2009 RESULTS

Bells bring home the Crystal Springs hardware!

On a bright and beautiful fall morning, the 2009 Bellarmine Cross Country team headed up the Peninsula to the venerable jewel of race courses, Crystal Springs, to once again take part in the Serra Crystal Springs Invite. Even though the prestige of the Crystal Springs Invite has been eclipsed by the Clovis Invite, held annually on the same day (second Saturday of October) at Woodward Park in Fresno (site of the CIF State Cross Country Championships every year), Crystal Springs remains an important event for several reasons. One, the CCS championships are held on the course every other year—and if the Section powers-that-be ever come to their senses, it will be held there every year!—and even more importantly it is the site of the WCAL Championships every year! So, experience gained running in this Invite is invaluable. Plus, a time on the Crystal course is similar for a Northern California runner to a time on the Mt. SAC course for a SoCal runner: a standard by which all runners can mark themselves against all others. So, even though it is tempting to go to Fresno and preview the State Meet course, the Bells returned to Belmont…and did very very well!

The host Serra Padres organize their meet using the same schedule of events as the WCAL, so up first on the day were the dominant JVs, fresh off a 20 point race at WCAL I. Now, two all out efforts in one week is a tough task for young runners, but the coaches had cut back training so that these two race days would be the only hard efforts of the week. Still, there were sore legs at the starting line as Mr. Wise fired his starting pistol and the 179 runners took off down the gravelly slope. With binoculars, one can watch almost the entire first mile, and this writer did just that, with special interest in Senior Dalton Guthrie. Dalton missed WCAL I three days previous due to a nasty flu bug, and up until the afternoon before it was still up in the air as to whether or not he would run. Dalton went out under control and slowly moved up through the crowded lead pack, eventually settling in with his teammates Alex Jeongco, Matt Richards, and Reed Thornburg. They came flying through the mile at around 5:20, and already by the top of the hill that brings the runners right back to the starting line the race was all but over: the Bells held 10 of the top 20 spots—without #1 man Sanmay Jain, who was running Varsity--with Derek Pincus, Jonathan Durstenfeld, AJ Killoran, Oliver Lamb, Anselmo Sandoval, and David Estko all racing out in front of the field.

As the runners disappeared out around the far bend of the course, Alex and Dalton had pulled away and were running side by side. When they popped back into view on the farthest turn, there they were again, and once again at the two mile pole they were stride for stride…and that is the way it was up heartbreak hill, through the last uphill twists and all the way to the finish line, were Alex finished one second ahead of Dalton in running a blazing 16:38, a :25 PR. A great win for Alex, a great return for Dalton, but the truly impressive performance would happen behind the two leaders: the JVs would hit the hallowed perfect 15 points! Even without Seniors Mike Trimberger and Kyle Zampaglione, who were taking the SAT!

Matt Richards, returning to the JV level, overcame some old Crystal Springs demons, running a steady, strong race to finish third in 17:01, a :23 PR and one second from the sacred sub-17 minute territory…he’ll do it on November 4^th at WCAL Championships! Reed Thornburg ran another great race, tough and competitive as always, to finish fourth in 17:08, a :36 PR. He too will be looking to drop into the 16’s on Nov. 4. Finishing 5^th and rounding out the perfect 15 team score was Derek Pincus, continuing his fine Senior year with a :36 PR of his own. But the Bells did not stop there: Jonathan Durstenfeld finished 6^th, AJ Killoran 11th, Oliver Lamb 12th, Anselmo Sandoval 13th, and David Estko finished one place out of the coveted top 15—top 15 finishers receive a Crystal Springs t-shirt which is not sold (except maybe on E-Bay) and can only be earned. Top PRs on the day belonged to Peter Kiamanesh (1:04) and Tyler McGrath (2:00)…well done by all, as the JVs brought home the first plaque of the day.

The next race was the Varsity, which had 207 runners, but no Bells. Serra has two Varsity races, and the second is the ‘Championships Varsity’ race, which is supposed to be for the top teams. In the old days, before the Clovis Invite, the idea made sense, as many big name teams would show up to race. But it seems to me like the idea has run its course…only 61 runners and eight complete teams completed the Championship Varsity race. Still, it is the race we’ll always win just so we can race against any top teams that might show up. On this Saturday there were no other top teams, but there were top individuals. In any case, the race started and by the 600 meter mark one could tell it was going to be fast. By the time the leaders started back up the hill, they had hit the mile in 5:00, with Kyle Rae right in the mix. As the pack crested the top of the hill and took off down the long back section, the Bells had played it perfectly: in such a small and spread out race, teammates have to run together if they want to be able to meet their goals, otherwise they’ll get caught in no-man’s land at some point, with no one to run with. The Bells made a tight pack, with Tony Ferrari, Jack Bordoni, Adrian Hinojosa, and Sanmay Jain---in his first varsity race and fresh off his big JV WCAL I win—running shoulder to shoulder like some sort of square dance formation. Just a short bit back was Esteban Valencia and then Robbie Cotton, running with a painful blister and developing a painful cramp.

At the two mile, Kyle had separated from all but the three front runners, including Aptos’ Mitch Moriarity. Kyle came by in around 10:20, much much faster than he had ever run here before. He had a strong rhythm going and it didn’t look like he would be caught by the fifth place runner; the question was instead just how fast would he run? At the two mile, Tony, Jack and Adrian had moved up into the top 15, passing the St. Francis and Serra runners who had gone out very fast indeed. Sanmay, much like Matt Richards at WCAL I, found that the pace of a Varsity race is awfully quick, and he began to drop off. But Esteban, a veteran of 4 Varsity races by this time, was running his best race yet and had moved up steadily, stalking the Bell trio and down by only about 12 seconds at the 2 mile mark. Robbie was running well despite some physical discomfort, and all 7 Bells were in a position for big PRs.

At the top of Heartbreak hill nothing had really changed, except that now Tony, Jack, and Adrian had St. Francis’ #1, their friend Chris Reis, in their sites, as well as spots in the top 15, and Esteban could see him as well. Sanmay looked beat, but he was still charging for the finish, and Robbie had found some well of energy, enough to pass Sanmay as well as a bunch of other runners too. At the finish, Kyle had closed the gap on the 3^rd place runner but ran out of time to catch him. Still his time of 15:41 was the fastest Bellarmine time since…well, since Lawrence Smith ran 15:29 here last year at WCAL finals! But, before that, it was the fastest since Wayne Hopp in 2002! And it was a :36 PR to boot! A couple of other excellent runners crossed the line before the blue singlets of the Bell trio came into view: Tony in 8^th (16:04, :19 PR), Adrian, finishing like a madman, in 9^th(16:07, 2:06 PR!!), and Jack 10^th (16:09, :54 PR). Race of the day went to Esteban Valencia, who finished 13^th (16:19, 2:37 PR!!!). Robbie fought valiantly and finished 21^st (16:47, :41 PR) and Sanmay had a super Varsity debut, finishing 28^th (16:48, :29 PR). The team title,a nd second 1^st place plaque, ended up being relatively easy, 25-71 over San Benito. Even more impressive was the team time of 80:22…with Dalton in the fold and back to full strength, we can realistically shoot for a sub 79 minute time at Crystal, which hasn’t been done by the Bells since 1994!!!!

Next up were the Sophs, who would be up against some tough competition from outside the area, traditional power Maria Carrillo from Santa Rosa, and nearby, as Cupertino chose to run their superstars on the soph level instead of Varsity. With two tough races in a week, the Bell second years were perhaps a little ragged and sore, and in fact a few of the usual stalwarts had tough races. The Anthony twins from Cupertino jumped out in the first mile, chased by Maria Carrillo’s #1 man, an Oak Grove runner and then a big pack which included several more Maria Carrillo runners, Cupertino’s #3 and a bunch of Bells. The lead pack of Bells included Bradley Afroilan, Nick Mantovani, Daniel Toy, Andrew McCarty, Ben Chuter, Matthew Chan, and Jose Sandoval.

