both times placing them each in the 8th spot on our Top 10 List. Ayala dominated both races, most impressively noted by the boys scoring a perfect 15.
Division II raced in the afternoon Saturday (each year they flip flop the times).
We began the day with the Boys Freshmen destroying their competitors, placing 1st in their race and setting a new School Team Time Record by almost 2:00!! Race winner was also Ayala's own Christian Eagon (17:14). Martinez, Butterly, Contreras and Firman finish out the scoring all placing in the top 20. Coach of the Year Honors going to Steve Pye ;-)
Freshmen Girls finished in 4th place and did not disappoint with another familiar leader, Breanne Baughman (21:23) finishing in 11th. The team of Baughman, Ramirez, Brown, Shadler and Santos were responsible for setting a new School Team Time Record and all finishing in the top 30!!
Next up the Sophomore Boys placing 2nd in their race led by Alfredo Contreras who spins into the top 7 with his 16:53 effort. 9 out of 10 Ayala boys set PR's!!
Sophomore Girls were led by Jaclyn Gonzalez, whose time of 19:57 spins her back into the Top 7 as well. She led the race for 2.75 miles, but was nipped at the finish for the win. The girls finished in 4th.
Boys Varsity effort was led by the tandem team of Alex Keifer and Justin Wright, with Keifer taking 21st in 16:18 and Wright 23rd in 16:19. The boys placed 5th with all 5 under 16:50, 7 under 17:03!
The Girls Varsity race was the last race of the day at 4:18pm. Led by the tremendous efforts of Chandler Colquitt (18:58), the girls took 1st Place beating Top CIF ranked Teams of Canyon, Serrano, Newport Harbor and La Mirada. Coach of the Year Honors going to Dawn Staab ;-) The girls were the top ranking team in the Sierra League and Chandler finishes as Sierra League's #3 (Araceli Rojas-Garcia 18:36 • Taylor Hebb 18:56 • Chandler Colquitt 18:58 • Lauren Justus 19:01)
Next up is League Finals at MSAC on Tuesday November 3rd. We have a lot of tuning up we'll need to do this next week....both mentally and physically!!! It's not the confident team that will win League, it's the team that's the hungriest. Are you hungry??
Top 10's for the day were:
| GIRLS OVERALL | | TIME | PR | | | BOYS OVERALL | | TIME | PR |
| COLQUITT | CHANDLER | 18:58 | 19:28 | | | KEIFER | ALEX | 16:18 | 16:07 |
| KHAN | TAYLOR | 19:21 | 20:43 | | | WRIGHT | JUSTIN | 16:19 | 16:02 |
| RICH | NAOMI | 19:41 | 19:39 | | | CORSELLO | TREVOR | 16:29 | 16:26 |
| GONZALEZ | JACLYN | 19:57 | DNR | | | SAMPAT | KUNAL | 16:40 | 17:19 |
| WRIGHT | HEATHER | 19:59 | 20:51 | | | REED | TIM | 16:50 | 17:05 |
| ARTINIAN | MICHELLE | 20:01 | 20:08 | | | NASU | TAYLOR | 16:51 | 16:03 |
| WEITZ | KATIE | 20:06 | 18:43 | 7 | | CONTRERAS | ALFREDO | 16:53 | 18:59 |
| CERVANTES | KASSANDRA | 21:00 | 21:38 | | | ZOETEMELK | JOSEPH | 16:58 | 17:49 |
| BAUGHMAN | BREANNE | 21:23 | | | | YOUNG | RICHARD | 17:01 | 18:04 |
| CHEN | VICTORIA | 21:40 | 19:27 | 10 | | FIRMAN | COLE | 17:03 | 16:14 |
SIERRA LEAGUE MEET #2 10/13/09 Rainy & Slick
Race Winners:
Cole Firman 16:40 Boys JV and making him the 2nd fastest Ayala Overall Runner for the day!!
Michelle Artinian 20:27 Girls JV and making her our 7th fastest Ayala Overall Runner for the day!!
Christian Eagon 17:27 Boys F/S spinning him into the Top 10 for the first time!
BOYS VARSITY: Glendora wins 17- 44 Ayala Contreras the sole PR.
If we win League Finals, we will be Co-League Champions
GIRLS VARSITY: St. Lucy's wins 39-45 Ayala Extremely tight competition!!
It will come down to League Finals. Chandler, Taylor & Naomi PR!!
BOYS JV: Ayala scores a perfect 15 for the win over Glendora 72!! 10 out of 13 boys PR!!
