Low-tech edition (About)
Home > Sports > Running Blog
Running Home | Weather Forecast | What is Redwood Empire
Track All-Time | Cross Country All-Time
Schedule | Archives | Links
Empire runners get shot at state 10 championship races make it a unique event By RICH RUPPRECHT THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Trying to find someone at today's state high school cross country meet at Fresno's Woodward Park is like spotting a piece of paper at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The start to any of the 10 races looks like a money giveaway in the middle of New York City. A runner can almost get squeezed to death at the start of any of the 10 races, with close to 200 runners in each quickly funneled from a large grassy area onto the narrow course. The California state cross-country meet is like no other state's meet. A runner must be at his or her best just to contend. "California is the size of France, and the state just has so many runners," said Santa Rosa High cross country coach Doug Courtemarche. "Some states just have one boys and one girls race at their state meets." Consider that this year there are five returning state champions. And the only runner ever in state cross country history to win four individual championships is Montgomery's Sara Bei, who recently completed her running career at Stanford. Santa Rosa's Julia Stamps probably would have been the first to four-peat, but she suffered from appendicitis days before the race her freshman year. She won her division the next three years. The first race today - Div. III girls - starts at 8:30 a.m. and the final of 10 races - Div. II boys - should begin almost five hours later at 1:25 p.m. The only Redwood Empire school ranked in the top-five at state is the Maria Carrillo boys team at No. 5 in Div. II. Both the Carrillo boys and girls won North Coast Section titles last week. The Maria Carrillo girls, led by NCS champion Jacqui Wentz, finished second at state last year. The Montgomery girls won a state championship in Div. II in 2000, Bei's senior year. The Viking girls also finished third at state in 2002. The Div. II boys race at NCS produced three state advancers from the Empire. In addition to Maria Carrillo, Petaluma and Montgomery also will compete today as teams. It's Petaluma's first team appearance at state. Two other Empire schools will also be at state, Ursuline in Div. IV girls and Santa Rosa Christian in Div. V boys. Top-10 finishers at the NCS, who will be running today include Rancho Cotate's Shannon Rich (Div. I girls), Wentz, Montgomery's Jennifer Martindill and Celeste Berg (Div. II girls), Maria Carrillo's Alia Gray, Leanne Fogg and Kristen Sanzari (Div. II girls), Petaluma's Jason Grubb (Div. II boys), Maria Carrillo's Michael Brew, Ryan Aldridge and Logan Ensign (Div. II boys), Montgomery's Blake McDowall (Div. II boys), Analy's Tyler Cannon-Reese (Div. III boys), Ursuline's Marielle Ponticiello (Div. IV girls), Lower Lake's Mike Perez (Div. IV boys), St. Helena's Brian Cole (Div. IV boys) and Santa Rosa Christian's Zac Nave and Kevin Dinglasan (Div. V boys).
|
Email story | Print story | Subscribe to paper
|