By the two mile mark it was clear that this was not going to be the Bells best day. Daniel Toy was doing his best, as were Nick Mantovani and Bradley Afroilan, but Matthew Chan was really hurting. Luckily, Jose Sandoval was having another great Invitational, and took off on the steep downhill which starts right after the two-mile mark. And Andrew McCarty continued his breakout year, pulling away from the pack he had been in and steadily passing runners over the last mile. And Kenny Schumacher had his best race of the year, running strong all the way to the finish, where he nearly caught Ben Chuter, who ran his best race of the year as well. So, while many Bells picked up the slack, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Anthony twins and the rest of the talented Cupertino sophomores on this day. Final score was Cupertino 47, BCP 50, Maria Carrillo 56. Jose ran a super race to finish as #1 man in 5^th place, with a :52 PR to boot. Nick finished 9^th, with a 1:06 PR, Bradley 11^th (1:15 PR), Andrew McCarty 14^th (1:56!!!) and Daniel held on for a t-shirt in 15^th place. Big PR’s were also achieved by Simon Coffin (having a great season, :54 PR), Michael Allen (:58), Joe Burson-Ryan (2:48!!!!!), his running buddy Eric Thorne (1:05) and Chad Morris (1:33). A great race, with many lessons to be learned, and hopefully employed at WCAL II!

As the frosh prepared for their race, there was a sense of urgency: their first race on the hallowed trails of Crystal Springs, and knowing that the seemingly invincible sophs had suffered a close defeat, mixed to heighten the intensity of the warm up. Plus Ken Saxton was recovering from a nasty spill on the track during a strider workout, so the door was open for the many different rivals who always draw a bead on the mighty Bells no matter what the meet.

As the race took off, it was clear there were some future super stars in the race; our own great runner, Charles DeAnda, was behind the lead pack, which included Mitty super frosh Richard Guzikowski and Earlybird frosh race winner Richard Ho. At the mile Charles had established a nice rhythm, and seemed like he was simply waiting for the large lead pack to feel the sting of their blistering opening mile pace. Charles has such an efficient stride that his running seems effortless, but on this day he clearly had some work to do, and yet he ran his race, not going out too fast but staying close enough to beat some of the early leaders. And as the long gently sloped second mile unfolded and the runners disappeared around the knolls at the southern edge of the course. Charles had already made contact with all the leaders except Ho, Guzikowski, Vargas from Alisal, Ramirez from Maria Carrillo, and Silva from Piner (Santa Rosa). When Charles hit the two mile pole he had passed all but Ho, Ramirez, and Guzikowski, though he passed him on the downhill that comes right after the two-mile mark. Charles would then find himself in no-man’s land, and though he finished very strongly, he could not catch the two leaders. Still, he finished in a blazing 17:08.

Behind him, the Bells were waging a fierce battle with four very strong teams. Nick Young had the freshest legs of all the clearly weary frosh (2 all out races in one week, don’t forget) and finished with great courage over the last half mile despite his obvious fatigue. He came in 7^th with a great 17:35 time. After a bit of a gap, due to great depth in this frosh race, Marshall Seid came in 20^th (18:26), Tyler Calderon (22^nd, 18:32), Raymond Meijer continuing his great improvement (29^th, 18:44), Ken Saxton, running injured and very valiantly (32^nd, 19:01) and Reed Thornburg (35^th, 19:07) rounded out the top 7 that brought home the team title in a great race: 1) BCP 73 2) Leland 107 3) Andrew Hill 143 4) SI 148. Other Bells who ran great on this day include Keegan McMillan, Nathan McCabe, Connor Towne, and Matias Chapman. The coaches can’t wait to see how much the frosh will improve at WCAL III when they get to attack Crystal Springs again.

Bells roll like the fog in Golden Gate Park

For the two weeks prior to the WCAL I meet, the weather in the Sunset and Richmond districts of western San Francisco could not have been more beautiful: warm, sunny, no fog, the classic San Francisco Indian Summer weather…earthquake weather to some, but to cross country runners just a little blessing after the intense heat of August and September. But on the afternoon of October 7^th, just as the Bellarmine buses rolled into Golden Gate Park, Mother Nature changed all that by covering the Polo Fields in a thick blanket of wet fog. For the rest of the WCAL it must have seemed more like some sort of horror movie: the evil fog brought in indomitable hoards of super fit warrior Bells that would haunt their afternoon! Yep, the Bells dominance in WCAL I probably was like a horror film for everyone else: four races, four team victories!

Due to the continuing learning curve between BCP and our new bus company, the JV runners arrived with barely enough time for a proper warm up, which was particularly distressing because the team would already be without Matt Richards, their number one runner from the Ram Invite. #1 Varsity runner Dalton Guthrie was home sick with a nasty flu bug, which meant that Matt would run Varsity, leaving the rest of the team to step up and fill in for Matt’s leadership. One other factor contributed to the coaches’ sense of unease: the Polo Fields is SI’s home course, and no team in the League comes in better prepared to race tough than the Wildcats. Add it all up, and the race was anything but a foregone conclusion, despite the JV team’s tremendous success this year.

Adding to the air of uncertainty was the fog…after the first quarter mile, one literally could not see the runners on the other side of the Polo Fields, because the fog was so thick! But as the pack came around the bend and headed for the break in the hedge that would send them off on the circuitous second mile, the Bells were bunched near the front with a host of SI runners…it was a two team race by the .75 mile mark. Sanmay Jain, Alex Jeongco and Reed Thornburg had established themselves as the leaders and pacesetters, just ahead of a long pack containing Derek Pincus, Jonathan Durstenfeld, AJ Killoran, Mike Trimberger and Oliver Lamb. Down the little slope they went, off to the winding single track portion of the race, and the Bells were well placed for a team victory.

When they emerged again, coming up the same slope they had disappeared down 5 minutes earlier, Sanmay had established a healthy lead, running ahead of Alex. Sanmay was really charging, and the race starter barked through his megaphone at the cyclist who was leading the runners on the course, “Ride faster, you’re slowing him down!” Reed and SI’s #1 were back a bit, and then came all the aforementioned Bells and a number of tough SI athletes; at that point, only 4 runners in the top 16 were not from Bellarmine or Saint Ignatius.

After the flat quarter mile on the dirt track which passes the two mile mark, the runners head up into the Eucalyptus forest for the only real hills, but compared to most courses we run, they are just speed bumps. But they do cover tricky terrain, and they end with a complete u-turn, another momentum sapping element to the Polo Fields course…meaning anything can happen in the last mile. Eventually, after five long minutes, the runners reappear and can be spotted through the hedges before they descend down to field level and dramatically reemerge through the tunnel for a long counterclockwise finish on the black top that rings the grass polo field/soccer complex. First through on this day, running side by side with the bike, was Sanmay. He charged to the finish with little visible fatigue, winning in 17:24, a 1:05 PR, and perhaps the best race of his wonderful career. Young runners take note: the secret ingredient to Sanmay’s great leap forward this year is not more sitar lessons (though those are good), or drosophilia DNA smoothies, but instead a summer spent running consistently, six days a week; do you want to get better? Then run over the summer! Alex, as he always does, closed extremely well over the final mile and ended up only 5 seconds behind Sanmay, a 1:49 PR from his freshman year (last year Alex missed this race while he recovered from a broken collar bone.)

Si’s #1 ran a great last mile to finish 3^rd, and then Reed came in, running a strong 18:07 over the winding 5K track. Derek Pincus ran one of the best races of his career this day, finishing 7^th overall and recording a 1:22 PR. Jonathan Durstenfeld finished out the Bell top 5, finishing 9^th. AJ Killoran continued his breakout season as 6^th man in 15^th place (:52 PR), and Senior Mike Trimberger outdueled junior Oliver Lamb for 7^th man, finishing 16^th and 17 respectively. The final score was BCP 23, SI 41, close but still a strong victory for a team running without one of its top runners. Big PRs were recorded by Edward Kim (1:04), Shant Stephanian (1:09), Joe Piefer (1:20), John Paton (1:23), Andrew Krasts (1:36), Peter Kiamanesh (1:40), Tim Ruder (2:21), and Tyler McGrath (2:44)…great work by all. Good job JVers setting the tone for the rest of the team, and for defense of your League title!

