Super
Foothill (Santa Ana)
Frosh groups
September 13th, 2006
Southern Section
photos by Bill Foley and Doug Speck
Long Beach Invitational - Boys Small Schools 3 Mile Frosh Race
Men Three Mile Run 9th Gr. Boys Small School
1 Campana, Alex Foothill HS 16:37.00 1
Alex
Interview after Long Beach win - need broadband
2 Palazzo, Michael Foothill HS 16:59.00 2
3 Morgan, Austin Foothill HS 17:08.00 3
4 Estrada, Michael Foothill HS 17:09.00 4
5 Maizland, Barron Foothill HS 17:51.00 5
Long Beach Invitational - Girls Small Schools 3 Mile Frosh Race
Women Three Mile Run 9th Gr Girls Small School
1 Gross, Carly Foothill HS 19:09.82
Carly
interview after Long Beach win (need broadband)
6 Ison, Rachel Foothill HS 20:12.80
10 Sandoval, Xochitl Foothill HS 20:42.57
14 Languis, Alison Foothill HS 21:06.71
16 Stauffer, Jessica Foothill HS 21:16.99
There have been some super young groups pop up this fall of
frosh/soph runners! In the Central Section an awesome group of Buchanan
soph Boys is helping power the fine varsity there, with a young Carondelet
Girls' squad opening eyes in the Bay area early on!! Down south it
was the Boys and Girls frosh squads from Foothill in Santa Ana who dominated
their level races at
the Long Beach Invitational this past (9/9) weekend.
Parent Jerry Palazzo was good enough to provide us with some
background on the outstanding groups, with his son a prominent part of the
Boys first year group!!
My son (Michael Palazzo) was the 2nd freshman and, although
disappointed missing the limelight of the interview, he was very happy
with his first
high school
race, and breaking 17:00 already. I told him that at least he got beat by "friendly
fire". These guys have routinely taken turns beating each other as members
of the Equalizers and as middle school runners in Tustin.
I mentioned the Mt. SAC Middle School elite sweepstakes race last year. For
that meet, Hewes Middle School had 5 very strong 8th grader boys at the start
of the season and appeared to be a shoe-in. Then one quit running. Another
broke his foot. Alex, Saturday's winner, was a volleyball player at the time.
He then broke his finger and ended up in an arm cast up to his elbow (perfect
running position though). Also being a basketball player, he and his mom
were very disappointed. I told him them that he could still run...and he
did, in the Mt. SAC sweepstakes race with an arm cast. The boy with the broken
foot had his 7th grade brother fill in for him. Another up-and-coming 7th
grader was asked to help out, and the 6 boys (four 8th graders and two 7th
graders) took on this team from Alta Sierra, with seven 8th graders who the
year before had broken the team time record on the Mt. SAC 2-mile course,
and Hewes Middle School won by a single point. My son, Michael Palazzo, led
them on that day followed by Austin Morgan, Barron Maizland, Alex Campana,
Kevin Case and Nathaniel Cushing-Murray.
That is the team you saw on Saturday, with a mended finger, a repaired foot,
and the addition of a runner from another Tustin Middle School (Columbus
Tustin) who beat them all at the Tustin Middle School City Championship (5
schools), Michael Estrada.
Another former Equalizer to look for out there is a freshman at El Modena,
named Kyle Aukshunas (the brother of Curtis 2006). He ran a 17:30 at the
Cal Poly Bronco Inv 5K last weekend and is currently #4 on El Modena's Varsity
squad.
And then there's the girls. The Foothill freshmen girls you saw Saturday
narrowly missed 3rd place, by a single point, at the Mt. SAC Middle School
sweepstakes race last year. Their 2nd best girl is still working her way
back from injury now. Carley Gross, interviewed on Saturday at Long Beach,
was the top one and finished in 2nd place in that elite race. She also was
10th at the Footlocker 7th/8th grade race last December. The other Equalizer
girls out there include the winners of 2 separate freshmen divisions at the
Laguna Hills Inv. last saturday, and a top 4 finisher at the Fastback Shootout
at Mt. SAC.
I'll be glad to provide any more information that supports these runners.
Thanks for your interest and publicity.
Sincerely,
Jerry Palazzo
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