2015 Earlybird Invitational Preview by Coach Gustavo Ibarra

So, what’s the one thing we missed in the first 20 years of the Earlybird Cross Country Invitational? A shoe sponsor!! The 21st Annual Earlybird is proud to announce Hoka One One as our 2015 sponsor taking us to new heights as the premier early season meet on the Central Coast of California. Lots of surprises are on tap for September 12th at Toro Park in Salinas. On to the details! Races are traditionally grade level races with combined team times being used to declare overall top programs. The Central Coast Section schools are always showcased at the event with the Toro Park layout becoming a staple in the area’s championships aspirations. Out of the area travelers have come and gone and continue to spoil the party.

For the BOYS, three historically state powerhouse teams have taken multiple top honors at Earlybird and they are all back in 2015! Madera, who returns after a few years off, had a great win streak until Bellarmine started to shine. Most recently, Madera South has made Earlybird their playground and bring with them a 4 year win streak and a #4 state rank in D1. Bellarmine has been very close to ending the streak playing 2nd fiddle for a few years and will take another shot here. We are going with heavy favorite Madera South (CS) to defend their title and make it 5 years in a row to move within one win of their Central Section friends from Madera and their 6 year win streak, a standing Earlybird record. The Stallions from Madera South are just that, Stallions. They are a very hard working group of blue-collar type kids who dig deep and are one of the top teams in ALL OF CALIFORNIA, regardless of divisions! They are coming off a truly fantastic 3rd place finish in the D1 state meet and were only 8 points from walking away with the title. In 2013 they placed 2nd at state and here’s hoping 2015 will bring them the much coveted state title! They actually matched their out of this world 15:43 average for their scoring 5 at Woodward Park the last two years! Last year at Earlybird they ran the fastest team time we have ever seen at Toro Park at an early season meet (80:17) and we give them great odds of breaking the existing Toro Park record of 79:58 this weekend, if the weather doesn’t play spoiler. Temperatures are expected to be high this week! Hydrate folks! CCS counters with the top 4 ranked squads ready to battle for region supremacy. Bellarmine (CCS #1), defending CCS DI champ, counters with only 1 varsity returnee from last year but don’t be fooled, they are stacked! They may be the deepest team in California several years running. They come in ranked 20th in CA for all teams and are coming off a great 6th place showing at state. Defending CCS DIII Champs St. Ignatius (CCS #2, State #6) will try to play spoiler here and may get the runner-up spot upsetting Bellarmine with their veteran crew. 6 return for a 6th place state squad currently ranked 19th overall in CA. Homestead (CCS #3) has put together quite the combined boys and girls program and will hope for a top 3 finish along with St. Francis (CCS #4). Hoping to knock these squads out of the top 5 will be other CCS ranked squads including defending CCS D2 champs Los Gatos (#8), Willow Glen (#9, State #10), Gunn (#12), defending CCS DIV champs King City (#13, #7 State), Saratoga (#14), and San Benito (#15). The Coyotes from Madera (CS) return from the central valley as past Earlybird kings and should show well. Some local long-shots also hoping for a little glory include North Salinas, Westmont, Monta Vista, Andrew Hill, host North Monterey County, and Aptos.

The senior boys always cap the meet in fine style and deserve to be introduced first. Eduardo Herrera (Madera South) ran an out-of-this-world for September solo 15:29 for the win last year which is currently the 20th best ever at Toro Park. He went on to shine at state with a 4th place blistering 15:12 at Woodward Park and a mind-blowing 8:55 2 mile! With one more year under his belt look for a fine attempt at the Toro course record of 15:02 set by Yohaness Estifanos (Milpitas, 2012)! If he can flirt with the course record he will dip under his older brother’s (Jose) brilliant 15:14 run in 2012. Eduardo is going for an elusive 4th Earlybird title and will need crowd support to eclipse the record and the family best mark. He is fit after an 8 second course record last Saturday at the Dewitt Invite. Xander Olivero (St. Francis) leads his fine squad and should help lead the chase pack with Salem Bouhassoun (Mission) who toured the 2 mile in 9:14. Daniel Ambriz (Merced) returns for a shot at another top 3 placing while Marcus Avila (Bellarmine) spear heads their army. The host of challengers include Kevin Lehr (St. Ignatius), Raul Barraza (North Salinas), Donald Welsh (Bellarmine), Ricardo Lizardi (King City), Stephan Law (Saratoga), Reno Garcia (Madera), Juan Gutierrez and Elijah Changco (San Benito), Stephen Crowe (Los Gatos), Brent Mogensen (Monta Vista), Sanjay Mohan (Los Gatos), Alex Liebscher (Pioneer), Kyle Reidy (St. Ignatius), Alex Ward (St. Francis), Raul Figueroa and Jaime Garcia (Greenfield) and hosts Freddy Torres and Owen Ibarra (North Monterey County). The senior boys teams should see a Bellarmine show with St. Ignatius and Homestead hoping for an upset. Clear the course, this race is LOADED!