Next up was the Varsity, and while the fog was still blanketing the course, it had lifted enough that once could at least see the runners across the Polo Fields. Running without Dalton was a little scary for the Varsity, and as word spread through the other teams’ camps that BCP was down their #1 man, one could sense the optimism and confidence of our rivals grow. And in the first part of the race the hope of the other teams manifested itself in quite a tight—and very fast!—pack. At the mile mark the front pack was huge, with almost twenty runners, with at least one from every school, and six Lancers in the top 12. In fact, at that point, St. Francis was winning, SI was in second and the Bells were in 3^rd…but a cross country race is not 1 mile, it’s 3 miles long, or in this case 3.1, so there was plenty of racing still to go.

When the lead bike came back onto the levee, Kyle Rae had opened a 40 meter lead over a duo of SI teammates, Mike Reher and the super-improved Lucas Talavan. The pack behind them included two Bells (Tony Ferrari and Jack Bordoni), the three Lancers who had been able to maintain the pace, and Jarrett Moore from Sacred Heart, who is having a great season. Adrian Hinojosa was back a little from this group, and then Robbie Cotton and Esteban Valencia were in a big group. Matt Richards was back a little bit, adjusting to the rapid pace of a Varsity pack. At the two mile, the Bells were in a good position to claim the victory, but they would have to sustain their positions and hold off the tough Lancers and the Wildcats, who always finish strong over the last mile at the Polo Fields.

When the leader came bursting through the tunnel, the Bells gave a mighty roar: Kyle had extended his lead and put an exclamation point on his super season. He won his first Varsity race in 16:21, a whopping 1:03 PR, with a 9 second cushion over the amazing Talavan, who pulled away from his much better-known teammate Reher to finish second. Kyle’s time is the second fastest Bell time on the course since 2000! But the real battle was behind the lead four. Jarrett Moore from Sacred Heart had passed Tony and Jack over the last half mile, and St. Francis super-soph Colin Mack (Jack’s old Middle School teammate) had closed strongly, but neither of the Bells were going to be denied. They both kicked back by Moore and then held off his final charge, with Tony finishing 4^th (:34 PR) and Jack 5^th (1:31 PR). Adrian finished very strong, but developed a cramp in the race and fell off the mid-race pace. Still he had a lot left at the end, though not enough to catch St. Francis’ #2 and 3 men…a goal for WCAL II! Adrian did set a huge PR by 2:22!!! Esteban finished 17^th, Robbie 24^th and Matt 26^th, all of which was good enough for a comfortable victory for the Bells: BCP 38, St. Francis (in a bit of an upset) 65, SI 67 on their home course! A fine beginning to the 2009 Varsity WCAL campaign…see you in two weeks at Shoreline.

The Sophomore race began with a high fog ceiling and the usual questions about the opposition: who would be running from the other schools, and would the Bells once again be able to overcome the absence of their top 3 runners, who had just contributed to a great Varsity victory? At the gun, SI took off and set an early fast pace, with only Nick Mantovani choosing to run right up front with the Wildcat duet. Just behind him lurked numerous Bells, but after three quarters of a mile, Matthew Chan, Daniel Toy, Bradley Afroilan, Jose Sandoval, and Andrew McCarty had established themselves near the front of the pack, along with a hand full of Wildcats and few other runners…but even at the mile, one could see that the dominance of the incredible class of 2012 would not be threatened on this foggy day.

When the race surged back onto the dirt track, Liam Powers from SI had broken away from his teammates and was challenging the Bells leaders. Nick was hurting a bit from the early fast pace, but Matthew, Daniel and Bradley were keeping up with Powers, and as they headed up into the forest it was anyone’s race…and that anyone was on this day SI’s Powers. When the runners came into the stadium, Powers had opened up a 40 meter lead on the Bells. Bradley Afroilan was the man on this day, with enough left in his legs to make one last charge. He didn’t catch his rival, but he did run the best race of his career, finishing second in a blistering 18:06. Right behind him came a hoard of Bells: Daniel Toy (1:01 PR) and Matthew Chan (1:23 PR) in identical 18:11s, Nick Mantovani (5^th with a 1:19 PR), and Andrew McCarty (9^th with a 1:53 PR). Though Jose Sandoval fell off the early pace, he still finished 13^th with a 2:06 PR! John Bigelow was 7^th and newcomer Ben Chuter was 8^th man on this glorious day for the sophs. The final score was BCP 23, SI 53! Big PRs were recorded by Karl Valdez (:56), Justin Thai (1:03), Simon Coffin (1:12), Michael Allen (1:24), Eric Thorne (1:32), Chad Morris (2:04), Beau Pauken (2:35!!), and Joe Burson-Ryan (4:04!!!!!) What a day for the Sophs!!!

Last came the frosh, and the always exciting debut of all the new runners in the WCAL. Mitty’s #2 Varsity runner was a freshman, and Serra and St. Francis inexplicably ran a freshman in the soph race (which they do from time to time…no one knows why!), but other than that this would pit all the rookies in the first of many head to head battles. At the gun, a Sacred Heart runner took off like he was running the mile relay…seriously! His coach, Andy Chan, remarked that he may have PRed in the 400 at the quarter mile mark of the race! After a half mile, superfrosh Charles DeAnda broke away from the big pack and caught the Sacred Heart runner, who I should point out DID NOT completely collapse and ended up finishing in 8^th place. Behind Charles, the race was shifting and surging as the excitable rookies tried to establish their pace and get a rhythm, especially as this race is a 5K, longer than anything they had raced yet this season.

By the mile, Charles had broken away and was out on his own. The only question was how much would he win by. Behind him, his teammates’ hard work all season was manifesting itself in a strong pack; as runners from other schools started to drop off the pace. The Bells moved ahead little by little, picking off runners and eventually forming a bloc at the head of the race. By the time they reemerged and made their way to the two mile mark, it was Nick Young, Marshall Seid, Ken Saxton, and Taylor Calderon running in the lead pack with 4 other runners. Just behind them was another huge pack of Bells, led by Ray Meijer and Akshay Alaghatta, and then Ben and Nick Shea, Austen Thornburg, Marco Miranda, and Joe Smith.

At the end, Charles came racing through the tunnel and, much like Sanmay had earlier in the day, finished with little visible fatigue. His blazing time of 17:59 would have won the Sophomore race and finished 3^rd in the JV race!!! His time was faster than Jack Bordoni’s the year before and Kyle Rae’s from two tears earlier! And, Charles beat the Mitty frosh—who ran Varsity—by 1 second! An SI runner finished third—once again showing that SI really knows how to run this course—but then came the Bells: Saxton 3^rd, Young 5^th, Seid 6^th, Calderon 7^th, Meijer 11^th, Alaghatta 14^th, Ben Shea 15^th, Nick Shea 19^th, Austen Thornburg 20^th…yep, 10 of the first 20 finishers were Bells! Having a great race on this day was Austen Christensen (31^st) and Joaquin Bernal (41^st). The final team score was BCP 22, SI 48. A great day in the fog for Bellarmine…keep it up Bells and let’s sweep WCAL!!!

STANFORD 2009: Once again, heat takes the day!

Every year the Stanford Invitational is one of the top cross country meets on the West Coast, and definitely the premier event in Northern California. 2009 was no exception, though the economic crisis did hurt the number of out-of-area schools that were able to attend this year, most noticeably the translucent boys from Auckland Grammar out of New Zealand. Still, twenty schools traveled from Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona, with another thirty-one schools from LA and San Diego, to fill out a field of 168 full teams; in all, 1218 runners finished their races…but more than 1300 STARTED the 6 boys races, and therein lies the theme of the day: blistering, withering, life sapping heat, which made an already pressure-packed meet that much more intense. And, as followers of BCP XC 2009 might have expected, the Bells were more than up for all the challenges that Mother Nature and their mass of rivals could muster.

