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Carrillo boys, girls still perfect Pumas defeat previously unbeaten Montgomery, Santa Rosa at Spring Lake By DEWEY FORGET THE PRESS DEMOCRAT Santa Rosa cross country and track coach Doug Courtemarche, in his 15th year coaching the Panthers, can't remember a time when three schools entered the last week of the regular season with perfect records. But that was the case Wednesday when both the girls and boys from Montgomery, Maria Carrillo and Santa Rosa ran for undisputed first place in the North Bay League at Spring Lake. The Maria Carrillo boys and girls, who haven't lost a league meet in nearly four years, both posted convincing wins to run their unbeaten streak to 49. "That's pretty good, most teams can't say that," said Carrillo coach Danny Aldridge. Carrillo can wrap up another pair of NBL championships at the league finals on Nov. 10th. With seven points available at the league meet, Montgomery and Santa Rosa still have a mathematical chance to overtake the Pumas. The North Coast Section meet is Nov. 18th at Hayward, followed by the state meet at Woodward Park, Fresno on Nov. 25th. "It was a scheduling freak, all the stars were aligned," said Courtemarche, standing near the meadow across from Spring Lake as 25 girls sprinted past, jockeying for position before entering the main body of the 3.05-mile course. "If I could've drawn it up, though, this is the way I would have done it." Santa Rosa and Montgomery girls tied for second, but the Panthers were awarded second on a tie-breaker when Molly Hannis (7th) finished ahead of the next closest Montgomery runner. In the boys race, Montgomery was second and Santa Rosa third. As expected Montgomery's Blake McDowall ran off with the boys race, to remain unbeaten in league. McDowall finished in 15:21, well off the course record of 14:50 set by Ryan Mack (Ukiah) in 1998, but a personal-best and Montgomery record. Santa Rosa's Nathan Huckeba was second and Calvin Thigpen third. McDowall appeared to have plenty left in the tank when he crossed the finish line. "The first split wasn't very fast," McDowall said. "I was trying to stay with the lead pack and help pace my teammates. This was a team race, a clash of the undefeated. "When we came through the first mile, the pace was even slower, so then I decided to go for time. I felt really good." McDowall, who will be among the favorites at the NCS meet, said he felt strong after the race. "We have a nice long rest before the NBL finals and the NCS," he said. "Today I wanted to make sure I didn't injure myself." Huckeba ran 15:43, a personal-best, but said "McDowall fried me. It was me and Calvin running together. I felt like I had a good run. I was just praying to run my best. The great thing about Carrillo is that we run together. Great teammates make you run stronger." Kristin Sanzari (Carrillo) captured the girls race in 18:11 with Leanne Fogg (Carrillo) second and Santa Rosa's Emily Cozine third. Sanzari and Fogg ran shoulders apart through much of the first mile. Sanzari began to pull away on the run up the hilly part of the course. "I kept thinking, it's OK, if you go uphill, you get to go downhill," Sanzari said. "So I powered uphill. Then I knew it was only three minutes to the bathroom buildings, and from there it was all downhill." Fogg said although the team has been unbeatable, neither her or Sanzari have approached their PR's this year. "When we run a race over this course, it's a great opportunity to pull up our teammates, try to pace them," Fogg said.
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