Lowell Invitational

Sorry for the long delay in updates on the team.  We've had a very busy couple of weeks with 5 meets, a pasta feed, and homecoming in a span of 15 days.  Time to catch up a bit.

The Lowell Invitational is always a high point on our early season racing schedule.  The team loves getting to go to beautiful Golden Gate Park and run in cool overcast weather, after baking all summer in 100+ degree temperatures.  They usually respond with some of their fastest racing of the season.  This was no different.

This year, we were able to showcase our varsity girls squad in front of a meet that included over 70 schools from all over the state of California.  The Lowell meet is a little unsusual in that teams are not split into small school and large school divisions.  We get assigned to races pretty much by a random draw.  As it happened this year, we were put into a pretty tough race.  The field included:

• Henry M. Gunn High School, a large school from Palo Alto that placed 2nd in last year's Central Coast Section Division 2 finals.  Gunn is coached by former 2 time Olympic Team member, Patti Sue Plummer
• Mountain View High, who placed 3rd in last year's Central Coast Section Division 2 race
• Los Alamitos High, a school of 3500 who last year qualified for the Southern Section Cross Country Championship and is likely a top 50 team in the state, when accounting for all divisions.
• Las Lomas High, a perennial power from the North Coast Section.  They were 3rd in last year's division 3 race.
• Sierra from Manteca, who is usually in the top 3-4 of the Sac Joaquin Section division 3 field.
• Christian Brothers of Sacramento, who we have battled many times in the Sac Joaquin Section Division 4 field
• Hughson, the defending Sac Joaquin Section Division 4 champions.

Varsity Girls Squad after very impressive 3rd place finish among large and small schools from all over the state.

As the gun sounded, Alize Hartzke of Oakmont HS bolted to the front with Megan Oblin of Sierra and Amanda Munoz of Los Alamitos.  Our girls took a conservative approach, this being their 3rd race in 8 days.  As the teams approached the mile mark, Hartzke and Oblin continued to lead, running the first mile in about 5:35.  Our girls came through the mile mark in a controlled time of 6:10, sitting back in the low -mid 30s place wise.  Our plant was to move up during the 2nd and 3rd mile of the race.  We accomplished the plan

During the later portion of the race, Hughson athletes were continually moving forward, led by Esmeralda Campos, Elizette Ysias, and Emily Fife. By the end of the race, Fife, Ysias, and Campos had moved to 17th, 18th, and 22nd respectively in the tough field of 171 athletes.  They were followed across the line by Kinsey Langley and Jessie Lawrence in 39th and 40th to round out our scoring 5.  The only question was, where did we place.  The field was so evenly matched, that no clear winner could be picked until the scores had been counted.

As it turns out, we ended up 3rd..... a very respectable placing.  The final scores were

1. Los Alamitos - 89
2. Mountain View - 106
3. Hughson - 110
4. Las Lomas - 112
5. Gunn - 160...

Section rivals Sierra and Christian Brothers finished 9th and 12th in the very competitive field.

The second best part of the day was what has become our traditional post race beach trip.  The kids enjoyed a picnic and games on the beach before boarding the bus to head back home.

Photo Album I will be adding to this over time as I round up pictures from the meet

Hughson Results and Splits