As the Bells finished their warm up and began heading to the hallowed starting line on the 2^nd tee, many questions swirled about them in the heavy hot air: would a chain of somewhat disappointing results at Stanford be broken? How would the heat—over 95 degrees when the gun went off—affect the Bells? And how would the team fare against the Big Boys from Southern California? The hope was to somehow finish in the top 10 out of 26 teams, in a field that included 7 of the top 10 teams in the state, plus some big guns from Washington and Colorado. The game plan was to go out fast but consciously under control, knowing that the field would take off at a rocket like pace—which they did: the leaders ran the first mile in about 4:45!—and then move up through the field. A good plan, although at the half mile our fast but controlled pace had all but two of our runners in the back half of the field. Casual fans might have thought that the Bells should have run in the Division I race and not in the packed Seeded class, but then they would be casual. Seasoned observers would have noted that despite the heat, the Bells looked as comfortable as any team in the field.

At the mile Kyle Rae had moved up into the top 35 of the field, shadowed closely by Dalton Guthrie. Just behind them Tony Ferrari stalked the Bell top 2, sitting nicely in about 50^th place. Next came a group of three runners, cruising at about 100^th place: Jack Bordoni, Adrian Hinojosa, and Robbie Cotton. Seventh man Esteban Valencia was back even more, though by the mile he had moved up to within 20 spots of the trio in front. The pace was quick, and the heat began taking its toll. Every 100 meters or so, a runner would crumple to the turf. Tony Ferrari described it like being in a Star Wars movie: the runners were like some variety of jet fighters, and when one exploded, the field of runners would simply split into two streams and swiftly move around the burning wreckage, reforming on the other side back into perfect formation. Jesuit’s #2 man went down at the mile mark, and Davis High’s #1 man, running in second at the two mile mark but stride for stride with Eric Olsen, the eventual winner of the race, went down with two severely cramped calves. All in all, seven teams lost at least one runner, and several teams were not complete because five runners did not finish the race.

The Stanford course is great for viewing the runners, and with a little running one could easily watch as the race unfolded half mile by half mile. At the 1.5 mark, all was status quo in positions, except that all seven Bells were steadily picking off staggering runners…and then Jack made a move and pulled away from Adrian and Robbie. Robbie later said of the second mile, “It felt like someone had turned the EazyBake oven on to high and put us right in there.” Yep, it was hot, but the runner I was concerned about was Adrian…he looked like maybe he wasn’t going to make it. During the second mile and into the third, Jack steadily pulled away from Robbie and Adrian, while Esteban moved up on them. The runners knew they were slowing down—and that others were passing them—and they eventually kicked it back up into the highest racing gear and finished with great aplomb, passing a number of runners in the final 200…which was another part of our game plan!

The finish at Stanford is deceptive, because the long, slightly uphill swath of green fairway is 300 yards long…yet the runners can hear the announcer, see the finishing clock, feel the closeness of the cheering crowd, and it all seems much closer than it is. Many runners begin their kick too soon and also try to shift from cruising gear to all out gear long before they should. The result is a number of runners staggering into the finish line and being passed by those who judged the finish correctly. The Bells all finished strongly, passing a number of runners in the stretch, with the exception of Kyle. He ran a brilliant race, pushing into the top 30 with a mile to go, but fading over the last quarter mile. Dalton, who had run about 10 meters behind Kyle the whole race, was able to pass him and unleash a furious kick. He finished 24^th in the race in a smoking 16:08 (a 35 second PR over his sophomore time), the fastest Bellarmine time since Neil Davis’ 16:08 in 2000…but Neil finished 3^rd in that race! (Neil ran 16:03 as a Junior, finishing 8^th.) The depth of the Stanford field, as well as the growth of the sport overall, means that every year the times at all meets are faster and faster; check out the results of the last three state meets!!! In any case, Kyle hung on to finish nine seconds behind Dalton, his 16:17 a :54 PR and good for 30^th place!

Tony Ferrari kept the front two in his sites all the way through the two mile mark, at which point they had pulled away a bit. But Tony finished incredibly strong over the last half mile, running in the author’s opinion the race of his life, and ended up in 45^th place, his 16:35 a :45 PR, and faster than Marcos Hinojosa and Lawrence Smith ran last year, and beating such notable runners as Ian Myjer and Benji Xie from Oak Ridge (#4 team in California)!!! A mere 25 seconds later, Jack came kicking down the finish stretch and ran 17:00, another huge :45 PR and good for 78^th place. Behind him, Esteban had moved into sight of Robbie and Adrian…but Adrian belied his outward appearance to unleash a furious kick, passing Robbie and finishing in 112^th at 17:31, just ahead of Robbie (117^th, 17:34, a :52 PR!) and Esteban (121^st, 17:37.) A stupendous finish for the Bells, with the team time a :26 PR over the record from 2007…but most impressively, the Bells finished 9^th! A top ten spot had been the big ‘reach’ goal, and with tough but smart running and strong finishes these seven fantastic athletes achieved just that. And what is perhaps most exciting for the 2009 team is that the three teams directly in front of the Bells are all DI state ranked schools from the San Diego section, and they are all within 50 points of the Bells…a target for Fresno? Well, first there are many races to be run, starting with next Wednesday in San Francisco: WCAL I! Hope to see you all there! Go Bells!

Westmoor Ram Invite 2009

As dawn stretched her rosy fingertips through the cool air Saturday morning, phalanxes of Bellarmine harriers assembled within the dark silhouettes of buses and made their way north to the Ram Invitational at Westmoor High School in Daly City. The cool breath of dawn did not last for long, and the runners would face oppressive heat and the notorious “Incline of Death” (only a half mile into the 2.4 mile course) which rises like some ominous fault scarp that has careened off the adjacent San Andreas. In addition, runners would face the precarious northern slope of the course, transformed by legions of ferocious gophers hell-bent on terraforming it into a facsimile of a cratered firing range. One wishes for the likes of Bill Murray or at the very least a few kilos of nitroglycerine.

The freshmen ran in an intensely competitive second heat in which they were edged out by cross-country powerhouses Las Lomas and Jesuit (Las Lomas 83; Jesuit, 84; Bellarmine, 88). Any of these squads would have easily dominated the first heat on the basis of team times (the average of the top five finishers from each team), and the Bellarmine frosh may have won the second heat had it not been for the absence of their lightning-quick number-three man, Marshall Seid. Superfosh Charles DeAnda finished 6^th overall (out of 170 runners) with 8^th-fastest Bellarmine time of the day (14:07). Nick Young finished 2^nd for the Bells and 10^th over all. Tyler Calderon finished 3^rd for Bellarmine (up from 7^th on the team last week!) and 20^th overall. Ken Saxton, Akshay Alaghatta, Ray Meijer, Austin (Lil’ Tex) Thornburg, Marco Miranda, and Ubertwins Nick and Ben Shea also delivered notable performances, all racing the challenging 2.4 miles at a sub-6:30 minute pace.

By the time the sophomores began to prepare for their race, the mercury had risen considerably in the still morning air. The squad set off quietly for a pre-race warm-up, and their uncharacteristically subdued demeanor gave some observers cause for concern. But within a few minutes after the race’s start, any nail-biting fell by the wayside as Nick Mantovani, John Bigelow, Bradely Afroilan, José Sandoval, Andrew McCarty, and Daniel Toy gracefully melded into a loose pack – just off the lead runner from San Leandro at the half-mile mark. The Bellarmine lead-six surged like gazelles up the infamous Incline of Death with Ben Chuter and Matt Chan following just a few paces behind . At 1.1 miles, Nick “The Horse” Mantovani continued to hang within 20 meters of the leader, followed 3 seconds later by Sandoval and Afroilan. After disappearing into a forested no-man’s land the runners reemerged five mintues later with San Leandro occupying 1^st, 6^th and 7^th place, and Bellarmine’s José Sandoval in 2nd, Afroilan and Mantovani in 3^rd and 4^th, and Andrew McCarty in 5^th - and Bigelow, Toy, and Chuter in hot pursuit. The Bellarmine squad kicked in the afterburners with 700 meters to go, battling in an all-out no-guts no-glory charge to the finish line. The Bell sophomores scored a stunning 28 point victory, beating 2^nd place finisher San Leandro by 91 points! José Sandoval finished 2^ndoverall, Nick Mantovani and Bradley Afroilan 3^rd and 4^th respectively. HUGELY improved Andrew McCarty finished 6^th, and Daniel Toy 13^th. John Bigelow also ran a brilliant race for the Bells, finishing 17^th overall. Ben Chuter, the number 7 man for the Bell sophomores, is the man to watch, though. Let’s see what this harrier has down his socks for WCAL I in less than two weeks!

