2009 Earlybird Post-Meet Write-Up
The 15th Anniversary Edition North Monterey County Earlybird Cross Country Invitational was truly special. For a meet that started with 3 teams 15 years ago it has turned into quite the kick-off meet in the central coast of California. The meet’s main intention each year is to reward the teams that go out there and “beat the bushes” and are able to field full squads in each race. The 2nd goal is to create an atmosphere that runners will never forget and that will hook them into our most wonderful sport. With all the excitement in the air and looking at the results we believe those 2 goals were achieved. A by-product of those 2 goals has been the collection of some very amazing fields in the last 5-6 years, although, these fields seemed hampered by some very hot weather in recent years. The 2009 edition will be remembered as a picture perfect day that made for some high quality marks to go along with our other intended goals! On to the details!
Overall, Mountain View High School came, took names, and went home with a truck full of awards! This program has to be considered as the fastest rising elite power in California! Out of a total of 8 races, they took 1st in 3 races, 2nd in 2 races, and 3rd in 1 race!! With that, they took home the plaque for the best overall squad! Las Lomas, Bellarmine (with only boys!), and St. Ignatius battled for a distant 2nd best.
As we look at the meet by genders, the boys stole the show! So, we’ll break tradition and start there! We knew that the 2009 meet was going to be an interesting showcase of some top teams and runners from the CCS, the CS, the NCS, and the NS. Well, today each section had their time in the sun!
Once the team times were combined to include all of the races of the day, Bellarmine out of the CCS threw down a shocker! Their scoring 5 ran 15:52, 16:12, 16:24, 16:31, and 16:36! The combined time is 81:35 good for 6th fastest all-time at Toro Park! When those marks are considered it must be remembered that all of the teams ahead of them (Mountain View 80:13-2008, Los Gatos 80:45-2006, Carlmont 80:49-2006, North Monterey County 81:10-2003, and Willow Glen 81:23-2006) ran their times late in the season and most of those teams were running 2-3 minutes slower at the start of their respective year! If Bellarmine can have even a slight progression to sub 80:00 type times, watch out! So much for the coach that said the CCS schools like Bellarmine treat cross country like PE, whatever that means! The Bells are for real in 2009. And, even with that, it should be Mountain View that will ultimately steal the show!! They ran only 2 ticks slower than Bellarmine at 81:37 today without their #1 or their #2/#3 guys! OH MAN!! They ran 15:29, 16:15, 16:20, 16:36, and 16:57! Plug in their #1 guy at low 15’s, and their #2/#3 that ran 15:37 last year and this team is SCARRY good!!! Needless to say, when they line-up their #1 squad and really click, it will be something to watch! Not to be left outdone were the teams that traveled quite a bit to be here. Las Lomas (83:01) from the north and Madera South (84:28) and Clovis West (84:31) from the valley also showed very well!
On the individual front Domenique D’Acquisto (11-Enterprise) was coming back from a lacerated kidney during the track season and the way he ran, everyone needs to lacerate their kidney!! He had won the 9th grade race 2 years ago and was facing last year’s 10th grade race winner Parker Schuh (Mountain View). The two locked horns for the tie-breaker and ran stride for stride through a very controlled 5:19 slight up-hill opening mile. They turned the jets on during the slight downhill and the ensuing steep climb to crest the biggest hills on the course and hit 2 miles at 10:11! That’s a 4:52 mile on the toughest part of the course!!! By then, Domenique had opened a slight lead and extended it with a last mostly flat mile covered in 5:07 to finish at 15:18! The time is good for 3rd best EVER! He only trails course record holder Matthew Petrillo at 15:12 (Los Gatos-2006) and Mohamed Abdalla at 15:13 (Willow Glen-2007)!! To give you an idea, he is now faster than the likes of Diego Estrada (Alisal 15:20), Jeremy Mineau (Menlo Atherton 15:21), Dylan Fitzpatrick (15:22 Carmel), Alex Dunn (15:24 SLV), Ben Morales (15:24 San Benito), and Tyre Johnson (15:27). Parker Schuh hung on tough and ran 15:29! Ironically, his time now has him tied for 12th best ever at the park with his very own current teammate Garrett Rowe, and remember, the 3rd head of the monster, Ian Myjer, ran 15:37 here last year! How is that for a 1-2-3 team punch? The 15:29 is better than the likes of Ben Sitler (15:31 St. Francis) and Nathan Huerta (15:34 North Monterey County) that were some of the state’s best in their time! The seniors didn’t want the juniors to steal the whole show and had a great day also. Apologies to Westom Strum (Pioneer) that was left accidentally left out of the meet preview and made us look very bad running 15:33!!!! His time moves him to #14 all-time between Ben and Nathan! Breakout CCS runner Luca Signore (Lynbrook) also wanted to make the list and did so at 15:37, good for #20 all-time! Not bad!! Four guys in the top 25 all-time and two teams in the top 10 all-time in early September! WOW!!! We should also mention that Michael McCabe (10-Willow Glen) got his 2nd Earlybird win in 16:09 to top all the youngsters!
With the ladies we had Aptos throw down some very good early season marks without their top runner! Running 19:41, 20:02, 20:04, 20:12, and 20:42 for a combined time of 90:41! The CCS DIII power will now set their eyes on the state!! Watch out! Throw in their #1 girl into the mix and another state title may be within striking distance!! Mountain View girls wanted to join their boys in the party and showed well at 19:14, 19:45, 20:43, 20:44, and 20:59 for a 91:25! CCS schools ruled the day here as Gilroy (93:20), St. Ignatius (93:39), and Los Gatos (94:09) rounded out the top 5!
On the individual front it was the story of multi-sport star Rachel Hinds (11-St. Ignatius) going for her 3rd Earlybird win in a row and getting it in 18:46! We hope she returns next year to try to accomplish the almost impossible, 4 Earlybird wins! The valley was represented well in the senior race with Alisha Brown (Madera South) and Carina Mendoza (Madera) once teammates and now rivals running 19:09 and 19:13. Allison Sturges (10-Mountain View) got a 2nd Earlybird win in her race at 19:14! And finally, a couple of nice surprises came from Morgan Lira in 19:24 (10-Valley Christian) and from Nadine Huerta 19:30 (12-North Monterey County) from the host school.
We hope you enjoyed the meet and continue to make Earlybird your kick-off tradition each season! Have an amazing 2009 season!!!
Coach Gustavo Ibarra
Earlybird Meet Director
Head Coach North Monterey County Boys and Girls
Meet website http://nmcxc.tripod.com/id22.html
Full results http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/XC/2009/ebird.htm
Meet pictures http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/XC/2009/PICS/EBIRD/ebird.htm