Central Coast Section Championship Meet Preview

The year is 2014 and since this is an even numbered year, that means two things. The first is that the San Francisco Giants will win the World Series (check) and the CCS Championship meet will be held at Toro Park (map above). The meet will start at 10am sharp with the boys leading the way for each division. To make the schedule really easy to follow, the races will begin with the Division I boys and proceed in order to finally conclude with the Division V girls. The awards will follow the girl's races for each division.

Schedule of Races
10:00am-Division I Boys
10:35am-Division I Girls
11:10am-Division II Boys
11:45am-Division II Girls
12:20pm-Division III Boys
12:55pm-Division III Girls
1:30pm-Division IV Boys
2:05pm-Division IV Girls
2:40pm-Division V Boys
3:15pm-Division V Girls

You can check out the offical entries at this link and get live results for the meet courtesy of Record Timing here.

Division I Boys (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
Since 2005, Carlmont and Bellarmine High Schools have battled for Division I supremacy with each team taking the top 2 spots for 9 years in a row. Carlmont has bested Bellarmine in 7 of those years (2005-2009, 2011-2012) but the momentum seems to have switched to Bellarmine. The Bells won in 2010 as well as last year and will be clear favorites to win this year. They are currently ranked 6th in state and will be looking to repeat as section champions for the first time since the 1999/2000 seasons. The favorite to finish 2nd this year will be a team on the rise, Homestead HS. The battle for the 3rd and last state meet qualifying spot will come down to a battle between San Benito HS and the already mentioned Carlmont HS. San Benito has a lot of experience on the Toro Park course while Carlmont can reach back for another strong effort at the section meet. The chase for the individual title will feature Palo Alto's Lucas Matison (unable to run last year due to injury and to the right), Alex Sasser (Bellarmine's lead runner) and Monta Vista's Rohan Choudhury.

Division I Girls (Top 2 teams advance to state meet)
The difference between celebrating a state meet berth and disappointment is mighty small in the divisions where only the top 2 teams advance to the California state meet. Two teams seem to have seperated themselves from the rest of the field with the defending champion Monta Vista girls and rapidly improved Homestead girls. In his section predictions, Walt Van Zant has the Monta Vista Toreros defeating the Homestead Mustangs by a mere point. The race will be a good old fashioned battle between a tight pack (Monta Vista) and a team with a strong front group (Homestead). Lurking dangerously in 3rd will be Gunn HS, coached by former Stanford University All-American Pattisue Plumer and led by the individual favorite, Gillian Meeks. Her chief competitors will be freshmen Caroline Gee of Cupertino HS and Elena Kamas of Homestead HS.

Division II Boys (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
The clear favorite to win this division is battle tested Los Gatos HS. They won the seeded Stanford Invitational and have not shied away from racing many of the top teams in the state at multiple invitationals. Their closest competition appear to be the following three teams. Lynbrook HS is suddenly bolstered by a healthy Justin Robison who seems recovered from a knee injury. Willow Glen has been a consistent top contender for many years and are never afraid to run with the lead pack. The 4th team in the mix will be the 3rd place finisher in the tough WCAL meet and that is St. Francis. They ran an inspired race to win Division II last year and will be looking for the same this year with the hope of cracking the top 3 teams. The individual favorite will be Los Gatos HS senior who ran 14:40 at the famed Mt. SAC course. Keeping him honest will be Lincoln SJ senior, Jose Pina who will latch on to Foster and make the LG runner earn his section title. Hassen Hassen of Willow Glen, Ben Haderle of Los Gatos, Fenn Hoppe of Willow Glen and Ben Zaeske of Los Altos will all make up the large chase pack.

Division II Girls (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
The top 2 girls teams in this division are very familar with each other as they both reside in the WCAL. Mitty won the league championship after splitting the first two regular season meets with St. Francis. Mitty appears to be the favorite after winning this division in 2012. St. Francis will be missing a couple of their main runners but their superior depth will keep them in the hunt for their 2nd straight section title. SCVAL schools Los Altos, Los Gatos and Lynbrook will duke it out for the final state meet spot. Lynbrook HS senior Grace Ling will be the strong favorite to win although defending champion, Lauren Jacob of Los Altos will be in the field and is currently ranked 2nd based on her season personal best. Carina Gwennap of Mt. View, Riley Mason of Leland, Julia Lemak of Mitty and Gia Kim of St. Francis will all be in the mix for a top 5 finish.