That's 2 League Wins for the Boys JV
School Team Time Record for the 5 Fastest Boys
GIRLS JV: Ayala wins with 19 points over St. Lucy's!! 19 out of 25 girls PR!!
That's 2 League Wins for the Girls JV
Girls come within seconds of School Record which has stood since 2002.
They eclipse last week's Team Time by over 3:00!!
BOYS F/S: Ayala wins 26 -58 Damien. 15 out of 21 boys PR!!
That's 2 League Wins for the Boys F/S
They come within seconds of their school record, set at League Meet #1 2009.
Next up - MSAC Invitational. JV races have been suspended for MSAC, unless we are invited to compete in the JV National Competition like last year. That means the only guaranteed spots will be varsity, freshmen and sophomores. They have added a JV race for everyone, but it will be held Friday at 11:30am.
CLOVIS INVITATIONAL
Another great weekend up in Clovis, even if we did have to leave many of our athletes behind due to the SAT's this year (4-5 Varsity Girls/1 Varsity Boy). This course is similar to our league meet course at Bonelli, with Bonelli being just a hair longer. We added 2 athletes to our All Time Fastest List - Jaclyn Gonzalez #15 and Alex Keifer #13. Let's spin each race out:
GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP: We were without 4 of last week's Sierra League Victory's varsity girls (19:13/19:13/20:00/21:34 on Clovis 2008), but the team came through in a pinch to place 12th. Jaclyn Gonzalez took it out hard and continued her assault to finish as Ayala's #1 runner, with Chandler Colquitt and Taylor Khan in hot pursuit, all finishing under that magic 20:00 mark. Breanne Baughman ran her first varsity race as a freshman and finished strong. 4 time Clovis competitor Artinian was next with Cervantes and Russell our displacers.
BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP: We were without 1 of our varsity runners, Justin Wright (16:30 2008), but Alex Keifer came through with a 13 second pr to lead the boys team. Nasu & Reed, both at 16:43 were next with Corsello, Sampat & Snyder just seconds apart. Six out of the seven boys all pr'd on the course. Kenny Tanner made his first appearance in the red jersey.
For both boys and girls teams to succeed without a frontrunner in 2009 (frontrunner description - boy in the low 15's/girl in the low 18's), the packs will have to move up and be within seconds of each other. Those frontrunners can take a minute off our team time and countless places from our score. Packing up can have the same advantage to teams that have a slower #5 runner. We can compete, but we will need to tighten things up and move it forward.
GIRLS F/S: So glad we took a whole new contingent of runners up to experience the State Meet course. Hopefully it gave some of them the incentive to go after one of those red jerseys. It was a tremendous start for our talented f/s crew with Santos leading the start. Alvizo had one of her best races to date, with Ramirez our surprise standout finishing 2nd for Ayala in a phenomenal time (2:00 faster than Bonelli!!!). The girls finished 11th!
BOYS F/S: A 5th place finish was a tremendous placing for our team of talented individuals. The surprise of the day was Alfredo Contreras, spinning in as our #4 overall boys runner in 16:47 and finishing 11th place in the race - our highest placing for the day. Next we had Martinez, Nasu and Eagon separated by 6 seconds. A great pack is forming and it wouldn't surprise us to see one or more of these talented individuals spin onto the CIF Team at the end of the year.
BOYS VARSITY: The hottest race of the day at 12:35pm. Cole Firman was our 1st man, coming off an injury and only seconds off his 2008 time. Our next three boys, Zoetemelk, Sheffler and Contreras all finished under 17:58 for a 14th place finish.
SIERRA LEAGUE MEET #1
Congratulations Ayala XC - and we really lucked out on the weather at Bonelli this afternoon. Adding to our All Time Fastest Lists were Taylor Nasu #9, Katie Weitz #9, Chandler Colquitt #11 and Jaclyn Gonzalez #14.
GIRLS VARSITY: Ayala wins, St. Lucy's 2nd - 5 out of 7 PR! 7 in the top 12
BOYS VARSITY: Glendora Wins, Ayala 2nd - 4 out of 7 PR! 4 in the top 15
BOYS F/S: Ayala Wins - Kenny Tanner Individual Winner. Team Time School Record!! 9 in the top 15
GIRLS JV: Ayala Wins - Kassandra Cervantes Individual Winner. 12 in the top 14 (Ayala takes the first 9 places)
BOYS JV: Ayala Wins - Trevor Corsello Individual Winner. 8 in the top 12 (Ayala took the 1st 4 places)
OVERALL: 4 Wins, 3 Individual Winners, 1 School Record, 57 out of 72 PR's!!!
