2004 Earlybird
Post-Meet Review
by Coach
Gustavo Ibarra
Perfect weather conditions, a great course, a loaded field, several course records and a very excited crowd made the
10th Annual Earlybird Invitational at North Monterey County High School the greatest ever!! On to the details!
First up, the varsity girls. St. Ignatius came in ranked 4th
in the state in DIII and 1st in CCS. They were without the services
of Ciara Viehweg and that made the difference in the title today. Aptos came
in ranked 13th in the state in DI and 2nd in CCS and seized the opportunity to come away with the title
with some great up-front tandem running and great pacing for a slim 3-point win (84-87) and a 102:28 clocking. Los Gatos was a distant third with 125 points although they had some great running in the other races and
actually had the top team-time of the day at 99:55! That makes them the 3rd
fastest team ever! So, keep on eye on the Wildcats when they put all of their
apples in one basket! Madera (150 pts.) and Monte Vista (196 pts.) rounded out
the top 5. The race for individual glory was never in question. The two-time defending state champion in the mile and defending champion in cross country Alicia Follmar
(Saratoga) took the early lead and never looked back. Brianna Larson (2nd
18:42 Las Lomas) challenged her early but never seriously as Alicia clocked 18:30. That’s
good for 4th on the all-time list and a 26 second improvement from her previous best on this course. Her run for another state title has begun! The duo of Jessica
Van Ausdall (19:12) and Meghan Hunt (19:17) from Aptos came from behind to place 3rd and 4th. Amanda Moreno (Escalon) was 5th in 19:28.
The boys ran in grade level races so we’ll let the combined team times tell us the story here. Madera came in ranked 8th in the state in DI and 11th overall. They were hot off a huge victory at the Granite Bay Invite last week and they didn’t cool off with
the cooler coastal weather. They clocked 82:02 making it the 2nd fastest
team-time ever behind only their 81:54 from last year! They used some great up-front
leadership and a solid crew for the victory. North Monterey County came in ranked
3rd in state in DII and 10th overall and almost pulled off what would have been a major upset running
82:27 without their ace Nathan Huerta that has recently started running after a couple of weeks off with an IT band injury. Their team time is 3rd fastest ever and a team record by over a minute
from last year. The youngsters rallied without their leader and posted some huge
improvements that make this squad very dangerous when their leader rejoins the troops.
Their team-time may have been sub 81:00 with a healthy Huerta! San Benito
came in with a young team and the youngsters acted like veterans clocking 84:30 and making them the 5th fastest
team ever and contenders to defend their CCS DI title. St. Ignatius came in as
the #1 ranked CCS team in DIII and looked good at 85:03. Carlmont graduated a
ton last year but seem to have re-loaded nicely placing 5th at 85:05.
The senior boys are always loaded and 2004 was no exception. Benny Madrigal
(Madera) took control early and flew to a 15:32 clocking and 3rd fastest ever on the course behind the 15:18 course
record by Alex Dunn (San Lorenzo Valley) in 2003 and the 15:20 by Brett Gotcher (Aptos) in 2001. Benny is an individual threat at the state level with that kind of mark here. Jason Yow (2nd 16:02-Monte Vista) and Keli Parker (5th 16:23-North Monterey County)
battled about 20-30 meters back throughout the race and it was Steven Giron (4th 16:17-Los Banos) and Jose Garcia
(3rd 16:12-North Monterey County) that moved up to finish well. Madera
was out hard in the team competition and never looked back romping to a 40 point total for the win. North Monterey County held on for second with 113 pts and Monte Vista was 3rd with 121.
The junior boys had our pre-race sleeper out early. Ivan Alfaro (North
Monterey County) wanted the win and was willing to run hard early. Juan Gutierrez
(Yerba Buena) came in with much better credentials and looked to have the edge at 2 miles taking a 10-meter lead. Ivan hit the last hill like a champ and rallied for the win with almost a 2-minute improvement at 16:06
making him the 4th fastest junior ever. Juan held on for 2nd
at 16:22. JR Gonzalez (3rd-16:33 Westmoor) and Enrique Lopez (4th
16:34 Alisal) kicked hard with Josh Hernandez (5th-16:35 Evergreen) coming in hard.
