Friday, October 30, 2015
TVL Finals - A great day for the Huskies
TVL Finals was by far the best single meet run by a Hughson cross country team in the past 17 years. The JV boys and Varsity Girls went in as favorites to win league titles, which they did convincingly. However, it was the performance of the JV girls and Varsity boys, who went in as heavy underdogs, that made the meet so special.
JV Girls Race
At the first 2 TVL meets, Ripon had won this division fairly handily and we had been second both times. For TVL finals, we moved a number of girls up to Varsity, so it seemed that the chances of us winning a title would be slim to none. This was not the case. Diana Brown ran her best race as a Husky to take home the individual title. The rest of the girls in the race for us ran strongly and courageously to tie Escalon 54-54 for the meet win with Ripon placing 3rd with 57 points. With a 54-54 tie, the rarely scored 6th runner became the tie breaker. Fortunately for the Huskies, Monica Yup ran her best race of the season and broke the tie in our favor. If Ripon were to have placed 2nd, we would have to share the championship with them, but because Escalon squeaked past them by 3 points, we were able to claim the undisputed title!
Top 3 Teams
Hughson 54
Escalon 54
Ripon 57
JV Boys Race
Just as he has done all year, Austin Hoach won the JV boys division at a TVL meet. Just as our JV boys have done all year, they finished first, despite the fact that we had moved a fast improving Christian Lee up to the varsity ranks. Our boys scored, a lowest of the season 25 points to easily outdistance second place Ripon. Derek Avila (3rd), Noah Martin (4th), Matthew Walton (6th) and Julian Cedano (11th) rounded out the Husky Scorers.
Top 3 Teams
Hughson 25
Escalon 49
Riverbank 67
Varsity Girls Race
According to Scott Durham of the Stanislaus County Distance website, we were favorites to win the meet by 5-7 points. As it turned out, the meet was nowhere near that close as our girls easily outdistanced the multi-year defending champion Bruins of Riverbank. Our strategy in this meet was to be less cautious than usual, run a little closer to the front early on and then chase down the leaders as hard as possible. The strategy worked wonderfully, as all of our top 6 runners were able to place in front of Riverbank's #3 runner, Lydia Hodges (who only 2 of our girls had previously beaten) and our top 2 runners were able to overcome Bruin runner Stephanie Bernal, who none of us had ever beaten.
This team is clearly the best girls team that Hughson has fielded in the past 17 years, as we were able to place 6 girls into our all time top 12 for the Legion Park course. This is a list that has been kept for the past 16 years and is topped by all state runner Becky Hobby. This year's team put girls at #3 (Emily Fife), #4 (Abby Mitchell), #5 (Kinsey Langely), #8 (Esmeralda Campos), #11 (Heavyn Herroz) and #12 (Taylor Gray)
Top 3 Teams
Hughson 38
Riverbank 56
Ripon 77
Varsity Boys Race
Going into the meet, our boys had already suffered defeats of 30+ and 20+ points at the hands of an all senior Riverbank Bruin squad. Despite the fact that we have been improving rapidly, the Stanislaus County Distance website still had us as underdogs by more than 10 points. Our boys didn't buy into any of that ranking stuff and we designed a strategy to attack the Bruins mid race and make them hurt. We hoped to be able to demoralize the opponent mid race, causing them to fall apart mentally. Our boys executed their strategy perfectly and put the Bruins into serious distress, but the boys from Riverbank didn't give up and fought back to hold take a very narrow 34-36 victory and lengthen their streak of TVL titles top 4 years.
Up front, the race was actually dominated by the Huskies. The hard mid race surge where Daniel Yanez, Carson Boice, and Jaymie Jackson broke away from the field ended up netting us a 1-2 finish as Yanez and Boice were the first runners across the line. A strong late race rally by Riverbank's Ruben Paredez and Eric Wise pushed Jackson back to 5th and kept the Bruins close enough so that their 3,4,5 runners could seal the deal for them. The race was completely dominated by runners from Hughson and Riverbank, as the two teams placed 10 runners in the top 15 overall and even the combined score of the 2 teams would still have been good enough to hold off 3rd place Escalon. Josue Esquivel and Garrett Hartman both joined the Husky top 3 in the top 15 overall, bringing home TVL medals for their collection.
Our boys will face Riverbank at least 2 more times this season at Subs and Sections (and maybe again at State). We have gotten closer each time we've raced and will be looking to surpass the Bruins in our next meetings.
Top 3 Teams
Riverbank 34
Hughson 36
Escalon 82
Updated All Time HHS Top 10
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Clovis Invitational
This past Saturday, our two varsity teams traveled to Woodward Park in Fresno for the 38th annual Asics Clovis Invitational. The meet is one of the biggest and most prestigious in California and is considered a "State Meet Preview", as it is run on the same course as the state championship meet. As a team, we had our best day ever, for the Clovis meet
Varsity Girls, 7:15 AM
The girls had to get to the park by 6:00 AM to start warming up for their early morning race. I've never been to a meet where kids need flashlights to run their warm ups. The park was a little bit magical with packs of light floating around in the dark as the different teams went about their pre race preparation.
