Mustangs represented well at NCS, with the boys team finishing a fairly respectable 12th place out of 18 teams.  Top boy was John Witter.  Ryan Birkett and Patrick Hauke improved upon their previous times-- with Ryan nearly setting John Witter's  frosh record on the course and Patrick improving by nearly two minutes!!

As for the girls, they were led by Mary Welter and Kelsey Diederich on this day.  Megan Caldwell Bridget Pachetti had very good races as well. 

Photos have been posted and Full results are attached for all divisions. San Marin runs in Div. 4.  Redwood and Novato run in Div. 3.  Branson Runs in Div. 5.

Boys Team Time: 1:33.43 (Avg. :18:44)Tam was 1^st—team time: 1:22.39 (Avg. 16:31)SR was 3^rd—team time: 1:23:45 (Avg: 16:45)Justin Siena was 4^th—team time: 1:27.12 (avg: 17:26) 

John Witter—42^nd place—17:49

Ryan Birkett—60^th place—18:24

Patrick Hauke—71^st place—18:36

Dylan Gradl—85^th place—19:03

Elliott Hanson—106^th place—19:51

Tim Friedman—121^st place—21:12

Ben Friedman—122^nd place—21:12 

Girls Team Time: 1:57.42 (Avg:23:32)Tam was 4^th place—team time: 1:45.21 (Avg. 21:04) 

Mary Welter—56^th place—22:24

Kelsey Diederich—58^th place—22:24

Rebecca Bennett—78^th place—23:31

Bridget Pacchetti—83^rd place—23:48

Megan Caldwell—103^rd place—25:35

Sara Haugen--108^th place—26:33

The Mustang Girls continued their hot and winning ways with a 25-30 victory over the Wildcats!!  Once again, smart racing strategies paid off to insure the win.  Kudos to Mary Welter, Rebecca Bennett and Kelsey Diederich for finishing ahead of their second runner; to Bridget Pacchetti for once again edging out one of their runners; to Sara Haugen and Megan Caldwell for continuing to improve.  Also, nice running from Daniela Cuba, who out ran two of the opposition.  Special thanks to Kelly and Savannah for cheering everyone on.

The boys were edged out by the Wildcat boys by a score of 25-30.  John Witter is rounding into shape--running a fine 18:59 for third overall.  Ryan Birkett also had a nice race to finish fourth.  In addition, a strong finish by Patrick Hauke nearly caught an MC runner.  Ramtin Azimi and Dillon Gradl topped off the top ten in the race.  Dillon managed to finish strong, despite going shoeless near the end.

Results are attached and photos have been posted.

The Rock Returns!!!  Congrats to our Mustang girls who managed to edge out the Novato Hornets today in a close and exciting race.  Kudos to the girls for running their "races" and following the necessary strategy to succeed.  Mary Welter and Rebecca Bennett ran for position and came out right where they needed to be. Special kudos to Kelsey Diederich and Bridget Pachetti for coming on strong in the second halves of their races to overcome their opponents--thereby giving the Mustangs much needed points. Also, some nice PRs: Bridget Pacchetti (70 secs); Sara Haugen (2 minutes, 36 secs!!!) and Megan Caldwell (2 minutes, 10 seconds!!!).

The boys ran a very nice race, despite losing out to one of the top teams in the county.  County Champ, Erik Olson, was fun to watch as he pulled away from even his teammates at the end.  If he hadn't been prepping for Mt. Sac on Friday, there is little doubt that our course record would have been shattered.

It was nice to see John Witter return to the trails.  He ran a nice race to lead our boys today.  Also very strong performances and PRs from Ryan Birkett (30secs), Patrick Hauke (1 minute); Thomas Boeck (30 secs); Tim Friedman (2 minutes!!); Will Mixter (20 secs);  Erik Huang (1 minute); Ryan Barry (44 secs);  Justin Simonetti (18 secs); and Josh Newberry (1 minute, 40 secs).

CLOVIS INVITATIONAL RESULTS

OCTOBER 11, 2008

WOODWARD PARK (FRESNO)

5K—ON THE STATE CHAMPS COURSE

Phenomenal Performances by Our Mustangs at this Elite Invitational!!!

