This division has been one of the more successful ones for the North Coast Section at the state meet level with individual and team hardware. At last year's state meet, the following NCS athletes/teams made the podium by finishing in the top 10 as an individual and in the top 3 as a team.
Boys Individual
1. Trevor Reinhart Marin Academy 14:59
5. Cooper Teare St. Joseph Notre Dame 15:44
10. Michael Murphy St. Joseph Notre Dame 16:10
Boys Team
2. St. Joseph Notre Dame 99 points
This coming season could be equally as successful with lots of returning talent for many teams. We will start off with the boys and the team competition. St. Joseph Notre Dame has won the last 4 team titles which is the 2nd longest winning streak in NCS Division V history trailing only University's 7 in a row from 1999-2005. Livermore also won 7 team titles in a row in Division III from 1990-1996. SJND will contend this season but may be hard pressed to continue their winning streak. They do return the top runner in this division in Cooper Teare (4:21.53/9:15.65) but will have to find a way to replace the Murphy twins (Michael and Matthew). Along with Teare, SJND will need major improvement from Willie Mein (2:02.05), Daniel Ratto (2:00.02) and Gavin Hill (17:04 at Hayward).
The favorite at this point may be Marin Academy which will be chasing their first NCS boys' XC title. Although they do lose defending NCS/state meet champion and team leader, Trevor Reinhart, MA will return 6 of their top 7. Among those 6, MA will field three runners who all recorded sub 10 clockings in the 3200m this past track season, Henry Fleming (9:33.57), Jack Williams (9:54.34) and Connor Montgomery (9:59.45). That gives MA 3 top tier runners in the section and with the addition of a talented frosh runner, it will be championship or bust for them in 2015.
Along with SJND, another team chasing MA will be the College Prep Cougars. They will be led by senior Alex Glavin (4:24.37/9:22.80). While MA may have the best top 3 runners, CPS might have the best top 4 runners with Glavin, Ethan Ashby (9:59.76), Steve Sloan (4:47.84) and Trevor Soule (17:28.0 at Stanford Invite). Lick-Wilmerding has demonstrated some of the best depth in this division and will need that depth to show this coming season. They will be led by Jackson Vachal (16:34 at Woodward Park). Rising sophomores Sean Laidlaw (16:35 at Woodward Park), Erik Stein (4:35.89/10:04.53) and Alex Martinez (4:53.81) give the Tigers three talented runners with lots of room for improvement. Brian Ebisuzaki (4:43.25/10:09.31) will also allow the Tigers to contend once again despite losing 3 of their top 5 runners.
University seems to be trending up once again after a very solid Track and Field season. They will be led by junior CJ Dowd (1:55.10/4:29.55) along with Spencer Ferguson-Dryden (1:59.72), Spencer Small (4:38.54), Henry Hongo (17:47 at Woodward Park), Wyeth Coulter (2:02.95) and Raiden Meyer (2:05.31). A wildcard for University is Marco DaCunha (10:09.71), an impressive rising sophomore who played Soccer last year but might make the switch to XC in the fall. Sonoma Academy will be led by Caleb Richards (4:35/9:54.28) along with Joey Johnson (4:43.95), and rising sophomore Kheva Mann (4:45). Danny Aldridge will once again coach at SA which gives them one of the top coaches in the section. Athenian will have their own dominant runner in rising junior Dawson Reckers (4:24.02/9:40.54). He will solid depth behind him with Anthony Ottati (4:46.25/9:50.68), Connor Ottati (5:10.14), Jeremy Lahr (5:00.94), Ira Norton-Westbrook (4:48.70).
The favorite for the individual title should be Cooper Teare of St. Joseph Notre Dame. He has been a top tier runners since his freshman season and continued to improve during this past Track and Field season. He will be challenged by fellow BCL East runners Alex Glavin and Dawson Reckers. Henry Fleming and CJ Dowd. Caleb Richards will be the best runner from outside the BCL and won't be afraid to join the lead pack on the Hayward course.
Division V Boys (Top 5 Advance to State)
1) Marin Academy-In the hunt for their first section crown on the boys side.
2) Lick-Wilmerding-Deepest team in this division with very solid sophomore class.
3) St. Joseph ND-Following 4 straight NCS titles, they are an underdog once again.
4) College Prep-Much improved team following terrific track season.
5) University-A team on the rise that can break into top 3.
6) Athenian-Program on the rise but will be dealing with a coaching change.
On the bubble: Head Royce, Roseland University Prep, Sonoma Academy, Stuart Hall, Urban
Top 5 returning individuals, (place) and 2014 NCS meet time:
Cooper Teare (2) St. Joseph ND 15:55
Dawson Reckers (4) Athenian 16:26
Caleb Richards (5) Sonoma Academy 16:26
Henry Fleming (7) Marin Academy 16:30
Alex Glavin (8) College Prep 16:34
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