In our race were Division 4 State #1 Mayfield (Pasadena) and #7 Piedmont (Oakland). We were also joined by Perennial State Powers, McFarland of Disney movie fame, Paraclete of Orange County, and St. Mary's of Berkeley. Also in the race were 5 teams that were ranked in the state's top 10 for Division 5.
A unique feature of such a large meet is that they can provide computerized, mid meet score updates so that coaches can know how their teams are faring at the 1 mile and 2 mile marks. Each athlete runs with a timing chip and when the athletes pass the mile and 2 mile points, the race computer automatically records their times and calculates a team score.
Our girls continued to run how they have run all year long....pacing themselves smartly and moving up aggressively late in the race. This is the strategy we used to beat Riverbank at our last TVL meet and this was the strategy we followed on Saturday.
At the one mile mark, the announcer read out the top 10 teams, and we were not among them. By the 2 mile mark, we had moved up to 8th. By the finish, we had climbed all the way to 5th out of 29 teams competing. For a frame of comparison, TVL Rivals Escalon, Ripon, and Hilmar were 22nd, 25th, and 28th in the very competitive field. Mayfield High showed why they are the State #1 team by winning the race by 70 points over a very good Piedmont team. McFarland and St. Marys, along with our girls, rounded out the top 5.
Our girls were led by Freshman Kinsey Langely, as they have been all season. However, it was the fact that the rest of our girls are starting to catch up to her that allowed us to place so high. Kinsey improved her best time for 5k by 20 seconds, a nice improvement, but Emily Fife and Esmeralda Campos improved by 55 seconds and Abby Mitchell improved by 50 seconds. Taylor Gray improved her best time by 19 seconds and Heavyn Herroz improved her best time by 10 seconds. Priscilla Fernandez also competed for us, but has been battling a foot injury and was a little bit off from her best effort.
Varsity Boys, 7:45 AM
Our boys have had a difficult time this year. TVL #2 had been a significant improvement for them, but they were looking for more improvement.....and we got it. Daniel Yanez ran a very tough race to finish 19th overall in a time of 16:35 for the 3.1 mile course (an average of about 5:18 per mile). This time ranks as #3 on our all time list of on the course. The time also marks a 45 second improvement from his time at the invitational last year and 17 seconds faster than his time from last year's state championship meet. He had a good race, to say the least. Carson Boice and Josue Esquivel also had major improvements. Josue has knocked a minute off of his best time in each of the last 2 races and is now able to start running with our top group of Yanez, Boice, and Jaymie Jackson. Jaymie Jackson also managed a small improvement of 4 seconds from his previous personal best for 5k.
Also setting small improvements were Garrett Hartman (5 seconds faster than his previous best time) and Dalton Santiesteban (3 seconds faster than his previous best time). Mark Borges ran another good race, but fell one second short of bettering his time for the 5k distance.
The boys ended up finishing 12th out of 29 teams competing. TVL Rivals Escalon, Ripon, and Hilmar were 25th, 26th, and 29th respectively. The race was won by current state D5 #1 team (and perhaps the best small school team in California History) Flintridge Prep of La Canada. Sage Creek of San Diego (ranked 4th in state division 4 was second). McFarland was 3rd, University High of San Francicso (Ranked 4th in State Division 5) was 4th and Oaks Christian (perennially ranked high in the state, but not in the rankings yet this year) placed 5th.
Team Splits
Varsity Girls, 7:15 AM
The girls had to get to the park by 6:00 AM to start warming up for their early morning race. I've never been to a meet where kids need flashlights to run their warm ups. The park was a little bit magical with packs of light floating around in the dark as the different teams went about their pre race preparation.
In our race were Division 4 State #1 Mayfield (Pasadena) and #7 Piedmont (Oakland). We were also joined by Perennial State Powers, McFarland of Disney movie fame, Paraclete of Orange County, and St. Mary's of Berkeley. Also in the race were 5 teams that were ranked in the state's top 10 for Division 5.
A unique feature of such a large meet is that they can provide computerized, mid meet score updates so that coaches can know how their teams are faring at the 1 mile and 2 mile marks. Each athlete runs with a timing chip and when the athletes pass the mile and 2 mile points, the race computer automatically records their times and calculates a team score.
Our girls continued to run how they have run all year long....pacing themselves smartly and moving up aggressively late in the race. This is the strategy we used to beat Riverbank at our last TVL meet and this was the strategy we followed on Saturday.
At the one mile mark, the announcer read out the top 10 teams, and we were not among them. By the 2 mile mark, we had moved up to 8th. By the finish, we had climbed all the way to 5th out of 29 teams competing. For a frame of comparison, TVL Rivals Escalon, Ripon, and Hilmar were 22nd, 25th, and 28th in the very competitive field. Mayfield High showed why they are the State #1 team by winning the race by 70 points over a very good Piedmont team. McFarland and St. Marys, along with our girls, rounded out the top 5.