Thirteen runners enjoyed an all-expenses paid trip to beautiful Fresno.  We were all very relaxed and it showed in some top performances!!

Thanks to parents: Larry Boeck, Debbie LaVere and Catherine Welter for the assistance!!!  Also a belated Happy Birthday celebration for Ryan Birkett!!

Photos posted on website: www.eteamz.com/smxc

Results are attached and they show total time, plus mile splits.

40. Mary Welter           21:20 (1^st mile: 6:50; 2^nd mile:13:54 (7:04); 3^rd mile + .1:7:26)

57. Kelsey Diederich    22:04 (1^st mile: 6:46; 2^nd mile:14:17 (7:31); 3^rd mile + .1:7:47)

Varsity Girls—Large School Division—total of 181 runners

150. Rebecca Bennett 22:25 (1^st mile: 6:38; 2^nd mile:14:10 (7:32); 3^rd mile + .1: 8:15)

Beat her time from 2006 by over a minute!!!

Frosh/Soph Boys—Large School Division—total of 226 boys runningTeam Time: 1:37.23—Avg.: 19:28

153. Ryan Birkett         18:59 (1^st mile: 5:50; 2^nd mile:12:12 (6:22); 3^rd mile + .1:6:47)

163. Elliott Hanson       19:11 (1^st mile: 5:53; 2^nd mile:12:22 (6:29); 3^rd mile + .1:6:42)

186. Dillon Gradl          19:40 (1^st mile: 5:58; 2^nd mile:12:36 (6:38); 3^rd mile + .1:7:04)

191. Thomas Boeck     19:45 (1^st mile: 6:13; 2^nd mile:12:58 (6:45); 3^rd mile + .1:6:47)

192. Patrick Hauke      19:48 (1^st mile: 6:04; 2^nd mile:12:58 (6:54); 3^rd mile + .1:6:50)

197. Jacob Jones          19:57 (1^st mile: 6:04; 2^nd mile:12:58 (6:54); 3^rd mile + .1:6:59)

209. Karl Pfeifer           20:39 (1^st mile: 6:46; 2^nd mile:13:45 (6:59); 3^rd mile + .1:6:54)

San Marin ran against Tam and Redwood on Tam's home course.  The course is on a fire road above Mill Valley.  It runs about 3.3 miles and has hills at both ends of a bow-tie course.

Strong placement by Mary Welter and Kelsey Diederich in the girls.  Special kudos to Kelly, Daniela and Savannah for finishing a difficult course.

Our boys were evenly split into a Varsity A and Varsity B group.  Notable efforts from Ramtin Azimi and Elliott Hanson in both races.

Results attached and photos posted.

It was a festive occasion, with some great decorations provided by Mrs. Diederich.  We hosted our first meet of the season against Drake and San Rafael.  Our girls team was finally fully staffed and, as a result, we came away with a victory against San Rafael.  Good to see Megan, Sara, Savannah and Rebecca back in action.  Our boys had to face two tough teams--but the boys all ran nice races.  Dillon Gradl was our top runner today.

It will be interesting to see how much our runners improve when we next battle it out on our home course on October 22nd against Novato.  That will be the city championship--with the Big Red Rocks at stake.  If history repeats itself, we should see a lot of new PRs by our Mustangs on our home course that day.

Results are posted and photos can be found at the"photos" link to the left.

Our Mustangers ran their hearts out at the Farmers Invite today. Plenty of top times to brag about over the NCS course at Hayward High School. We had several runners make the top times list for this course.  Special congrats on PRs over this course by Rebecca Bennett, Alex Reed and Dillon Gradl. Plus a top time from Ryan Birkett over the three mile course.  The weather conditions were perfect--cool and a bit overcast.

Results are attached and photos posted.

It was a glorious day to run at the Viking Invite at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa.  Cool with fog led to some very fast times by the Mustangs. 