Division III Boys (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
With the tough CCS qualifying standards, this division will pit only 9 teams to determine it's section champion. The battle for CCS supremacy will pit private school vs public school with the St. Ignatius boys as slight favorites over Saratoga. In another classic cross country matchup, the SI pack (their 6th man Raymond Brealt could finish ahead of Saratoga's 4th man) will try to outduel the Saratoga tough top 3 led by individual favorite, Steven Sum (finally a senior!). Kevin Lehr will try to maintain his 2nd position ahead of the two Saratoga runners (Andrew Harter and Stephen Law) and teammate Ben Osipow. Aragon junior Ryan McAulliffe will try to claim his stake as the first non SI/Saratoga runner and state meet individual qualifier.

Division III Girls (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
If I were to pick the one team to absolutely, positively win without a doubt in my mind, that would be the Aptos girls. They actually have an opportunity to score the 3rd perfect score in CCS history behind the Bellarmine boys in 1987 (Division I) and the Santa Catalina girls in 1988 (Division III). Standing in the way of history will be first year cross country runner, senior Juliana Mount of Notre Dame San Jose. During last track season, Mount, a hurdler dabbled in the 800 enough to make it all the way to the state meet and finish 6th with a time of 2:10.07. The battle for the final two state meet berths will come down to Valley Christian San Jose (state meet competitors in 6 of the last 8 years), Prospect and potentially Saratoga and North Monterey County. Aside from Mount, Aptos runners Anika McBride, Marea Zlatunich, Matti Peoples and Annika Niles will all contend for top 5 finishes and the individual title.

Division IV Boys (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
Two of the top 10 teams in state will vie for the Division IV section crown here. Podium contender King City will be the slight favorite but they will need to stay ahead of dangerous Scotts Valley. An off day by any of the King City runners will result in a potential 2nd place finish. The favorite to secure the 3rd and last state meet berth will be WBAL school, Sacred Heart Prep. They have one of the favorites for an individual title in senior Daniel Hill as well as a tight 2-5 pack. They will need to stay ahead of PAL 2nd place team, Half Moon Bay as well as Division IV newcomer, North Monterey Country. Along with Hill, Edgar Bonilla of King City, defending champion, Corey Gonzalez of Harker, Seaside runner Jose Gonzalez, and Scotts Valley lead runner, Nick Heath will all be in the mix for the individual title.

Division IV Girls (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
Last season, the San Lorenzo Valley girls steamrolled the section competition with 31 points on their way to their 5th state team championship. With the graduation of 4 of their top 5 runners from last year, SLV will now be in contention for a top 3 finish with an outside chance to win once again. Half Moon Bay HS, a great competitor in this division since the late 70s will be another team favored to win. Scotts Valley, last year's 2nd place team and Greenfield, another frequent contender in past seasons, will also be in the mix for a potential state meet qualifying spot and perhaps a section championship. The favorite to win the individual title will be Menlo School senior, Lizzie Lacy (photo to right courtesy of Keith Peters). She finished in 6th place at CCS last year but an even more impressive 6th at the state meet. She blasted 17:00.8 at the WBAL final last Friday on the famed Crystal Springs course and will be looking to put her name high on the all-time list of the Toro Park course. Santa Cruz teammates Cate Ratliff and Mari Friedman along with WBAL rival, Niki Iyer, SLV teammates Abbey Meck and Kaila Gibson and Greenfield runner Jocelyn Sosa will all chase Lacy for those coveted top 5 finishes.

Division V Boys (Top 3 teams advance to state meet)
For the past 6 years, York School, Priory, Anzar and Crystal Springs have battled for those coveted state meet spots. Last year, Pacific Collegiate entered the mix with a second place finish. Priory dominated that race and will return 2 from their section winning team. Crystal Springs, the 3rd place finisher last year has been the strongest team in this division and will try to win their school's 4th CCS team championship. Along with Crystal Springs, Pacific Collegiate and Priory, York School and St. Francis CC will also be in contention for a top 3 finish. The favorites for the individual title will be Pacific Collegiate teammates, Alex Condotti and Luc Bouchard, Priory teammates Ross Corey and Robert Screven as well as Crystal Springs teammates Nick Holterman and Javier Rojas.

Division V Girls (Top 2 teams advance to state meet)
Just like the Division I girls team race, only the top two teams advance to the state meet in this division. Crystal Springs will be the favorites to win here after their WBAL championship last Friday on the Crystal Springs course. Defending champion, Priory, looks to be getting healthy at the right time and will be looking to upset Crystal Springs once again. Pacific Collegiate and Notre Dame Salinas look to be the next best two teams. The individual favorite will be Pinewood senior, Nicole Colonna. She finished in 4th place at the WBAL final and was a top 10 finisher at last year's state meet. Crystal Springs teammates Katie Chu and Lianne Blodgett will chase Colonna along with Priory runner, Hana Marsheck and Pinewood teammate, Helena Merk.