Our girls were led by Freshman Kinsey Langely, as they have been all season. However, it was the fact that the rest of our girls are starting to catch up to her that allowed us to place so high. Kinsey improved her best time for 5k by 20 seconds, a nice improvement, but Emily Fife and Esmeralda Campos improved by 55 seconds and Abby Mitchell improved by 50 seconds. Taylor Gray improved her best time by 19 seconds and Heavyn Herroz improved her best time by 10 seconds. Priscilla Fernandez also competed for us, but has been battling a foot injury and was a little bit off from her best effort.
Varsity Boys, 7:45 AM
Our boys have had a difficult time this year. TVL #2 had been a significant improvement for them, but they were looking for more improvement.....and we got it. Daniel Yanez ran a very tough race to finish 19th overall in a time of 16:35 for the 3.1 mile course (an average of about 5:18 per mile). This time ranks as #3 on our all time list of on the course. The time also marks a 45 second improvement from his time at the invitational last year and 17 seconds faster than his time from last year's state championship meet. He had a good race, to say the least. Carson Boice and Josue Esquivel also had major improvements. Josue has knocked a minute off of his best time in each of the last 2 races and is now able to start running with our top group of Yanez, Boice, and Jaymie Jackson. Jaymie Jackson also managed a small improvement of 4 seconds from his previous personal best for 5k.
Also setting small improvements were Garrett Hartman (5 seconds faster than his previous best time) and Dalton Santiesteban (3 seconds faster than his previous best time). Mark Borges ran another good race, but fell one second short of bettering his time for the 5k distance.
The boys ended up finishing 12th out of 29 teams competing. TVL Rivals Escalon, Ripon, and Hilmar were 25th, 26th, and 29th respectively. The race was won by current state D5 #1 team (and perhaps the best small school team in California History) Flintridge Prep of La Canada. Sage Creek of San Diego (ranked 4th in state division 4 was second). McFarland was 3rd, University High of San Francicso (Ranked 4th in State Division 5) was 4th and Oaks Christian (perennially ranked high in the state, but not in the rankings yet this year) placed 5th.
Team Splits
Monday, October 12, 2015
Woodward Invitational, October 7
The two varsity squads sat this meet out in preparation for the upcoming Clovis Invitational. This gave a chance for some of our younger kids to shine. A few excellent performances were notched out on the barren expanses east of Woodward Reservoir. Derek Avila continues to improve his racing skill and ability, this time placing 4th in the sophomores race, despite being only a freshman. Daniela Rodriguez ran in her first ever cross country race and ended up finishing as our top girl in the Sophomore girls race.
Varsity Girls Race
Valeria Mendoza has been steadily improving this season and has flirted with our top 7 for a couple of weeks now. Val had the opportunity to lead our team, which was normally our JV squad, in the varsity race. Despite Valeria being the only one who has had any experience in our varsity top 7, our girls managed to place 5th out of 7 teams competing. This shows the depth of the program that we have worked to accomplish.
The girls ran a very smart race, letting much of the field burn itself out early and then gradually moving up throughout the race. Following Val in the varsity race were, Jazmine, Teagan, Diana, and Silvana. Great job girls!
Varsity Boys Race
Once again, we placed what is normally our JV squad into the varsity race, this time placing 6th out of 9 teams competing. Once again, the fact that we've developed a deep, hard working team allowed boys that have not yet been able to make our top 7 compete well with the true top 7 of all the other teams out there.
Timmy Jackson ran a strong race and continues to build confidence in the longer (than his 800m speciality) races. He was our top finisher on the day and managed to earn a varsity medal for the first time ever. Christian Lee, competing in his first varsity race ever, also managed to earn a medal over the difficult, hilly, dusty, gravelly 3.1 mile course.
Race Splits
Varsity Girls Race
Valeria Mendoza has been steadily improving this season and has flirted with our top 7 for a couple of weeks now. Val had the opportunity to lead our team, which was normally our JV squad, in the varsity race. Despite Valeria being the only one who has had any experience in our varsity top 7, our girls managed to place 5th out of 7 teams competing. This shows the depth of the program that we have worked to accomplish.
The girls ran a very smart race, letting much of the field burn itself out early and then gradually moving up throughout the race. Following Val in the varsity race were, Jazmine, Teagan, Diana, and Silvana. Great job girls!
Varsity Boys Race
Once again, we placed what is normally our JV squad into the varsity race, this time placing 6th out of 9 teams competing. Once again, the fact that we've developed a deep, hard working team allowed boys that have not yet been able to make our top 7 compete well with the true top 7 of all the other teams out there.
Timmy Jackson ran a strong race and continues to build confidence in the longer (than his 800m speciality) races. He was our top finisher on the day and managed to earn a varsity medal for the first time ever. Christian Lee, competing in his first varsity race ever, also managed to earn a medal over the difficult, hilly, dusty, gravelly 3.1 mile course.
Race Splits
Mileage Updated
Over 12,000 miles run by the team so far this year!!!!
Check out the Spreadsheet
Actually, this probably under-represents the mileage we've done. Quite a few of you have been forgetting to sign out with your mileage after practice lately....get on it dudes and dudettes!
Check out the Spreadsheet
Actually, this probably under-represents the mileage we've done. Quite a few of you have been forgetting to sign out with your mileage after practice lately....get on it dudes and dudettes!
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