GIRLS
Overview: Like many previous years, the 2014 cross country season saw the vaunted Campolindo machine tear through the season, capturing the programs 12th NCS title on the girls side and landing a 2nd place finish at the state meet, its 11th podium finish. While losing the core of last year's team, the Cougars still return enough talented runners to make a lot of noise and capture its 3rd straight section title. However, Bishop O'Dowd, last year's runner up, returns a strong contingent of girls, many of whom had mind blowing personal bests at the end of the track season, putting them in a great position to capture the team title. The two other teams who advanced to the state meet from last year; Las Lomas and Tamalpais both return the majority of their squads to put them in contention for state meet births as well. As usual, freshmen/transfers will make a big impact on the outcome of the season but for now these are how things stand.
1. Bishop O'dowd
The Dragons are poised to fly even higher this season and look to improve on their runner up finish at last year's meet as well as improve on their 4th place finish at the state meet. Grace Taylor spearheads the attack for O'Dowd with her times of 5:03 and 10:54 in the1600/3200 being the top marks posted by any individual in this division during track. Junior Jourdan Amen continued to be solid during track as well running 11:22 in the 3200. What really gives O'Dowd the advantage in the team race is the remarkable late season improvement by Linnea Gullikson and Madison Burke who both unleashed big personal bests in the 3200 at the Bay Shore meet, with both of them running identical times of 11:50 in that event. Right behind them is Emma Wawrzynek who clocked solid times of 5:36 and 12:04 in the 1600/3200 giving the dragons some fearsome depth. Rounding out the returners are veterans Kaelyn Shirley (5:36 1600) and Natalia Brusco (5:42/12:11 1600/3200). With the staggering depth coming back, Bishop O'Dowd is poised to end Campolindo's steak and capture their first NCS title since 2004. However it will take a commitment to bringing up the younger members of the team to the rigors of competing at the varsity level and working on running together as a cohesive unit.
2. Campolindo:
While the Cougars only return 3 runners from last year's NCS title team, an epic track season has once again planed "Chuck's Army" in great position for the 2015 season. Leading the way is senior Hana Sun, who impressed this spring running 5:08 in the 1600 and 10:59 in the 3200 and should provide a much needed low stick in the team score. A trio of underclassmen also impressed during the spring as Jenna Miles 5:23/11:29, Bella Chao 5:37/12:15 and Hannah Ruane 5:17/11:13 give the Cougars some great depth. Veteran Emma Ishida continued her steady improvement curve as well, running 5:33 and 12:13 in the 1600/3200. The wild card yet again for Campo is senior Sarah Cella, who came alive during the closing stages of this past track season to run 2:14 in the 800, finishing 4th in the event at MOC. Considering she has been a varsity scorer for the team the past 2 seasons, the potential is there. While Bishop O'Dowd has fashioned a small lead in this division going into the season, Campolindo has the necessary tools to reel them in if they can focus on honing down the margin between their 4th-5th scoring positions.
3. Las Lomas
The Knights look to continue their recent string of time success and make it to the state meet for the 6th year in a row. Leading the charge yet again is defending section/state champion Chloe Hansel, who will give the knights a low stick in every race, a valuable asset in team competition. Veteran Sydney Polich impressed during the track season, breaking the 12:00 barrier in the 3200 and running 5:19 in the 1600 while Junior to be Elise Stankus also had a solid spring in running 5:29/12:20 for 1600/3200. In addition, twin sisters Emma (5:36/12:29) and Katie (5:38/11:59) Saenger both excelled during the track season in the 1600/3200 pointing to some great potential this upcoming fall. The biggest challenge for Las Lomas will be closing down the gap between Hansel and the rest of the scoring pack. If an effort can be made to work on bringing the 2-5 scoring back closer to the front of races it will pay huge dividends for the team score. However, at this point in time, Las Lomas has done enough to position themselves in the hunt for a berth to state and a medal position (top 3) at the NCS finals.
