NCS CHAMPIONSHIPS 11/23/2002

Last Saturday morning, the Cross Country NCS Championships were held at Hayward High School.  The top four teams for the girls and the top three teams for the guys advance to the State XC Championships the following Saturday in glorious Fresno.  The top 5 individuals not on an advancing team would go to State on individual bids as long as they finished in the top twelve in their division.  We all knew that Salesian would do better than it ever has before, but the question was how much we would move up, and whether or not our season would be extended for another week.

The boys were to compete first for Salesian at noon.  Physically the varsity boys were in bad shape, but mentally and emotionally, everyone knew what job they had to do.  Peder was suffering from a bad head/chest cold, but was still hoping to beat his personal record of 17:30 over 3 miles.  Xavier (17:37) unfortunately turned an ankle the week before going over the championship course, and hadn't run a step since.  Paul Logston warmed up with the team just in case Xavier was in too much pain to compete.  Chris D, Rafael, Keyvan, Chris S, and David were in high spirits and ready to peak.  When the gun fired, none of that mattered.

At the mile mark, Xavier lead the pack with Peder a few seconds behind, and the rest bunched together way back.  The mile was slow, but they all picked it up the second mile, especially DeCarlo.  By the time the 2.75 mile mark, Peder made his move, and Xavier went with him, both out-kicking a SJND runner.  DeCarlo, by this time, had made his way through the field until he was insight of his teammates ahead of him, chasing the pack.  Rafael came down the final hill, with Keyvan close behind.  With less than five meters to go, Keyvan lets loose with a burst of speed and a lean, beating out a St. Mary's runner.  Scott and David attacked the hill together, with a quarter mile to go, with Chris S beating out David slightly at the finish. The boys finished twelfth overall, seven places better than they ever have before.

The girls cheered on their male counterparts as they raced, but then had a full hour to worry about their own race.  All were given targets for their quarter, half mile, and mile splits, but they were told these were just guidelines.  If they felt better, this was the time to take a risk.  Our untapped freshmen, Julie and Carmen, were told to keep the contact with Pilar and Erin respectively.  (Julie started in October, delayed by injury, and Carmen who'd never raced three miles before was an alternate for the injured Elinor).  Lmar was determined to have the race of her life, Thea was keeping it light, and Lisa's thoughts centered on what it was going to take to make it to State.

The girls had a conservative start for the first quarter mile, but then picked it up.  Lisa Marchini came through the mile mark in thirteenth place at 6:18, only 18 seconds slower than her fastest mile ever.  Thea, Pilar, and Julie followed, all within a few seconds of each other, then the second Salesian pack of Erin, Lmar, and Carmen came through, all looking confident and strong.  By the two mile mark, Lisa had fallen back to fifteenth place, and was struggling a bit.  However, cheered on by her fans, Lisa relaxed, and regained her composure.  Thea had pulled away from her group by now, but Julie trailed Pilar by less than fifteen seconds.  The big surprise was Lmar pulling Erin along, and Carmen pushing hard, still in sight!  Unfortunately with a half mile to go, tragedy (or the pavement) hit Lmar as she fell down on the cement hill.  Erin called out to her, but pushed on, trying not to loose any position.  Lmar dragged herself up and continued to run, despite the blood running down her leg.  About this same time, Lisa was careening down the final hill towards the finish line, with Saint Mary's second runner closing in.  Lisa held her off, though, finishing as the fifth individual not on an advancing team, but four places off the top twelve cut to go to State.  Thea was less than a minute behind, sweeping up a few people on the final downhill with her massive kick.  Pilar held on, running after a pack in front of her, while another closed in.  Then the major miracles happened.  Julie came across the line in a time that would have beaten our entire squad at last year's NCS competition.  Erin, despite being hampered by a bad ankle crossed the finish 30 seconds faster than she did the year before.  Lmar, ran out of her mind in dramatic fashion, blood and all.  And finally, Carmen, who just turned 14 the day before, who never raced three miles, not only set a personal record for three miles, but her 2 mile split would have been a 2 mile personal record for her, and she would have placed fourth on our 2001 NCS team!!  The girls finished eighth overall, a full nine places higher than they did last year, and the first time a Salesian Cross Country team has broken into the top ten!

Good job all!  Thank you for the best season I've ever coached, and start thinking about going to Fresno next year as a team!