We have a lot to be proud of and much to be grateful for this evening, but there is a lot of work ahead. Everyone will be gunning for us next meet. There is now a target on our backs. This is our final week at high mileage. Next week, everything gets a little shorter and the pace picks up. Be ready for it.
We have a goal, to win league on all levels. We all get one more crack at Bonelli before heading off to our favorite, MSAC!!
Go Bulldogs!!
WOODBRIDGE
Great night last night at the Woodbridge Invitational!! Teams come from all over the state and country to compete with the best, and the best it was.
This was a three mile course, different from the one we ran last year and different again from the course we have run the past ten years. Construction forced Woodbridge to re-route everyone with fast times being the result. It was a tremendous chance for us to see our Section competition.
On the girls side, nationally ranked Saugus girls won with eight other California Teams defeating the other nationally ranked powerhouse, the Woodlands Team from Texas. The top 10 girls in the race were under 17:00!! First Place was Sarah Andrews from Texas in 16:01 - a 5:20 per mile average. This was the fastest year for Woodbridge yet.
On the boys side, an old powerhouse returned to win - Royal, with 4 runners in the top 30, upsetting favorites St. John Bosco and Arcadia. First Place was Heydon Wooff from Camarillo (DII) in 14:08 - a 4:43 average, with the next 43 boys being sub 15:00. A very competitive year!!
We asked a lot from our athletes and they did not disappoint. This was the first time our varsity groups ran as a team and there were some great triumphs. It's sometimes hard to grasp our success in a race this stacked with top teams, but we were very pleased.
Adding to our All Time Fastest List were Taylor Nasu #5, Tim Reed #7, Alex Keifer #9, Kunal Sampat #11 and Justin Wright #14. On the Girls side, Katie Weitz at #7, Chandler Colquitt #9, Taylor Khan #10, and Naomi Rich #11.
BOYS SWEEPSTAKES: We placed 16th amongst the top teams in California. It is always interesting to watch the teams that place highly at the end of the year, many of them will have disappeared from the results. Our season builds week after week so keep your eyes on Division II. We were the 5th DII team. When all the results are merged, Ayala ran the 34th fastest time of the day out of 193 teams. As you all know, cross country is not won by team times, but rather by placing. This was a very large format race. Get us into a CIF size 16 team race and the outcome can be very different. Taylor Nasu was our number 1 runner in 15:31 with our next four boys all under 16:00. The best news was our 5 Man Team Gap which was a mere :21 seconds. In years ast, Ayala has always had a frontrunner, someone who can run with the top 10 in a race. This year, we are somewhat interchangeable and that can really work to our advantage in a more normal sized race.
GIRLS SWEEPSTAKES: We placed 17th with an almost entirely new varsity squad. We were the 4th DII team, so look for us to move up in the rankings next week. League rival St. Lucy's barely edged us for 15th place, but again, we expect the race to be very competitive in a smaller format setting like League. Out of 172 teams competing at Woodbridge, we were the 22nd fastest team of the day. 3 Seniors and 4 Sophomores comprised our line-up with our number one being Katie Weitz in 18:11. Ayala had four girls run in the 18:00's today and I suspect with the crowds less fierce, we would have had 5. This team will come into their own at the end of the season, right now they're getting their feet wet and learning as they go. Once we tighten up that five man gap, we will be a force. It is also an interchangeable crew that will have to fight to stay in that top 7!
The best part of Ayala's Team's this year is the competitiveness of the lower divisions, fighting for recognition amidst the varsity groups. We expect many shake-ups throughout the next several weeks.
Bookending the evening were the fabulous Freshmen boys AND girls, placing 1st and 2nd respectively!! We will be an emerging force guarantying our success over the next four years. Lookout varsity runners, the youngsters are coming!
Most importantly, we are now right in the midst of our season with League quickly approaching. Our goal this year is to win League all fronts. This will not be an easy feat. If you take a day off here and there, it will hurt you in the long run. We are pushing you right now so that we can get the best from our team as a whole. Watch the 'crying wolf' syndrome, you may need that sympathy down the line and it may not be there. Too many days off on this competitive team could lead to your demise.
Most of all, we are extremely proud of the showing we made in Woodbridge last night. Both teams, girls and boys, look to make a statement in 2009. Nothing would make us happier than having both teams at the State Meet for Thanksgiving. Get excited, it's within all of your reach. Onward and forward!!
LAGUNA
Some tremendous placings and times, especially now when we are at the hardest point in our training. Fastest Girl and Boy of the Day were Katie Weitz and Tim Reed!