By mid-day, the positively scorching temperatures began to exert a drag on race times and lay down numerous runners on the course as they collapsed from heat stress. Undaunted, the JV’s (minus the JV top 7 who would make their appearance later in the Varsity race) put their toes on the starting line, with AJ Killornan and Mike Trimberger, angling to go out hard and try to capture 1^st and 2^nd place. A slow and infernal breeze huffed across the course as the gun went off, and AJ and Mike surged to the lead ten as planned and hung on unrelentingly for the entire blisteringly hot 2.4 miles. Las Lomas, which elected not to enter runners into a varsity category, easily gained the upper hand and managed to insert several runners in the top 10. Bellarmine battled admirably against the skewed field to finish 2^nd to Las Lomas with Mike Trimberger in 7^th and AJ Killornan in 8^th. David Estko, Oliver Lamb, Tyler Thornburg, and Shant Stephanian all powered through the course at a sub-6:20 minute pace despite the blazing heat to finish 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th for the Bells. 1: Las Lomas (23); 2: BCP (93).

Thankfully, the temperature began to drop by the time the JV top 7 lined up for the last race of the day against a very completive second varsity heat full of excellent squads, including formidable Menlo Atherton. The cool promise of fog seemed to seep into Matt Richards being, purging the inner demons he’s battled since nearly collapsing from heat at the Early Bird Invitational in 2008. Matt looked strong and solid at the one mile mark and throughout the race, and he used his long, loping stride to hang within a few meters of the top 10 for the entire course. Matt finished in 12^th place overall (13:32), followed by Sanmae Jain (13:45, 19^th over all), Alex Jeungco (13:51, 23^rd overall), and Reed Thornburg (13:55, 27^th overall), Anselmo “The Gopher” Sandoval (14:16, 34^th overall), Derek Pincus (14:23, 36^th overall), and Jonathan Durstenfeld (14:51^th overall). Take note freshmen: Sanmae, Alex, and Reed ran in classic pack formation, staying in close contact and supporting and exhorting each other throughout the race!! Menlo Atherton (47) took first, followed by Northgate (90), Del Oro (101), and Bellarmine (115).

Once the crowds had dispersed from the 2009 Ram Invite, and tired coaches, runners, and family members had made their ways home, and the caressing fog had poured into the gloaming, still the quiet memory lay of all those who had made paeans from rhythms of hearts beating inside bodies and feet striking purposefully against the dry and dusty earth. Get ready for WCAL I! Go Bells!!!!

LOWELL 2009: Fast in the Fog!

One of the reasons that the Bellarmine Cross Country program travels up the Peninsula every year to participate in the San Francisco/Lowell Invitational is because we know the fog will be hanging over Golden Gate Park like a beautiful chilled blanket, keeping the runners cool while the rest of the Bay Area swelters. And once again the marine layer did not disappoint! All four Bell teams enjoyed near perfect racing weather, and all four recorded near perfect performances on another super Saturday for the Bells 2009 Cross Country team: 3 firsts and a second, and some gutsy competition from top to bottom of the roster!

First up were the frosh, looking to prove that their Earlybird victory was no fluke. They had been well schooled by coaches and upperclass teammates alike, and so when the gun went off they launched the Lowell Plan: go out hard! The course runs downhill for a good three quarters of a mile before taking a sharp left hand turn onto a short but very tricky section of single track, sandy, windy trails. Once into this portion of the course, any runner behind you will have a tough time staying in contact, because ‘out of sight, out of mind!’ After the short labyrinthine section, the runners emerge into a narrow field walled on either side by high hedges, and then cut over onto a bike path which is more like an uphill tunnel through bushes! Charles DeAnda took off like a rocket, and was leading for the first mile, before a Mt. View runner put a slight gap on him. Charles would race beautifully, never able to close that gap, but keeping his second place(12:22 for 2.07 miles) and once again showing his tremendous potential.

After the narrow view-impaired segment, the runners at last empty out onto level and open ground: the hallowed Polo Fields. A quarter mile down that track and then once again onto a single track trail, this time up and down a few saddles through a grove of Eucalyptus and Cypress trees. At this point the Bells were in a real dogfight with a surprisingly strong squad from Lincoln of Stockton. Nick Young was chasing the Lincoln number one and two runners, while Marshall Seid, Nicholas Shea, Akshay Alaghatta, and Ken Saxton were right behind him, fighting to hold off the Lincoln 3 and 4! Right behind them was a bigger pack, with the Lincoln 5 and 6…quite a race with a half mile to go!

The Bells took the hills like champs, not letting the Lincoln runners gain any ground. For the second week in a row, Nick Young sustained his great rhythm all the way to the finish line, finishing 7^th in 12:41. Nick finished one place in front of the Lincoln #3, but with the same time, and one second behind was the hard charging Marshall; had the race been 20 yards longer, Marshall might have caught them both! Next in was the Lincoln #4, and then Ken Saxton, who passed 4 runners in the last 600 yards, and finished in a super 11^th place, one second in front of Nicholas Shea. Akshay Alaghatta, in his first race, ran superbly, finishing in 15^th place as #6 man, and Taylor Calderon once again finished strong to come in as 7^th man. Raymond Meijer—also in his first race—came back from a sprained ankle to finish 19^th in the race, Benjamin Shea came in 20^th, Marco Miranda 22^nd with another gutsy finish, Austin Thornburg 25^th, Joe Smith 27^th, Jimmy Consiglio 32^nd, Keegan McMillan 34^th, Justin Cho 39th, and Ty Miller in 14:07…16 Bells ran under 7 minute/mile pace! What depth!

The Bells beat Lincoln 41-47, but at Lowell there are two heats in all divisions. The race officials do not merge the two, but I do. If the two heats are combined the Bells come out a winner with 90 points to 94 for a great Aragon squad (winner of heat 1), with Lincoln at 103 and Monta Vista in fourth with 130…what a race! Many other Bells showed improvement, and many made their season debuts; good job Baby Bells, and keep it up next week at Westmoor!

The Sophs toed the line for heat two knowing that their top 3 were on the sidelines, cheering instead of running, as Jack Bordoni, Adrian Hinojosa, and Esteban Valencia were all on the Varsity this week. The Sophs had prepared all week, expecting that some new stars would emerge from this incredibly deep and talented class. In their heat was one of the other deepest sophomore classes in the CCS, Menlo-Atherton. They knew the game plan well, and at the half mile mark a large group of Bells had moved up to the front pack, racing to enter the sand maze before the big packs. In the lead was Nick Mantovani, track star and now newly crowned leader of the sophomore team. He was running in a group with Chris Waschura, from Woodside, one of the fastest frosh harriers in the section last year, and several other speed burners…and the sophomore race is a speed race, at just 2.07 mostly flat miles, it is practically a sprint for XC veterans like the sophs!

Just behind Nick, Jose Sandoval, Matthew Chan and Andrew McCarty were in a tight bunch, marking the lead group. They stretched out a bit in the maze, and when they popped out into view on the Polo Fields upper levee, Nick was right with the leaders, and Jose had opened a bit of a gap to move into the top 10. Behind Jose, Bradley Afroilan was running beautifully, patiently moving up through the crowd and showing off all the experience he gained in a great frosh track season. Andrew and Matthew were close by, with Daniel Toy coming up on his teammates as well. With a half mile to go, and just the hills to traverse, the Bells were in a great position, with only M-A putting up any kind of a fight.