St. Ignatius was a big pre-meet favorite but it was North Monterey County that played the spoiler here with a 70-73
point win led by Ivan and much improved Jeremy Schrock (8th 16:37). Madera
was 3rd with 113pts.
The sophomore boys’ title was never in question as Matt Petrillo (Los Gatos) wasn’t going to be denied
after going the wrong way as a freshman. He was out hard and the course title
was in jeopardy from the get go as he hit the mile in under 5 minutes. He pushed
the whole way to a 16:02 clocking breaking Benny Madrigal’s course record from 2002 by 24 seconds!! In the post-race interview he exclaimed, “I’m coming back next year and breaking Alex Dunn’s
course record”. We believe you Matt!!
Wes Buntman (Monta Vista Christian) used his speed for 2nd at 16:32 and then it was Rigo Vasquez (San Benito)
the defending champ and former freshman course record holder (see below) in 3rd at 16:38. Madera used a nice 2-5 pack to win with 82 pts. Los Gatos
led by Matt was 2nd with 107 pts. and San Benito used their three super stars up-front for the last team award
with 144 pts.
The freshman boys had gone the wrong way for two years and the quad leading them this year made it a race to remember!! Isai Orea (Madera) went for it early but had to settle for 3rd in 16:52
as Brad Surh (2nd 16:46 Carlmont) overtook him and as Michael Landry (Santa Cruz) cranked a 16:42 for a huge course
record. The top three were all under the old mark. The new course record broke the year-old mark by Rigo Vasquez (San Benito) of 17:24. That’s a 42 second improvement!!! WOW!! Isai and company
were just plain outstanding scoring 43 points for the Madera win. North Monterey
County decided they’d like to have a few more years of fun with the Coyotes in 2nd with 102 pts. St. Ignatius was 3rd with 119 pts.
Complete meet coverage
including results & pictures at https://nmcxc.tripod.com/
COMBINED BOYS TEAM TIMES
1 Madera
82:02
2 North Monterey County
82:27
3 San Benito
84:30
4 St.Ignatius
85:03
5 Carlmont
85:05
6 Monta Vista
85:18
7 Los Gatos
86:16
8 Westmoor
86:26
9 Bellarmine
86:38
10 Yerba Buena
86:54
11 Saratoga
87:17
12 Los Banos
87:53
13 Evergreen
88:05
14 Seaside
88:50
15 Palma
89:08
16 Aptos
90:25
17 Scotts Valley
90:33
18 Alisal
90:59
19 Soquel
91:15
20 Pioneer
91:55
21 Atwater
92:18
22 Santa Teresa
92:31
23 Monte Vista Christian
92:32
24 Greenfield
92:38
25 Silver Creek
92:40
26 North Salinas
93:11
27 Escalon
93:27
28 Alvarez
94:14
29 Santa Cruz
94:28
30 Los Lomas
95:20
31 Golden Valley
95:22
32 Valley Christian
96:19
33 The Kings Academy
96:21
34 Monterey
102:12
35 Watsonville
104:48
36 Sacred Heart Prep
105:08
COMBINED GIRLS TEAM TIMES
1 Los Gatos
99:55
2 Aptos
100:45
3 Monta Vista
102:37
4 St.Ignatius
103:28
5 Evergreen
105:43
6 Madera
107:08
7 Carlmont
107:43
8 Silver Creek
107:56
9 Saratoga
109:49
10 Los Lomas
110:48
11 Escalon
111:03
12 Notre Dame-San Jose
111:07
13 Alisal
111:38
14 Santa Teresa
112:48
15 North Salinas
113:37
16 Notre Dame-Salinas
113:40
17 Westmoor
114:09
18 Presentation
114:14
19 San Benito
115:42
20 Notre Dame-Belmont
116:24
21 Yerba Buena
117:00
22 Monte Vista Christian
118:05
23 The King's Academy
118:06
24 North Monterey County
118:22
25 Seaside
118:40
26 Alvarez
120:28
27 Watsonville
121:12
28 Los Banos
121:37
29 Golden Valley
123:34
30 James Lick
126:24
31 Monterey
130:22
