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NO. 1 TROJANS OFF, RUNNING: VARSITY BOYS SQUAD KICKS OFF SEASON AS TEAM TO BEAT
DATE: Friday, September 1, 2006
BYLINE: By NATHAN WRIGHT
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
SECTION: PETALUMA
Twins Sterling, left, and Devin Lockert lend their talents
to the top-ranked Petaluma High School cross-country team.
by JEFF KAN LEE / The Press Democrat
The Petaluma High School boys' cross-country team kicks off the fall season today (9/1) at
the Rancho Cotate Invitational as the team to beat in Sonoma County.
The Trojans are the top-ranked team in the North Coast Section this fall, and 13th in the
state.
Cross-country coach Jim Lynch says the preseason ranking is serving as motivation for the
team and that his varsity squad is in excellent shape entering the season.
``They're ahead of where I thought they'd be at this point,'' Lynch said. ``Their early
season times are a little frightening.''
The team is young, but the athletes already have the experience of running at the state
meet, placing 13th out of 25 teams last year.
Cole Yungert, the team captain, and Bjorn Gripenburg are both juniors and the oldest on
the team.
Sterling Lockert -- the Sonoma County League champion last year -- leads a group of talented
sophomores, including twin brother Devin Lockert, Brandon Felipe, Benjamin Stern and Cody Jinright.
While a high preseason ranking may make some runners overconfident, Lynch said that his team
saw it as an honor to be represented.
``As a coach, I used it during the summer as a motivation for them to train and to be ready
for the season,'' Lynch said. ``This group is mature and very dedicated to the sport. They're
very goal-oriented, they're very team-oriented, and they support each other tremendously. I
think they're up for the challenge.''
Lynch sat down with his team last week and talked about goals.
``One, they would like to win the Sonoma County League championship again, two, break the
course record at the SCL meet, and, three, they want to win the NCS championship,'' Lynch said.
``Four, the boys' goal is to break the top five at the state meet.''
Lynch believes a top five finish at the state level is a very lofty goal; but in regard to
the first three goals, ``they can be very confident on achieving.''
He, himself, has set a team goal of placing in the top 10 at state, but Lynch welcomes the
boys' personal challenge of doing even better.
``I want them to focus on being the best they can be,'' he said.
Lynch says his team is eager for today's Rancho Cotate Invitational, an annual meet that
draws most schools in Sonoma County.
``They want to see how they're measuring up,'' he said. ``They're ready to get started.''
The Trojans' girls' squad also is very talented but hasn't had the turnout of the boys.
``We have 16 boys this year and only four girls,'' Lynch said.
The small turnout continues to be a surprise to the coach, especially after back-to-back
co-league championships.
The girls' team is led by senior Taylor Parks, who qualified for and ran in the state meets
in 2004 and 2005. Also running is senior Kimmy Vaughan, junior Kim Peterson and sophomore
Kelly Lucchesi.
If no other runners join the team, the girls' squad will forfeit every meet.
Any team with fewer than five runners may still compete for individual scores but will not
earn a team score.
``If we find a fifth girl by Oct. 11 we're back in business,'' Lynch said.
You can reach Correspondent Nathan Wright at 694-4053 or nwright01@gmail.com.