At the finish, Nick held on for fourth with perhaps the best race of his XC career, not only running fast and tough, but also shouldering the mantle of leader, which he wore with gusto. Jose closed very strong to finish in 7^th, just two places and 4 seconds ahead of super-improved Bradley Afroilan, who flashed his inimitable mid-race smile while he crushed his opponents over the last half mile! Andrew McCarty continued his meteoric rise, finishing in 11^th. Course improvements are tough to call—a double booking problem with the upper Speedway Meadows meant that the finish had to be shortened, so this year’s course was 2.07 instead of 2.13—but surely Andrew was once again our most improved runner of the day! #5 man was Matthew Chan, bouncing back from some early season injury issues to show his great talent and especially his race toughness. Daniel Toy also overcame a host of early season ailments to finish as #6, and Joseph Kenny Kenji Schumacher rose up from among his many talented teammates to round out the Top 7, finishing 22^nd in the race. Notable efforts also came from John Bigelow (26^th), who claims he does not like to run in cold weather (?), so his race was even more impressive given the SF chill; and Simon Coffin (36^th) and Michael Allen (43^rd) who continue to improve and look to push for a top 7 spot as WCAL approaches.

The Sophs outdistanced M-A, 27 to 40. Combining both races, the Bells were again victorious, by a score of 72 to 96 for M-A and 104 for Monta Vista, winner of heat 1. Great job Sophs…we are all so proud of how you competed in your first race without the Big Three, but especially Jack, who has been your leader in every BCP race you’ve run. Keep it up at Westmoor next week!

When the JV race fields were announced earlier in the week, the JV runners were very excited to see that they had pulled Mountain View in their heat. To race against a storied program like Mountain View is always great, but especially at Lowell, where the BCP JV teams have had amazing success throughout the years, and defending the team title and race victory against a great JV team was going to make this an intense battle…and it did not disappoint!

At the mile mark the Bells were in a great position to go into the sandy curves with a strong lead; Matt Richards had taken off in the first 300 meters and just kept right on going. Reed Thornburg and Sanmay Jain were also right in the front, just clear of a group of 7 Mountain View runners, 6 or 7 athletes from other schools, and then a whole herd of Bells. Alex Jeongco decided to go out conservatively and then use the long downhill to make up ground; it worked perfectly, as the fast pace claimed all but the Bells and the Spartan runners (Mountain View.) It was clear from the faces of all runners from those two schools that this was more than just an early season Invite…coaches from many schools were running along the course, shouting out, “this is like an old fashioned dual meet!”, and in fact by the two mile mark it was: the top 14 runners were from just BCP and Mountain View.

In the maze, Matt had fallen off the pace a bit, but Sanmay had picked it up, and he blazed to the lead, followed closely by Reed and Alex, and then seven Spartans! When they crested the little rise onto the Polo Fields, the lead bikes veered off the course, and Sanmay followed! By the time he realized his mistake, Reed and Alex had passed him and he was back to the Mountain View pack. But Sanmay surged, Alex took off at the base of the hills, and the three once again put a gap on the MV crowd. Behind the Mountain View army, Anselmo Sandoval and Matt Richards had formed an alliance, running hard with the Spartan pack. And behind them, Derek Pincus and Jonathan Durstenfeld had broken away from all but the Mountain View team. Up into the hills they went, with the MV coach telling his top 3 that they had to catch the Bells’ leaders to have any chance…and he was right!

Alex didn’t slow a bit, charging to the victory in a blazing 15:35, one second ahead of Sanmay, who used his 800 speed to kick by Reed and beat him by 4 seconds. Then six Mountain View runners came through, a sight so impressive that most observers thought they had won the race…but not this writer, who was keeping score and knew that if the Bells could pop the next two runners in, they would barely eke out a victory…and after MV #6, here came Anselmo, Matt, Derek and Jonathan in a line to secure the victory 27-30. It was 1981 all over again, and I was racing through the halls of Yuba City High School, as the Jesuit High Marauders scored 15 points in all four races in a dual meet that featured some of the only anti-Catholic jeers I have ever heard in a high school sporting event! I’ll take Golden Gate Park over Yuba City any day!!!! All Bells ran great, but of special note are AJ Killoran, who continues a great season; Mike Trimberger, finishing 23^rd out of 147; Oliver Lamb in only his second race finishing 35^th, and Tyler Thornburg, getting closer to 6:00 pace!!! Next week, the top 7 JV runners from the Lowell Invite will run as the Varsity at the Westmoor Meet, so that means that Estko, Lamb, Zampaglione, Killoran, Trimberger, Thornburg, Jorgensen et al will have to race for the JV title in Daly City…get ready, bhoyos!

San Ramon Valley decided to stack their JV squad, moving up their top frosh and sophs, and what a squad it was. They went 1 though 7 in heat one, and won the combined JV race handily: 1. SRV 26 2. BCP 47 3. Mt. View 50. But as Evan Smith, the excellent coach at Mountain View, pointed out, had SRV run only Jrs and Srs in the JV race, we would have both beat them. They finished almost dead last on the frosh and soph levels without their top guns, but they did put together a heck of a JV squad!!!!

The Varsity knew that SRV was going to be very tough; they are the #1 team in the NCS, and probably the #3 team in all Northern California (Mt. View with Garrett Rowe, Oak Ridge (Sacramento area) would be ahead right now, with a whole bunch more NCS teams in the mix.) Still, we’ve been running well and training hard. Not even the presence of St. Francis or Serra in our heat was as big as a chance to lock horns with a regional power like SRV. Most courses in our area have a starting chute of about 100to 300 yards, followed by some sort of a turn, rise, drop or bend to break up the inevitable initial flying start of a Varsity race. But Lowell’s opening chute is over a quarter mile long, and by the time the field hits JFK blvd. to make the long descent to the sand maze, there are some tired bodies up in front. That is how one could tell that SRV was so good: they had 5 runners in the lead pack, and not a one was breathing hard at the mile mark! The Bells had two in front of their five, a welcome sight as it has been a few years since we’ve had real ‘front runners’; depth has been our key! Dalton Guthrie was right in front, side by side with his arch nemesis, Dr. Moriarty from Aptos. And Kyle Rae was out very strong, hoping to build on his great Earlybird start. Tony Ferrari was back just a bit, and then Jack Bordoni, Adrian Hinojosa and Robbie Cotton were all in a tight knot, ahead of the SRV 6^th man but a ways behind their 5^th. Esteban Valencia was back but not by much; he had been very nervous going into the race, but looked composed and under control now.

When they came back in to view, Dalton and Moriarty were literally a foot apart, with a slight gap over Eric Safai from Los Altos. Then came a hoard of SRV runners, led by Mr. Colucci’s nephew, with Kyle in their midst, swallowed in a sea of tennis ball yellow. Tony had fallen off a bit, and was now battling local stars like Kranti Peddada of Monta Vista. Adrian and Jack were side by side, now joined by Esteban. Robbie was just a step behind, and the Bells were well placed for second, as SRV had put 5 runners in the top 10! At the base of the hill, Moriarty made a move, and Dalton let him get a slight gap. By the finish Mitch had opened it up a bit, and Dalton didn’t even hear Safai as he came by in the last 30 meters and nipped Dalton by 1 second! A great race by Dalton, whose pace adjusted to the shorter 2.8 distance was a blazing 5:05 per mile!!! That’s 14:53 at Crystal!!! Kyle faded a bit over the last half mile, and learned that being the Bellarmine Bell at a football game the night before a XC race is NOT a good idea. Tony finished strong to hold off a pack of five runners behind him, and come in 11^th. Adrian, Jack and Esteban finished 22, 23, 24, just getting beat to the line by a runner from Urban. Robbie had a nice kick and came in 26^th…one spot behind Serra’s #1 man!!!

SRV scored 31 to BCP’s 63, which was a strong showing against a mighty team. The Varsity will be up against a whole field of SRV’s next week in the seeded race at Stanford…steel yourselves boys, it’s going to be great! Mountain View won the 2^nd heat, and the combined scores were 1. SRV 47, 2. M. View 92, 3. BCP 110. The season has started brilliantly; thanks to all family members and friends for all the support and we’ll see you next week. Go Bells!!!

