--2004 Bay Area Distance Festival Preview--
Courtesy of Tony Kauke, City College of San Francisco

Heat Sheets!

Preview by Tony Kauke, City College of San Francisco
         It’s hard for me to believe that this year will be the sixth Bay Area Distance Festival at Piedmont High School. It began with a simple idea: a meet for distance runners only.
         The Distance Festival, or D-Fest, is a meet where a 6:20 miler is just as likely as a 4:20 miler to win their race. The fact that every kid competing in the meet has a chance to race against others of their own ability for a t-shirt makes this meet unique. Most meets only give awards to the fastest kids. Here the top two runners in each heat win a custom D-Fest t-shirt. D-Fest t-shirts are worn with pride year after year by kids of all ability levels.
         Over 600 runners from 36 schools will race at this year’s D-Fest. Looking back at the 2003 Cross Country season, of the 10 NCS individual champions, nine are entered in the Distance Festival. Of the ten NCS team champions from last fall, nine will be represented at the D-Fest. In addition to the NCS talent, the Oakland Section is well represented by its Boys (Oakland) and girls (Skyline) Cross Country team champions. Also represented will be the San Francisco Section (Washington) and the Northern Section (Mt. Shasta). Arcata, Mt. Shasta and Ferndale High School each get special recognition, as each is traveling over 250 miles to compete in the D-Fest.
         The following is a preview of all the events. Good luck to all the athletes competing in the sixth annual Bay Area Distance Festival at Piedmont High School.

Boys 1600m
Last year’s winner Alex Enscoe (Berkeley) is back. In addition to wining the D-Fest 1600m, Enscoe ran to victory at last years NCS Meet of Champions (4:19.22). Three athletes who will give Enscoe all he can handle will be Jake Schmitt (Redwood), JK Withers (Cardinal Newman) and Yosef Ghebray (Logan). Schmidt is a 2-Time NCS Cross Country Champion and a couple of weeks ago in all-comers action at UC-Berkeley ran a 4:02 1500m race (worth sub 4:20 for 1600m). Withers was the runner up to Enscoe at last years MOC and ran a smoking 3:06 1200m DMR leg last week at the Twilight Relays in San Rafael. Ghebray won the State Cross Country meet last fall and in an awesome display of early season fitness ran a 4:13 1600m split last Saturday at the Mt. Pleasant Relays. Also worth noting are Scott Bauhs (San Ramon Valley) and Aaron Megazzi (Ferndale). Both were NCS Champions in Cross Country and MOC finalists in the 1600m last track season. FYI: The last three years, the winner of the 1600m at the Distance Festival has gone on to win the NCS Meet of Champions 1600m. Sean Drake of University High School (SF) set the meet record (4:16.6) in 2002.

Girls 1600m
Last’s year winner Melissa Grelli (Presentation) is not entered in this year’s D-Fest so the top returning athlete is Piedmont’s Jehan Sparks. Jehan was a finalist at NCS Meet of Champions in the 1600m last Spring and has a personal best time of 5:04.56. Jehan’s twin sister Naomi is also entered in the 1600m. Last week at the Twilight Relays Naomi led off Piedmont’s Distance Medley with a strong 3:46 1200m leg. Also racing in this year’s 1600m will be three section champions from last Fall’s cross-country season. Monte Vista’s Emily McGregor (NCS D-I) and Campolindo‘s Vera Ross (NCS D-III) were NCS D-I and D-III champions while Diana Choi (Skyline) won the Oakland Section title. Amador Valley (runner’s up to state champions College Park at NCS this fall) has more girls (6) than any other school in the fast heat of the 1600m. Set in 2002, the meet record of 4:56.2 is held by Shannon Rowbury (Sacred Heart).

Boys 800m
Seven of the top eight finishers from last year were seniors. Doubling back after winning the 1600m Alex Enscoe (Berkeley) was 5th in 2003. With all due respect to Enscoe and the rest of the field, the favorite here is clear. Albany’s Sean Carey had an amazing run last year, winning the NCS Meet of Champions is a very fast time of 1:53.74. The next week Carey made the state finals where he finished in 8th place. Someone to watch may be Cameron Crivello (Concord). A strong 400m runner last year (50.48), Crivello is making the transition to the 800m. Also entered here is Yosef Ghebray (Logan). Bishop O’Dowd ‘s Tim Wallach set the meet record (1:56.2) back in 2002.

Girls 800m
The 800m boasts three finalists from NCS Meet of Champions, one section champion (OAL), and one state meet qualifier. Drusia Dickson (Acalanes) ran very well last year qualifying for the state meet with a 2nd place finish at MOC (2:17.02). Also racing in the NCS finals were Piedmont’s Naomi Sparks (2:19.74) and Campolindo’s April Dyer (2:20.03). Also racing here is Gabrielle Harmon from Skyline. Harmon was the Oakland Section champion at 800m last Spring. Set in 2002, the meet record (2:13.5) is held by Yfa Kretzschmar (University, SF).

Boys 3200m
With 15 entries under the 10-minute barrier, this should be a great opportunity for these athletes to get good early season 3200m marks. Cross Country State Champion and Track & Field State Medallist Yosef Ghebray leads entries with his 9:01.04 personal best. Arcata’s John Figueiredo (9:17.89) will be in the mix. Figueiredo qualified for the state meet last track season and won the NCS D-IV Cross Country meet this Fall. The top runner returning from last year’s D-Fest is Joel Buscheck (Miramonte). Buscheck placed second last year in 9:39.2. Ferndale’s Aaron Megazzi, Cardinal Newman’s JK Withers, and Berkeley’s Alex Enscoe all could be factors here as well. Also worth noting is Ygnacio Valley’s Ryan Lewis. Only a freshman last year, Lewis won the BVAL 3200m title in 9:55.92. Meet Record: Carl Dambkowski – Granada (2001) 9:20.6

Girls 3200m
College Park’s Lindsay Allen tops entries here. In 2003, Allen was NCS champion in both the 1600m (4:50.49) and the 3200m (10:41.86). In addition, Allen is a two-time NCS champion in cross-country. Other top entries include: Emily McGregor (Monte Vista), Grace Hunter (University – SF), Yasmine White (Arcata), and Nicole Pennes (College Park). McGgregor and Hunter won NCS Cross-Country title this past Fall in Divisions 1 and 5 respectively. White is one of the top runners in Humboldt County and coming from almost 300 miles away likely means she is ready to race. Pennes was a top ten finisher in the 3200m at NCS Meet of Champions last Spring and this past Fall was a key member of College Park’s State Champion Team. Also entered is Piedmont’s Jehan Sparks. Clara Horowitz (Head Royce) holds the meet record (10:42.8), which she set at the 2002 D-Fest.

Coed 4x400m Relay
This event is harder to predict than the open races. Historically College Park, Alhambra and Piedmont have always fared well. Host Piedmont High School holds the meet record (3:46.9) from 2001.