  The junior boys will have a Madera South show with Miguel Villar and Michael Ochoa leading. We called a sub 15:40 last year for Miguel and he delivered at 15:39! He went on to shine with a top 10 finish at state as a sophomore roaring to a 15:27 5k and a 9:14 2 mile. This time around we think he can handle a 15:20 with good weather and punch his name into the top 10 at the park! Michael ran 16:06 last year and hopes to help the Stallions in a course record attempt with a sub 16:00 run. Roman Munoz (King City) dipped under 16:00 at the park last year for the CCS title and brings a Mustang into the horse race. Bellarmine shines with Dylan Doblar, Joseph Deck, Benjamin Micallef, who blazed a 1:53 800, and Matthew Richardson, who went 4:25 for the mile!! Max Sawyer (Homestead), Tim Fitch (Madera), Christian Nevarez (Madera South), Daniel Rubino (Prospect), Nick Hollister (St. Ignatius), and Nolan Sanchez (San Benito) will play spoilers. Bellarmine is favored but Madera South could make it quite the team race with their horses up-front!

The sophomore boys have had one high school year to develop and we should see some great progress! Alex Sales (Bellarmine) was on the radar since middle school and shined brightly with his 16:26 frosh win last year. Winning 4 Earlybird titles is a very rare feat and Alex tries for step #2 here. His teammate Meikael Beaudoin-Ro (Bellarmine) just missed the upset by one second last year and would like to even the series. Adrian Alvarez (Madera South) and Jorge Estrella (Andrew Hill) may let the Bells do all the work and steal the race in the end! Zach Walker (Willow Glen) is our dark-horse pick and John Ratliff (Santa Cruz) hopes to start a special day for his family. Bellarmine is pretty much a lock for the team title here with Carmel trying to hold off eager challengers.

The freshmen boys are usually wide-eyed and very anxious to play with the big boys. We have a few that may splash onto the scene in fine style! Victor Ochoa (Madera South) soared at his home meet last week and gives the Stallions a 9th grader in their top 5! Ryan Ma (Homestead), who won the Footlocker 8th grade race, and Colton Colonna (St. Francis) will face locals Sam Lavorato and Tommy Padilla (Palma) while Bellarmine has Joshua Lee and Ross D’Orfani leading their swarm. The host school’s Agustin Saldivar (North Monterey County) hopes to join the fun. Bellarmine is usually a lock here but we shall see, lots of new faces after this race.

The GIRLS stole the show last year and had a season for the record books! Aptos came, took names, and walked away with the Toro Park course record of 95:13! That’s averaging 19:02 folks! Most teams would love to have ONE girl run that here. The defending CCS D3 champs and #1 regionally ranked squad returns 6 from that unit, add a nice 9th grader, and they hope to improve on their 5th place state showing and are currently ranked 4th in CA. Gunn (CCS #3) brings in crazy quality up-front which will also help their team time to challenge Aptos. It also doesn’t hurt to have a former Olympian in PattiSue Plumer steering the ship! Homestead (CCS #5, State #9) sparkled last season running 95:41 good for #2 all-time at Toro! A top ten state placing last year in D1 and a CCS title have helped make this a seasoned crew ready for 2015! Madera South (CS), Monta Vista (#7), and St. Ignatius (#8) are poised to play spoiler roles. Other squads to watch include San Benito (#13), Fremont (#14), Los Gatos (#15), Santa Cruz, Willow Glen, Madera, Greenfield, and Prospect.    