EARLYBIRD 2009: Wow!!!!

Early Bird 2009: Wow!

Cross Country is a somewhat unique sport in that athletes train for over three months without competing. During those long summer days, the anticipation and expectation of the coming season grows and grows, and yet it seems like that first race will never come. In the absence of any sort of test, the mind jumps from one extreme to the other, some days thinking that this will be the year when the big break through comes, and then some days thinking one may never run well again. And then all of the sudden it is 6:30 in the morning, the team is waiting for a bus that never comes, watching the lightening streak across the sky, and there is no more time for wondering, because you are about to toe the starting line with 200 other athletes and there’s nothing left to do but run with all your heart…and this year, more than any other, all those hopes were truly realized for the Bells. Not to ruin the end of the story, but because many people left before the final times had been totaled they may not be aware of how well we did: our team time, computed by adding the times of our five fastest runners from all classes, was the 6^th fastest time ever run at Toro Park, by all teams in all competitions! Wow!

The Bells arrived in Salinas, a little later than hoped, to find that the weather, for the first time in this author’s memory, actually cool and conducive to fast running, a real blessing. The Earlybird Invite uses a unique format, racing athletes by their grade and not by Varsity or Frosh-soph, etc. So first up were the frosh, and they began their warm up under the excellent tutelage of coaches Nevle, Kniffin and McCullough, along with some encouraging words from Junior AJ Killoran, and clearly none of the guidance went unheeded, as this year’s crop of new Bells outshined all previous versions. From the gun it was clear that these freshmen already had an understanding of racing tactics; none went out too fast, but many of the top runners stayed in contact with the lead pack, while all the Bells in the race were running with their heads up, looking to move up through the field as the first mile unfolded.

At the 1.5 mile mark, just before the big hills begin, the frosh were in a great position, with seven runners ahead of any other team’s #4 man! Toro Park, though, is a tough place to debut, partly because the hills are so steep, and no freshman runner has done much work in the hills yet. And our young Bells crested the hill looking very tired…but they kept pushing on. Especially winded but particularly tough were Nick Young and Ken Saxton; at mile mark 2, it looked like they might fade, but in fact they fought valiantly to the finish line. Ahead of them Charles DeAnda was keeping pace with the lead group, and he would finish in a very strong time of 18:06, 10^th place overall; a great start to what will be a great season for Charles! Second runner on the day was Nick Young in 18:40, good for an impressive 15^th place. The third runner was super smooth Marshall Seid (18:56, 18^th place), who ran a very consistent and smart race. #4 man was Nicholas Shea (19:14, 27^th), 5^th was Ken Saxton (19:28, 35^th), 6^th was the surprising Taylor Calderon, who closed fast over the last mile to finish 38^th in 19:33, and Austin Tex Thornburg rounded out the top 7, finishing 47^th in 19:57. The seven runners under 20 minutes is a new BCP frosh record, eclipsing the class of 2009 by one runner. But, one should note that Ben Shea, Marco Miranda, Jimmy Consiglio, Keegan McMillan, Joe Smith and Ty Miller all ran under 21:08, and would have been in the top 5 of every other team in the race!!! All the Bells ran well, and we will look to work on finishing with gusto. In all, 207 runners and 14 complete teams (min. 5 runners) made it around the 3 mile track, and the Bells of course won, 77 to 99 over always tough Mountain View. Way to go Bells…get ready for Lowell!!

Inspired by their younger teammates, the Sophs headed to the finish line looking to avenge their only defeat of the 2008 campaign, when they lost to the Madera South Stallions by a whopping 42 points. But no group had improved so dramatically in track as this mighty group of Sophs, so the coaches were optimistic the season would begin well…and well it did! Jack Bordoni and Adrian Valencia both started strong but smart, just off the lead group of six. A little further back, Adrian’s cousin Esteban Valencia was starting very cautiously, knowing he was in great shape but not used to running near the leaders. As the huge pack (231 runners!) came pouring by the mile mark, other coaches could be heard to say, “How many guys does Bellarmine have?!?!” In every pack, it seemed a Bell was pushing the pace, and the competitive hallmark of this class was on display for all to admire.

At the top of the hill, Jack and Adrian had used their strength to drop all but one of the pack chasing super Ram Michael McCabe from Willow Glen. Jack would end up finishing second in 16:31, a 56 second PR. Just behind him was his vastly improved teammate Adrian Hinojosa, who would finish fourth in 16:36, an incredible 3:25 PR! Not too far back, Esteban finished his great race, holding on to a top 10 spot (10^th) sandwiched between two Clovis West runners…Clovis West was ranked 38^th in California pre-season! His 17:11 time was the tied 6^th fastest Bell time of the day.

Not far behind was Nick Mantovani, fresh off a summer training in Italy. He fought hard the whole way, particularly over the last half mile, where he held off several Madera South runners to finish in 17:36, a 1:40 PR. Tough running, Nick! Bravo! Next Bell to cross the line was ever-exuberant Jose Sandoval, whose 18:04 was a 1:46 PR. 6^th man was Bradley Afroilan, who really came into his own in track, and it has carried over to cross country. Bradley trained hard this summer, and PR’ed by 2:46 in 18:07!!! But the MIR of the day—most improved runner—was Andrew McCarty. Andrew went out hard but under control, and just kept moving up through the field. By the finish he was #7 man, running 18:43…a 4:16 PR!!!!!!! Keep it up Andrew! And how about these improvements for some other Sophs: John Bigelow 1:19, Michael Allen 1:37, Beau Pauken 1:54, and Simon Coffin 3:58!!! Of special note is Darren Hollack, #8 man despite running with strep throat (he found out after the race…that’s why we don’t share drinks etc!) The sophs put on the most dominate show of any team of the day, beating Monta Vista by 72 points, 46-118. Next up the Lowell Invite, though the team will be without Jack, Adrian and Esteban, who will be running on the Varsity. Still, even without those three the Bells would have finished second, and next week they get Daniel Toy back! Go Bells!

The Juniors were feeling a little pressure to win, though they knew it would be tough as two of their top runners were a bit under the weather, and almost didn’t run: Sanmay Jain and Alex Jeongco. Still, nothing was going to stop this group from giving it their all, and that they did. Both Kyle Rae and Tony Ferrari had reasons to want the season to start; Kyle, despite his amazing track season, was still smarting over how he ran at the XC CCS championships at Toro last year, and Tony was unhappy with his track season, even though he actually had a fantastic campaign. From the opening gun they set off in tandem to exorcise their respective demons. The race was incredibly fast, and Kyle and Tony did well to mark the lead chase group, which was running far behind the amazing duo of Dominic D’Aquisto (Enterprise HS, Redding) and Parker Schuh (Mountain View). At the top of the hill, Kyle and Tony were still together, in 7^th and 8^th place. At the bottom of the hill—right about at the 2 mile mark—Kyle took off. Tony surged too, but Kyle was really flying. In the last half mile he caught Mountain View’s #2 man and finished in 4^th, his 16:12 a 1:05 PR and the 3^rd fastest BCP Toro Park time ever. Tony finished in 8^th, his 16:23 a 34 second PR from last year’s CCS championships, but a 1:05 from last year’s Earlybird. Exorcism successful, I’d say!