Special kudos to Elliott Hanson, winning a ribbon with a 19th place time in the Open section.  In addition, our frosh/soph boys continue to improve and pack well.  We even managed to come out ahead of the Novato Frosh/Soph boys.  Our boys still have tons of work to do to get competitive with the rest of our league--but we are making great progress towards that goal.  Also should mention some gutsy efforts at the finish line by Erik Huang, Will Mixter and Josh Newberry--as they attempted to out sprint their competition to the line.  Also good to see Ben Friedman bounce back with a very strong race. 

Additional kudos go out to Kelsey Diederich, who had a strong race in the frosh/soph girls section.  In addition, Megan Caldwell and Daniela Cuba should be commended for continuiing to improve.

Results are attached.

Stinson Beach Relays is a county-wide event that includes all Marin county high school cross country teams, including Marin Academy.  Team of five runners will run five separate 1.6 mile legs.  We expect to have four boys teams and one girls team.   This is a fun, competitive event.  Top runners get medals and/or t-shirts.

Attached are the results for this year!!!

I've also loaded photos--click on "Photos" to your left to view.

Next up is Saturday's Viking Invite in Santa Rosa.

Another very hot one to deal with.  Luckily, we had mostly early starts and coped well with the heat--hydrating a lot and keeping in the shade.  Kudos for Rebecca, Adam, Karl and Mason who had to deal with the longer distance during the hotter part of the day.  Very proud of all our runners and their efforts today.  Many had their first races today--this was an experience that most will never forget.  All of us, including the coaches, hopefully learned lots about racing against others and about dealing with the heat, the course and race day issues. 

Results are posted.  Photos have already been posted--enjoy!!

Coming up this week--Stinson Beach Relays on Thursday and Viking Invite on Saturday.  Drivers still needed for the beach trip--we will leave from San Marin at 1 pm.  Boys start at 3pm and girls right after the boys race. 

Week Two brought on lower mileage due to oppressive heat.  We did manage to get a good workout in on Monday over the Little Mountain Trail (5 miles) and a nice tempo in the park on Tuesday (about 4 miles).   The rest of the week was more about working on form and flexibilty.  We finished up the week with an exciting version of the wacky, crazy relays!!!  Wet and wild indeed.  Who said that cross country wasn't fun?

 Check out the exciting photos of our relay events by going to the "photos" section listed to the left.

Next up for Mustangs XC is our 5th Annual Mustang 5k and Youth Mile on Labor Day--go to www.eteamz.com/mustang5k for more info.

We started our practices with plenty of conditioning--

Start with one mile easy jog around the track to warm up muscles; then some dynamic exercises to work on flexibility and strength--including skips, high knees, A skips, backwards running, butt kickers, side to sides and karaoke, strides and more...

In addition, we worked on strengthening our shins--with toe and heel walks.

Distances:

Monday--warmup-1; 11 minute drill-1.5; park with extra loop-3.0= 5.5 miles--for those that showed up for PM run--Little Mtn. Loop was 5.0 miles and Shorter group ran 4.25.

Tuesday--1 mi warmup; O'Hair (OP)-1.75 + 4 x Looops (4x.33)--1.32=4.00 miles--PM runners ran Little Mtn--5.0 or Park--2.8

Wednesday--1 mi warmup; 11 min drill-1.50; Park--4.0= 6.0 miles--the group that did shorter version of OP run--total of 4.5 miles.

Here is the final schedule  (as of August 21, 2008)--let coach know of any conflicts to your own schedule.  

2008 SAN MARIN CROSS COUNTRY  SCHEDULE

9/1/08: Labor Day (Monday): Mustang 5k and Youth Mile Fund-Raiser

9/6/08  (Saturday):  Lagoon Valley Invite-$150.00 

9:10am Coaches Race  (2.0 Miles) 

9:40am Freshmen Boys (2.0 Miles) 

10:05am Frosh/Soph Girls (2.0 Miles) 

10:30am Frosh/Soph Boys (2.0 Miles) 

10:55am Varsity Girls (3.0 miles) 

11:25am Varsity Boys (3.0 miles) 

9/11/08 (Thursday): Stinson Beach Relays—3 pm—Girls Race 

9/13/08 (Saturday): Viking Invitational- $135.00

7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Course open for walking

8:35  Junior High Boys and Girls (unlimited)

9:00  Frosh/Soph Boys (5 max.)

