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Moreau Mariner Invitational Meet Preview A DyeStatCal 'on-site' Featured Meet Moreau “Mariner” Cross Country Invitational - Preview - Saturday, October 20th, 2007 Some great action will take place this coming weekend at the Moreau “Mariner” Cross Country Invitational at Garin Park in Hayward. A Friday evening “Brooks” Dinner and Cross Country clinic will start the weekend rolling with guest speaker, 1964 Olympic 10,000 Champion Billy Mills, one of the more articulate and inspirational spokespersons for our sport. Billy will guarantee to crank up your running juices before the action starts at the park on Saturday. Some fine individual stars and some of the top teams in Northern California will grace the challenging 5k racing course during the day of racing.
The Boys’ competition will feature two of the State’s top programs, with Jesuit (Sac Joaquin Section) and Petaluma (NCS) super groups back for the 2007 Fall and a series of fine races as they edge towards a November peak to their seasons. Petaluma was fifth in State Division II last Fall, and returns everyone from that squad, with big wins at the Panther Preview, De la Salle/Carondlet Invitational, and fine Course Record run at the Spring Lake course in Santa Rosa in winning the Super Septo contest. They were tenth in the West’s most competitive Invitational race this Fall, the Sweepstakes run at the Stanford in late September. Sterling Lockert leads Petaluma, with the 9:23.55 3200 star in track 20th in State last year and 21st in the Sweeps event at Stanford at 15:56. Devin Lockert was 16:05 at Stanford, with Brandon Felipe 16:19 there, and Cole Yungert at 16:37 in that meet giving the squad a fearsome top four. Hugh Dowdy and Bjorn Gripenburg join the group trying to close the 1-5 gap for the squad. Jesuit, the State Division II Champs last fall and up to Division I in enrollment this year, is led by Kyle Lackner (27th at Stanford 16:02), top thirty-five in state last year, with the group eleventh, one behind Petaluma at Stanford. Vet Coach Walt Lange is watching the squad fall out into top seven order, with super youngsters, frosh TJ Brown-Pinizzotto 16:14 at Stanford, soph Adam Kelly-Strong 16:23 there, with the duo of Gio Piccone (16:41) and Colin Chapman (16:49) leading the attempt to close that 1-5 gap. Lange has others in the wings, with Emilio Garcia 16:21 at Clovis and 16:25 at State last year, and Robert Leon 16:51 at Stanford. A dual between Petaluma and Jesuit off Stanford times would have Petaluma 26-29 winners, with the NCS team not at Clovis, where Garcia’s drop 40 seconds to 16:21 for Jesuit suddenly made the Marauders quite a bit tougher. It will be fun with the purple-clad Petaluma crew and traditionally red and yellow Jesuit uniforms not tough to follow during what will be very competitive racing action on the team side.
The Deer Valley Boys’ squad has had some fine runs this Fall, with a recent win at the Castro Valley Invitational and fine efforts at the Nevada Twilight Meet and Ed Sias Invitational. Manny Rin was eleventh at Nevada and was sixteenth last year in the NCS Division I Cross Country Meet. St. Mary’s (Berkeley) will lead with defending Section Division IV Cross Country Champion Matt Duffy, with the 9:23 3200 star in track winner of the Small Schools Ed Sias run and the Iolani Invitational, and a fine 15:34 while placing second at the Clovis D4 race at the end of a ton of mid-season travel. Joe Withers (Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa) was a fine 6th at Stanford Div IV at 16:19, and was eighth D4 last year at the NCS Meet, with Brian Fix (Moreau, Hayward) sixth at the Farmer Invitational, seventh at the Artichoke Meet, and fifth last year in the D4 NCS Fall Championships. Wyatt Landrum (Liberty) won his class run at the Viking Opener, and was fourth at Castro Valley, with a third place finish at the NCS Division I level last year. Robert Pulford (Capolindo, Moraga) was seventh at the Ed Sias Meet and 20th last year D3 in the NCS. College Park’s Joshua Chaidez and Sean Anderson were both top fifteen last November in the NCS Championships at the Division I level, with talented Martin Mwangi (Newark Memorial) sub 17 at Stanford and 1:56-4:25 last spring in track over 800 and 1600 meters. Jarred Burrows was 16:52 at Clovis for Miramonte, with Palmer Thiele of Sierra (Manteca) ninth this fall at the Lagoon Valley Classic. Cristobel Pinedo of Yuba City was fourth at the Yuba Sutter Invitational in his area.
The Girls’ portion of the meet is headlined by a super group from St. Francis (Sacramento). Seventh in last year’s State Meet Division II, the Troubadours have five from that race on the course today. As one of the State’s most traveled squads this Fall, St. Francis has ranged far and wide to meet top competition, with recent eleventh place efforts in the super Stanford Sweeps race and a close runner-up effort to a fine Woodcreek squad last week at the Roughrider Invitational at Woodward Park. Nicole Mendoza (18:55 at Stanford) and Meghan Enabnit (18:44 winner at Roughrider) are a terrific front duo for St. Francis, with Sarah Bolce (19:28 Stanford), Katie Bolce (19:50 Stanford), and Maggie Lloyd making a jump from 21:05 to 20:00 from Stanford to Roughrider on courses that seem to run similar timewise. That is a solid five!! Camplindo was fourth in the Division III race at Stanford, and appears to have entered a Varsity without a couple of the top five from that contest. Super frosh, Grace Orders, has been a pleasant surprise, with an 18:48 sixth place run at Stanford, and 2006 Division III Section champ Laurie Finnegan 15th at Stanford in 19:10, with Emily Brennan and Sara Tomas sub 20:35 on the Cardinal golf course in late September.
Alycia Cridebring (College Park) is the defending NCS Division I Champ in the sport, with a fine sixth at the De la Salle/Carondelet meet earlier this Fall. Sarah Rico (Merrill West, Tracy) comes over from the Sac Joaquin Section, with the 5:07 1600 meter star in track a winner at the Farmer Invitational and Nevada Union Meet, with a fine 19:03 for sixth Division I at Stanford. Alesandra Roger (Marin Academy) took the Division V contest at Stanford at 19:23. Petaluma’s Isabel Andrade was third in the Super Septo Meet and 19:40 at Stanford, with Beth Raymond (Washington, Fremont) eighth last year NCS D2 and some good Invite runs this season. Kaitlyn Spees was a fine seventh at the Farmer Invitational as a frosh for Bishop O’Dowd, with the host Moreau’s Cassandra Crosby twelfth last fall in the NCS D4 Finals. Alex Choy and Taylor Lawson have been running strong this Fall for St. Mary’s, with the duo top sixteen last year in the Section D4 Finals race. A full schedule of Junior-Senior and Frosh-Soph races will fill out the morning’s schedule. Should be fun! See you there--------------
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