DyeStatCal Cross-Country State Athletes of the Week

October 3-7, 2005

Doug Speck

As we get into the meat of the season it is nice to have some newcomers to the top end of the sport come into consideration, with the heat over the next six to eight weeks sure to bring other stars to the top of the finishers and in line for this award.

Girls Athlete of the Week

Kevyn Murphy (Mira Costa, Manhattan Beach) - Southern Section

California keeps its amazing string of super female runners rolling down the pipe, with the 2005 crop a very, very impressive one, capped by some fine newcomers to the mix. One such first year star who has amazed with her early season successes is Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach’s Kevyn Murphy, a greater South Bay of Los Angeles area all-around athlete who puts it together nicely on the cross-country course. A lifeguard who has won national level honors in middle school in events that mix swimming, strength, and running, Murphy amazed with her early fall harrier performances. After a super early-season 18:57 run at the Laguna Hills Invitational, she became one athlete who just skipped most of the 18's, and all of the 17's on the way to a super 16:39 frosh course record run at the Woodbridge Invite that had her two seconds down on Kauren Tarver (Serrano, Phelan), last year’s top frosh in the country!! Wow!! We cannot think of any athlete who had made such an early season splash as a ninth grader without any real history at the age-group level in the sport. Kevyn followed up the Woodbridge race with a solid Division I win at Stanford, and recently won the local South Bay Cup meet cruising along far in front of the local field. With the Fall not close to over yet, it appears there are some super meets in future weeks for this amazing first year star. Her all-out effort at Woodbridge would appear to put her in good steed with anyone on the West Coast, with her ability on hills proven in a good Bay League run on the tough Peninsula HS course earlier this year. She has indicated she will also compete in Water Polo and Swimming her first year at Micohi. Hope she has some time for track in the spring!

Kevyn Murphy Video Interview from Stanford
Kevyn Murphy Video Interview from South Bay Cup

Boys Athlete of the Week

German Fernandez (Riverbank) - Sac Joaquin Section

Joe Hartman photo

An amazing young man from the Sac Joaquin section who is only a sophomore may be one of the great talents in state history. Last year as a ninth grader in track, with soccer and basketball under his belt, German Fernandez (yes it is Fernandez, not Hernandez as was carried in Artichoke results) (Riverbank) blazed a 4:22.95 for fourth in the Sac Joaquin Finals for 1600m. Talked out of soccer this this Fall we understand, he has run a couple of monster Invitational performances in Cross Country, first winning the Sierra Invitational by 43 seconds with a 16:01 run. This past weekend he raced 11:20 to take the Artichoke Half Moon Bay Invitational, with the time breaking the course record of 11:24 by Yosef Ghebray (Logan, Union City) from last year. The win included a 25 second win over Marcos Corona (Willow Glen, San Jose), who raced 16:16 the week before at Stanford! He will certainly find some good competition at the Division IV level statewide, with Chad Hall (Big Bear) and Erick Garcia (Parlier) able to challenge anyone in any division!

We will be watching the results closely on this very special young man from the fine Riverbank program as he continues to work into shape over the length of the season. Amazing young talent!!

Joe Hartman's story on German Fernandez (arrived a day after we made him Athlete of Week)

Here is a brief report on Riverbank sophomore German Fernandez who ran 11:20 (2.25 miles) at the Artichoke Invitational last Saturday (October 1st) - which was below Yosef Ghebray’s senior-year time and previous course record of 11:24.

As a freshman last spring, German surprised everyone at Hughes Stadium with a fourth place finish at the Sac-Joaquin Masters Meet on May 27th that left him just one place short of a state track berth. German was less than one second behind Michael Salvatierra of Jesuit HS with a 4:22.95 time. It was the closest any male freshman came to making the 2005 CIF state meet last spring.

While speaking to this young talent recently at a park near Riverbank High School, German (pronounced with a soft ‘G’) mentioned that his main sports used to be soccer and basketball. He thought that the work ethic with soccer and the sprinting and constant movement helped him adapt quickly to running. “You never stand still, you’re always moving and that kind of helped me with my running.”

German is lightly raced. His first race ever was as an 8th grader. He did run track last spring (once basketball ended) but he didn’t even run much at all over the summer. There doesn’t seem to be any question that German is blessed with natural ability, but Riverbank boys coach Bruce Edwards said to think he’s done what he’s done so far on pure talent would be to misrepresent what German has inside him. Coach Edwards says he works very hard at practice and takes his running very seriously.

It sounds like German’s days on the soccer pitch may be fewer and far between in the future. “Running is a sport I have to do. I love soccer, but now that I know I’m pretty good at running, it’s my sport now.”

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Previous Athletes of Week

9/5-9
9/12-16
9/19-23
9/26-30