De La Salle/Carondelet Nike Invitational
While SoCal (and many others) were focused on the flat 3 Mile course at Woodbridge, a smaller group of the top teams and individuals in Northern California gathered at Newhall Park for a different kind of experience. Though the course is also 3 Miles, only one male athlete has ever broken 15 minutes there (compared to 59 this year alone at Woodbridge). In addition to hosting some of the top individual talent in the Bay and Sacramento areas, the meet also pitted two pairs of contending teams.
The girls raced first, and individually it was a battle of young talent vs. veterans. Freshman Isabel Fauria (St. Francis Sac) took the win by clocking 17:38, defeating such established stars as Cassidy Haskell (Miramonte) and Sofia Castiglioni (Davis) in the process. Castiglioni didn't come out on top, but she did lead her team to the win, as Davis (at full strenth for the first time this fall) scored 58 points to defeat St. Francis (119) and Monte Vista (148).
Michael Vernau (Davis) continued his roll that began late last fall, but he did fall just short of his state goal in this meet. Of course, when your goal is to break the course record and you fall just short, it's totally understandable! Vernau posted the #2 time in meet history, clocking 15:00.7 while nearly breaking 15 for the second consecutive week. Looking forward to Stanford in two weeks! The team battle was the big story after Vernau finished, with Jesuit and Bellarmine College Prep squaring off in a postseason preview. Meikal Beaudoin-Rousseau led BCP with a 2nd-place finish in 15:20.6, helping the Bells score 60 points for the win. Monte Vista got into the middle of the team scoring with 116 points, edging out third-place Jesuit (120).
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