9:20  Frosh/Soph Girls (5 max.)

9:45  Alumni

10:15  Junior Boys (5 max.)

10:35  Junior/Senior Girls (5 max.)

11:00  Open Girls (unlimited)

11:25  Senior Boys (5 max.)

11:45  Open Boys (unlimited) 

9/20/08 (Saturday): Farmer Invite on NCS course--$150.00                               

9:00   AM                                   Middle School                      1.2 Miles                               

9:15   AM                                   Coaches Race                       2.0 Miles                               

 9:30   AM                                   *Frosh/Soph Girls               2.0 Miles                               

10:00  AM                                  *Frosh/Soph Boys                2.0 Miles                               

10:30  AM                                  JV Girls                                2.0 Miles                               

11:00  AM                                  JV Boys                                 2.0 Miles                               

11:30  AM                                  Varsity Girls                        3:0 Miles                               

12:15  PM                                  Varsity Boys                         3.0 Miles  

9/24/08 (Wed.): Branson, TL, San Marin v. Justin Siena (girls first) 

10/01/08 (Wednesday): SR and Drake v. SM @ O'Hair (girls 1st) 

10/07/08 (Tuesday): Redwood and San Marin v. Tam (girls first) 

10/11/08 (Saturday):  Clovis Invitational—Top Ten (on State Course)   

10/22/08 (Wed.): Novato v. San Marin (girls first) 

10/29/08 (Wed.): San Marin v. MC (girls first) 

11/12/08 (Wed.): Mcals at IVC 

11/22/08 (Saturday): NCS at Hayward—top seven run. 

11/29/08 (Saturday): State Championships at Woodward Park, Fresno. 

The Mustangs had a good day today.  Top finishers for the boys and girls were John Witter (24th) and Stephanie Thoma (35th). 

All seven of our boys either PR'd or moved onto the all-time San Marin list for NCS performances.  This list has been kept for the last seven years.  And Rebecca Bennett has also moved onto the all-time list.

Full results are attached for all races.

Photos are also included in photo section.

W&W led our boys and girls squads at IVC.  John was 19th overall and Mary ran a strong 12th.  Special kudos to Karl and Rebecca for their outstanding races.

Results are attached and photos have been posted.

Mcal League Championships are coming up next. 

Next week we will go over to IVC to check out the revised course.

See attached map for the new course.

Champs are on Wednesday, November 7th--starting at 2pm.

Everyone will leave from San Marin around 12:30.  Meet will be over about 5:30 pm.

Mustang Boys ran the 3 mile TL course and soundly defeated the Terra Linda boys team to win their first meet of the season.  John Witter hung up among the top five during the entire race.  He held back from TL's top dog, Mark Shimmin, until at least  a mile into the race.   Shimmin had just recently finished 19th at Mt. Sac.  This bodes well for John's chances at All-League in two weeks at Mcals.  Eric Reed, Farzin Fard and Alex Reed came through with very strong efforts as well.

Mustang girls were led by top ten finishes from both Stephanie Thoma and Mary Welter against the league champs, Redwood, and a tough duo of TL Girls.

Photos are posted.  Results to come when received from TL.

What a great experience to run amongst the throngs of 20,000 plus runners.  It was the 60th anniversary of the Mt. Sac Invitational.  Our Mustangs managed to cope with the harsh weather conditions--with temps in mid-90s by the time our races took place.  Although the times were probably about a minute slower due to the heat,  the Mustangs capably represented their school.  Mary medaled with a strong 12th place.  Dillon had probably his best race of the season thus far, with a very strong 7:11 pace over the 3 mile course.  And, Stephanie really came through with a great run--averaging about 7:36 miles over the grueling course.

Congrats to all who came, saw, ran and finished this amazing race.  You will remember it forever!!!

 Results and photos for past few weeks are now posted.

Mary Welter and John Witter medaled today at the Castro Valley Invite. Run over a 2.1 mile course, both managed to move up in the field as the race progressed.  John was around 30th place after a half mile;  Mary was among the top 15 or so at that point.  Congrats to both of our W's!!!