  The senior girls wrap up their Earlybird careers and should do it brilliantly! Cate Ratliff (Santa Cruz) returns after posting the fastest time of the day last year with her stunning early season 18:07! She went on to run 18:01 later on good for #13 all-time at Toro and roared to a 10:25 2 mile! Let’s see if she can flirt with a sub 18:00 clocking here. Although, Cate will have her hands full. Gillian Meeks (Gunn) is primed to steal the show after a fantastic 17:59 run at Toro last year as CCS Champ followed by a splendid 18:10 5k mark at state. Watch for the best individual battle of the day. Jaqueline Escalera (Fremont) bounced back nicely last year for 2nd after winning this race as a freshman. Matti Peoples (Aptos) will once again try to lead her team to the promised land. Others to watch include Riley Mason (Leland), Olivia Quinn (Aptos), Jasmine Gonzalez (Madera), Jonnie Montano (Madera South), Jocelyn Sosa (Greenfield), Madeleine Yip (Monta Vista), Claire Liang and Alexandra Baron (Prospect), and Mackenzie Cox (Fremont). Homestead and Monta Vista look like contenders for the team title for the veteran ladies.

The junior girls return Lindsay Allen (Homestead) as defending champ. She cruised a 18:38 last year for her first Earlybird win and will be trying to hold off Annika McBride (Aptos) once again. Kelly Bishop (Monta Vista) could be a sleeper and Annmarie Howell (Santa Teresa) comes in fit after her top time of the day at the San Benito Invite last week. Others to watch include Evelin Meza (Greenfield), teammates Brianna Bilter and Emilia Janiczeck (St. Ignatius) and Karina Barnett (Leland). St. Ignatius and Los Gatos are team co-favorites here.

The sophomore girls stormed onto the high school scene last year and made Earlybird their coming out party! Elena Kamas (Homestead) returns after a very nice 18:27 runner-up last year and is co-favored with Mari Friedman (Santa Cruz) who clocked 18:30. Marea Zlatunich (Aptos) turned heads with a 4:55 mile and could spoil things! Her teammate Annika Niles (Aptos), Caitlin Huang (Los Gatos), and Seanna Campista (Pioneer) are favored for top finishes. Veronica Ortega (Madera South), Katie O’Dea (St. Ignatius), and Kaylah Grant (Live Oak) are our upset picks. Los Gatos are heavy favorites with St. Ignatius holding other challengers at bay.

The freshmen girls will tour Toro Park for the first time. Reina Garcia (Aptos), Lila Roake (Santa Cruz), and Sasha Pickard (Saratoga) make their debut after some nice middle school marks! Faith Mora (North Monterey County) joins the host team and leads them overall. Others that are off the radar will surely shine as well.

Ever since the CCS meet moved to Toro Park and with Earlybird’s growth, park records have been constantly taking hits! The three year old boys’ course record of 15:02 by CCS star Yohaness Estifanos (Milpitas-2012) could be in jeopardy with heat toughened Eduardo Herrera (Madera South) taking a shot. If it’s too hot, the 15:34 mark will be the goal for our elite guys to make the top 25 all-time Toro list. For the ladies, Tori Tyler (Gunn-2004) blazed a 17:16 course record. We don’t see that mark challenged here although the 18:16 to crack the top 25 is within reach of a couple. As far as team time records are concerned, the boys from Carlmont dazzled 3 years ago at the CCS Championships with a first ever sub 80:00 clocking at the park with a standing course record of 79:58 averaging just under 16:00 per scorer! Madera South has given the park record a great scare the last few years at Earlybird and surely has the horses on deck here to take a shot once again. Madera South will need to average 15:59 for their top 5 and may pull it off! The fresh girls’ team time record of 95:13 set last year by Aptos may not fall here but the very squad that set it last year is here and could have other plans! To crack the top ten team times ever at Toro Park, boys’ teams will have to break 81:23 and girls’ teams 97:17.

Finally, the largest plaque of the day goes to the team that scores well in multiple races and usually is won by a large squad. Bellarmine has been taking the plaque home several years running and looks as favorites to do so once again! Certainly a feat to be noted, considering they only have boys at the school and have no chance to score in half the races!!!!