4. Tamalpais
Tam came on strong at the end of last cross country season to grab a 3rd place finish at the NCS meet and advance to the state meet for the first time since they have been in D3. The red tailed hawks continued that momentum this spring as frontrunner Lizzy Labeeuw-Anderson made it all the way to the NCS MOC finals in the 1600, running a personal best of 5:12 to put her in contention for a top 10 finish at the section meet this upcoming season. Junior Kate Miekley will look to improve upon her 13th place finish at last year's NCS meet, with her 5:21 clocking in the 1600 this spring pointing to good things in the future. Behind those two are the tandem of Meghan Tanel and Olivia Phillips who put up respectable 1600 times of 5:35 and 5:30 to help bolster the ever important pack margin. The big wild card appears to be Megan Bartschat, who impressed this spring in running 11:39 in the 3200, a performance which indicates that big things are in store for her after some more consistent training this summer. As it stands now Tam is just a few steps behind Las Lomas and with a great summer of training could move up considerably.
On the bubble: Miramonte, Acalanes, Albany
BOYS
Overview: Much like in 2013, the 2014 cross country season was another epic battle between Bishop O'Dowd and Campolindofor the NCS DIII team title. In one of the most interesting races in recent memory, 'Campo' managed to pull off the win over O'Dowd despite having no runner place in the top 7. It was a true team effort as the Cougars had an exceptional pack margin of 29 seconds between their 1st and 5th finisher. This was enough to counteract O'Dowd's fearsome front 3 who all placed ahead of Campo's #1. With Bishop O'Dowd graduating the majority of its team, it looks like there will be a new challenger who will try to unseat Campolindo as they attempt for a 3-peat. The last team to win 3 in a row in this division was (you guessed it) Campolindo back in 2003-2005. The next challengers to the Cougar's supremacy are old rivals: Piner, who is moving back up into DIII after 3 seasons in DIV, and Petaluma, who is on the rise again after being dormant for the past 4 seasons. Both of these programs have been major rivals to Campolindo over the years and will no doubt put pressure on 'Chuck's Army' yet again this upcoming season. DFAL rivals Las Lomas and Miramonte figure to factor into the remaining state meet slots, but will have to have great summers in order to challenge the depth of the top 3 teams.
1. Campolindo: After being the underdogs for the majority of the past 2 seasons, the machine known to many as 'Chuck's Army' are firmly installed as the favorites to secure their 3rd straight NCS team title as they return 5 out of their top 7 from last season, plus add in a great deal of promising young upstarts. Leading the way is precocious junior to be JJ Yabu who seems ready to continue the legacy of past Campolindo greats (Thomas Joyce/Aidan Goltra) and battle it out for the individual title after an astonishing track season in which he dipped under 4:30 in the 1600 (4:29) and roared to a 9:29 in the 3200, both exceptional times for a sophomore. Right on his heels is veteran Nathaniel Sauerberg whose 4:31/9:41 performances in the 1600/3200 will provide an even greater front end presence for the cougars. As usual, Campo has a crazy amount of depth with Ray Diaz (4:38/10:05), Gabriel Valverde-Turner (10:05), Richard Gong (4:40/10:13), and Kyle Flett (4:46/10:23), all excelling this track season in the 1600/3200 on the frosh/soph level and will look to move up and make a massive impact on varsity this fall. Varsity veteran Miguel Baliwag was right there as well with his 4:44/10:15 performances in the 1600/3200 giving Campo an impressive 7 returners at or below 10:15 for the 3200. The biggest x factor for the Cougars is senior Jonathan Semenza who dazzled during last XC season, running 16:19 at the state meet as the #2 finisher for Campo. He appeared to struggle at times during the track season, 'only' managing to run 4:38 and 10:02 in the 1600/3200. If he can continue to improve and regain his form of a year ago, the Cougars become even more deadly. As it stands now, Chuck's Army is the favorite to take home the team title, much of the chagrin of the countless detractors and critics who anonymously bash the program for its success.