Also, some nice racing from our other participants--Stephanie, Rebecca, Ben, Mason, Dillon and Kyle.

It was a nice day to visit Half Moon Bay.  The weather was exceptional as was the course.  All managed to conquer Cougar Hill and ran good races today.  Special kudos to John on his 6th place, to Rebecca and Ben on their strong showings, and to Karl on his negative splits over the course.

 Results and photos now posted.

In a battle of "beatens",  San Marin boys hung tough with the MC firepower and just came up a point short from their first win of the season.  Nice efforts from Stephanie, Mary and Rebecca--who finished in top ten!  And, Savannah hung in there to finish her first O.P. race!!

A hardy group of runners ventured to Daly City for the 2007 version of the Ram Invitational.  The weather was a bit warmer than in previous years.  Our Mustang runners focused on running together for the first mile.  This seemed to work well for most of the runners who later achieved negative splits.  After the first mile,  many of our runners sped up and passed a lot of the field.

Special kudos to Mary Welter for medaling and to Daniela Cuba and Savannah Guinard who finished a rather hilly course in fine time.  The rest of our team also had a good day--with John, Stephanie, Rebecca, Alex, Ashiq, Spencer, Ben and Karl also putting in fine efforts.

Results are attached and some nice photos have been posted in photos link to left.

Next up--league meet with MC at Home.

Heat was a factor.  The hills were a factor. Improper biomechanics was a factor. Improper pacing was a factor. We are a young team and we got handed our lunches by Novato and Drake today.  In the boys race,  Novato set a blistering pace right from the start that only John Witter was able to respond to.  By the 1.25 mile mark and climb up Mole Hill,  our #s 2-7 had fallen way off of where we had hoped to be.  Erik Olsen of Novato won by about 30 seconds over the next runner.  John Witter made top five to earn a Red Rock.  A very noticeable strong performance from Ryan Barry.  Good work.

As for the girls--they apparently learned from watching the boys race.  The pace right from the start was pedestrian at best--with Courtney Madson and Mary Welter and Stephanie Thoma sharing the lead for the first 1.25 miles.  At Mole Hill,  Madson made her move and set up a large gap on those in the rear.  Eventually the hills and heat took its toll on our girls as they began to fall off a bit from their early front-running leads.  However,  both Stephanie and Mary managed to hang in there and earn Red Rocks.  Rebecca had a nice start and really looked good until Mole Hill.  Daniela was truly inspirational--running and finishing in one of her better performances on the season.  Way to Go!!!

Great day in Golden Gate Park.  Lots of fun despite the downpoor early on.  John Witter (2nd in JV boys) and Mary Welter (5th in Frosh/Soph girls) led the Mustangs.  Also strong performances from Eric Reed, Dillon Gradl and Ben Friedman.

Lots of photos at photos link.  Results attached.

Mustang Boys gave a nice effort in an attempt to hand with San Rafael, Justin Siena and Branson.  John Witter clearly stood out among our runners with a PR of over 30 seconds on the O'Hair Park course.  Also giving strong efforts were frosh runners Dillon Gradl and Ben Friedman and Sophomore Mason Mize.  The girls were missing two runners due to injuries and were unable to field a full team.  Despite that,  Mary Welter and Rebecca Bennett both had good runs, with Mary finishing a strong fourth overall.

Results are attached and photos can be found by clicking on the "photos" link.

Next race is this Saturday at Golden Gate Park.  We will leave from San Marin at 7 am.

The 2007 Mustang 5k and Youth Mile is now history.  Congrats to all of you who came out and supported high school cross country.  Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped out so much on race day.  And thanks to our sponsors for providing such great gift certificates and generous supplies and products.

Results are attached.

Thanks again to our Featured Sponsors:

Lots of fun at Stinson.  Finished up by about 6:20 pm--plenty of time to get back and work on the homework and go to Back to School night.  Some outstanding performances by Mustangs.  Kudos to John Witter and Stephanie Thoma for top Mustang times.  Special kudos to Savannah on completing the first of many races.

More work to be done--next race on Saturday at Nike Invite.

 Results are attached and go to photos for pics of the day!!!