Adding to our All-Time Fastest List were Tim Reed #7, Kunal Sampat #9, Shane Snyder #10, Richard Young #12 and Alfredo Contreras #15. For the girls we had Chandler Colquitt #6, Taylor Khan #8, Jaclyn Gonzalez #9. and Heather Wright #14.
The race times are comparable to 2007's race times. 2008 times were faster due to a shortening in the course.
Senior & Freshmen Boys Won 1st Place Team DII
Junior Boys were 2nd Place and Sophomore Boys Placed 4th
Senior & Sophomore Girls Won 1st Place Team DII
Freshmen Girls Placed 2nd and Junior Girls 4th
Much of the top talent in DII were at the meet so we had a chance to see where we stack up.
Some of you managed to wake up two mornings in a row and race with us at the SEB Mud Run this morning. 5+ miles of racing with mud pits and rope walls to climb, all the while wearing camo pants and duct tape. Kudos to all of you and your sense of adventure. Thank you to all the parents who drove to Santa Clarita. I think we all agree it was a lot of fun.
TIME TRIAL #2
Great times today at our 2nd Time Trial. We will be making our final decisions for Mammoth after Thursday's practice.
Today we saw our overall team times improve over our last time trial.
Chandler Colquitt continues to lead the girls team and on the boys side, there was a shakeup with Alex Keifer taking the lead.
Top freshmen were Allison Santos & Breanne Baughman; Chad Firman and Robert Martinez.
The girls team time (comprised of the first five runners) improved by 2:34 with three of them setting pr's today.
The boys team time improved by :46 with none of them hitting their pr's.
There is great room for improvement all around, and that is the goal. To get faster with each week. Our final time trial will take place Thursday August 13th at 5pm - the Alumni Race, attendance is mandatory. It's a chance for all of you to show the Alumni what you're made of. Bring your game - this is where most of our pr's occur on this course.
GIRLS: 2/3 set pr's 7 out of 8 freshmen set new records for themselves.
BOYS: 1/2 set pr's 5 out of 8 freshmen set new records for themselves.
All in all, a pretty successful day, even if you did have a little adversity at the start (what's a little water on the course). There is still much work to be done.
If you did not PR today or improve over last time trial's time, you have to start asking yourself those nagging questions: Did I run while I was on vacation, have I taken too many days off, did I push myself as hard as I could have, was my head in the game? Any one of these questions can wreak havoc with your performance. You get faster from hard work and consistency. If you did it right, it should hurt!
TIME TRIAL #1
Today we had the first of our team time trials so that we might get a baseline on where everyone is at this point in the season. We are only two weeks into our training, so some of you might be a little sore, but all in all we saw some great results today. Remember we are working towards a goal of running our fastest at the end of the season, it's a progression from training to racing, from summer to fall. Cross Country in won in the summer, it's the work that you do now that will pay off at the end.
Your race winners were Tim Reed setting a :33 PR and Chandler Colquitt setting a :51 PR!
If you are new to cross country, and would like to know how you measure up, take a look at your time, and then look at some of the athletes times from last year (beside their name) and see how much they have improved. This is one of the few sports on campus where freshmen can run varsity.
Katie Shadler (19:46) & Breanne Baughman (19:47) - check out Taylor Khan's time from last year (20:32) and look at the improvement possible!!! Taylor ended her freshman year as the Sierra League Champion in the 2 Mile. The possibilities are endless.
Evan Sheerer (15:45) & Garret Daniels (16:13) - check out Alfredo Contreras who went from 18:38 to 14:35 this season, 8th overall, our fastest Sophomore and on the verge of breaking into the top 7! A little more training under your belts and watch out.
The same goes for all of you. This is a sport that rewards hard work. The old adage, the harder I work the luckier I get, definitely applies to cross country. You will have a great deal of opportunity over the next several weeks. We will teach you how to run far, fast, up and downhill. This sport rewards athletes who bring their game everyday. It's all decided by how hard you want to push yourself. It's very easy to be mediocre. If you want to be the best, the time is now, make that commitment to the sport, to your teammates, to yourself!
You will have two more opportunities to PR on this course, and if you hope to be invited to our Mammoth Camp August 15th, mark these dates on your calendar for they cannot be missed.
Tuesday July 28th for Time Trial #2 and the Alumni Race Thursday August 13th at 5pm!!
Remember, if you have a planned vacation or have to miss a practice for any reason, send us a note or an email in advance.
Staab • Pye • Colletti • Alcala