2. Piner: After a few down years it appears that Piner is back on the upswing in a big way this coming cross country season. It was not too long ago that the Prospectors were one of the top teams in the NCS, pushing Campolindo to the brink at the 2011 NCS meet and then knocking off the Cougars for the final podium spot a week later at the state meet. Look for a similar battle to ensue this year as Piner has their sights set on reeling in Campolindo. While some teams struggle when moving up divisions it would appear that Piner will have no trouble in this regard and have clearly shown a wicked improvement curve this track season; don't let their 7th place finish in Division IV last year fool you: the Prospectors are a force to be reckoned with this fall. Senior Aidan Carpenter raced to a 4:31 this track season to firmly plant him as a legit frontrunner, while fellow senior Jacob Hayes also dipped under the 4:40 barrier, running 4:36 in the 1600. Jonny Vargas ran exceptionally well for a freshmen this track season clocking 4:41/9:54 in the 1600/3200 and should be a big factor for the Prospectors as they aim to close the gap on their opponents. Backing up this talented trio are seniors Brian Loung (4:40 1600) and Eduardo Calderon (4:42/10:11 1600/3200) who give Piner a fairly tight pack margin to work with. So long as this group can coalesce and work on training and racing together as a team their impressive improvement curve should continue. At this point in time Piner looks to be in great position to make a return to the state meet and the team with the tools necessary to reel in defending champion Campolindo.
3. Petaluma: Before Piner, the Trojans of Petaluma were the natural rivals to Campolindo in this division, narrowly losing to them in one of the greatest showdowns in sectional history at the 2008 NCS meet. The next two years Petaluma halted the Cougar's title hopes, taking home the team title in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. The following season a coaching change took place, bringing with it a downturn which has seen the Trojans fail to qualify to the state meet as a team the past 4 seasons. Look for that to change this year as former Petaluma standout Cole Yungert has turned things around in a big way. Ultra talented freshmen twins Will (4:33/1:57 1600/800) and Jack Dunbar (4:34 1600) thrived this spring and will no doubt continue their momentum this fall, giving Petaluma two impressive frontrunners. Sophomore PJ Lynch also notched a big improvement around the oval rocketing to a 4:42 1600 while junior veteran Edden Yashar also made progress running 4:47 in the 1600. Rounding out the upstart crew is another legit underclassman in sophomore Rory Rodgers (4:50 1600) giving Petaluma the depth needed to make a move up this list. Right now Petaluma is only a few steps behind Piner so a big summer and a big breakout by any of the aforementioned athletes could close the gap considerably.
4. Las Lomas: The Knights impressed last fall, managing to grab 3rd place at the NCS meet, only 7 points back of runner up Bishop O'Dowd, and 18 points back of 1st place Campolindo. Look for a similar situation this year as Las Lomas returns their entire top 5. Leading the way as usual are Tom Robey and Danny Jervis who ran exceptionally well during the track season, both clocking identical performances of 4:25 in the 1600. After that the rest of the returners seemed to stagnate as Kyle Ivy(4:53 1600) and Tristian Chung (10:43 3200) put up respectable times but were not factors in those events by the end of the season. However, track times do not always correlate to cross country success, so look for both of them to rebound this fall. Ultra talented freshmen Reese Liberman put up solid times in the 1600 and 3200 (4:52/10:35) to give the Knights the foundation needed to catch up to the top teams in this division. In order for Las Lomas to close in on the 3 teams ranked ahead of them it will take a commitment to pulling the 3-4-5 scorers closer to their lead duo, as a weakness at those scoring positions will lead to an inflated score come championship season.
5. Miramonte: The Matadors lose a lot from graduation but the talent pool is still deep enough to put them in great position to make the state meet. Christian Gonzalez made his mark in the middle distances this track season, rolling to a 1:56 in the 800m to make the final at the NCS Meet of Champions. He showed his great aerobic strength as well, running 4:30 in the 1600. Backing him up are the Bull brothers: Pete (10:07), Edward (10:15), and James (10:36) who all posted respectable times in the 3200 during the track season. Behind them it looks like Kyle Finger (10:44 3200) is the next one up. Miramonte always has a large team which will no doubt give them plenty of more talent to back up this crew moving forward.
On the bubble: Bishop O'Dowd, Acalanes, San Rafael, Albany