At the top of the hill, Sanmay was cooked. He had run brilliantly for a mile and a half, but then his bout with a cold this week just took its toll. Still, he hung on to run 17:43, good enough for a 1:21 PR and a 4^th place spot on the team, clearly showing that at full health he will be a real threat for a Varsity spot. And Alex’s cold also took its toll, hitting him even harder on the hill. He struggled home valiantly in 18:25, #6 on this day, but will be back to battle for a Varsity spot as well. The story of the day for the Juniors was Reed Thornburg. He started smart: hard but under control, and then raced like the veteran he is, picking off groups of runners every half mile. By the finish he was the Bells #3 man, his 17:25 a 1:00 PR. Great racing Reed! And #5 man Anselmo Sandoval started his season off wonderfully, running 18:20 for a 2:22 PR!!! After the race he seemed frustrated, but he ran great, and will hopefully turn his frustration into continued improvement. Rounding out the top 7 on this day was AJ Killoran in a fine 18:49. Other big PRs came from Andrew Sides (:46), Ben Sheridan (:52), Tim Ruder (1:16), Cam Chiechi and Andrew Whitney (1:27),and Peter Kiamanesh (1:28). Without Sanmay and Alex at full strength, the Bells took second to Mountain View by 15 points, still a great finish. I’d say next year they’ll come to this meet with a little something to prove.

Last up were the seniors, of course, and the weather had heated up, but luckily it was still a pleasant day for running, with a breeze picking up to counter the post fog direct sun. At the half mile mark, the tightest lead pack of the day had developed, with 13 runners in a tight bunch and another 8 behind them. And at the mile mark the leaders were still bunched, though Weston Strum had jumped off the lead group by bit, and a few of the second bunch had moved up on the first group. Dalton Guthrie was stuck right in the middle of the lead group, while Robbie Cotton was trying to hang on to the tail of the second group. Matt Richards was just behind that group, running well.

At Toro the race really begins at the 1.5 mark, when the runners take the hard left and head up into the series of three steep hills. Dalton took the hills like a champ, staying with the lead group as it shed runners and chased Strum from Pioneer. At the top of the hill he was in 7^th, just behind a knot of runners chasing Luca Signore for 2^nd. Dalton used the downhill to his advantage, surging forward to catch all the chasers except Signore and Dalton’s age-old nemesis Mitch ‘Dr.’ Moriarty of Aptos. Dalton’s brilliant fourth place brought him to the finish line in 15:52, breaking Neil Davis’ 10 year old BCP Toro Park record by 12 seconds, and PRing by :38. A brilliant start to the year Dalton; keep it up!

Behind him, Robbie was struggling. Eventually he would finish in 17:11, tied for 6^th fastest time of the day for the Bells, so on the Varsity! It is a mark of the intensity of this group of athletes that Robbie was upset with his :43 PR and Top 7 spot! But in fact, Robbie will run better when he realizes that all his hard work means he can run with confidence…we’ll see it next weekend! Matt suffered a bit from the heat, but nothing like last year. He ran 17:27, a :31 PR as the #3 man. #4 was the ever improving Derek Pincus, his quick 18:20 a super 1:20 PR. #5 was steady Jonathan Durstenfeld, whose 18:31 was a :22 PR. Mike Trimberger came home as #6, running a great race in 18:52, and #7 was Tyler Thornburg, in at 19:19 for a 1:04 PR. The Thornburg’s mile per gallon took quite a hit on the trip home, as all three boys were wearing big medals around their necks! Go Thornburgs and go Bells! Other notable PRs for the Seniors: Rob Ruder at 1:18 and John Paton at 2:58!!!! Both Robby and Jon are returning from injury plagued years and have started out great…keep it up, boys! The Seniors pulled off a great upset to finish third in a super close race: 1. SI 101 2. Mountain View 108 3. BCP 135 4.Madera140 5.Las Lomas (Walnut Creek) 145. Great work Bells!

If one scores the meet by taking the fastest seven runners from all squads that ran, the scores are 1. BCP 96, 2. Mt. View—without their top 2 runners!!!!—104 3. Las Lomas 142 (#1 ranked DIII team in the North Coast Section) 4. Madera South 207 5. Salinas 241 6. SI 241 7. Enterprise 326 8. Clovis West 329. But the really big news is that the Bell’s team time—computed by adding the times of our five fastest runners—was the 6^th fastest in Toro Park history! We ran 81: 35, or 2:14 faster than at last year’s CCS championships, when we finished second and qualified for the State Championships! An A+ awesome effort to begin the season…see everyone next weekend in beautiful Golden Gate Park for the Lowell Invite!!

2008 RESULTS

WCAL III: Sweep!!!!!!

On November 5^th, on a nearly perfect winter afternoon in Belmont, the 2008 Bellarmine Cross Country team provided a practically ideal conclusion to an almost unbeatable season: 4 league titles and superb racing from every Bell who donned a singlet on this historic day. Records are unfortunately incomplete, but for sure this marks the first time one WCAL school has won all 4 titles outright since before 1998; St. Francis won at least 3 in 1974; Bellarmine won at least three if not 4 from 1981-1987, and again in ’92, ‘94’ and ‘97; Saint Ignatius won 3 outright and shared the freshman title in 2006; Bellarmine won 3 of 4 just last year. The coaching staff is chasing down historical results in hopes of archiving all these sorts of records, but for the time being we can say that this was a wonderful and historic season, which culminated (for all but the Varsity, who run at the CCS Finals on Saturday) with four fantastic races.

First up was the mighty JV squad, and as they warmed up and word circulated about the blazing fast times from the previous day’s Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s championships, they and their many fans anticipated a big day. The venerable course was in the best shape that many had ever seen, including the patriarch and keeper of Crystal Springs, Bob Rush. Terry Ward showed up and proclaimed it the perfect track, and certainly the week’s previous results seemed to bear that out. But being really, really good, and running for a third time against a field that had not put up much of a fight in the first two rounds, can be a tough mental hurdle to overcome. On this afternoon, the JVs would race extremely well and take home another League title, but they would be a bit disappointed with their times…unrealistically so, though, as their 85:34 team time is actually beneath the CCS DI at-large qualifying time, so if a JV squad could actually run in the CCS Finals, they would have qualified!

The start was clean and fast, with the week’s rains having taken care of all the Fall’s dust accumulation. Nick Lazarakis lead the first half mile, taking his teammates out fast, in hopes of being there at the end. And at least for the lead two runners, the first mile was fast: Brandon Siko and Alex Cagwin went out in 5:10, with the pack trailing behind. By the top of the big hill, Brandon and Alex had pulled away, and so for the peloton this would be a race for place and not for time. Brandon took advantage of the downhill to put a little gap on Alex, but then Alex used the twisting downhills after the two mile mark to pull back in front. All year, the leaders of the JV team had engaged in a friendly but intense rivalry over who would win these JV races, and in the last JV race of the year, the day’s two protagonists gave us a battle to remember. Brandon came right back and caught Alex at the top of Heartbreak Hill, and just exploded away from the field. His final time of 16:37 was an 11 second PR, and has been written many times, it brought to an end a tremendously validating season of recovery and redemption for Brandon. Winner of two of the three WCAL races, he is the champion of the League, and his time would have put him on our Varsity last year…but 2008 is just too strong! Alex finished second, and though he is disappointed because his ultimate goal was to run at the State Championships, his season was exceptional: four Varsity races, a WCAL championship, a :33 improvement on Crystal Springs, and some great racing experience for what will be a great track season.

Behind the two gladiators dueling at the front, the rest of the team fought with a slowing field and perhaps even a wee bit of complacency. Intensity prior to what is all but a foregone conclusion can be difficult to muster, and perhaps our JVers learned a valuable lesson about focus no matter what the situation of the competition at hand. For some, the long season had produced aches and pains in the muscles and joints, and for others it had produced aches and pains in the soul and mind. So, all in all the JV results were outstanding and put a cap on what I am calling the #1 JV team in Northern California (we beat all comers at Stanford!) 3^rd man was the vastly improved Robbie Cotton, finishing off a great season by finishing 5^th in the race, making all-League. His 17:18 time was an :03 PR! Right behind Robbie was Matt Abely, running on an injured calf but willing his way to an all-League 6^th place finish in 17:22. In the WCAL Finals as a freshman, Matt ran 23:46…and at the Crystal Springs Invite this year, he ran 16:40! Congrats on an amazing XC career! Rounding out the top 5 was David Estko, truly coming into his own. His 17:31 was a :17 PR and placed him 8^th, which earns all-League status!! The Bells finished with 22 points, besting last year’s score by 3 points and the team time by a staggering :58!!! 6^th man was Matt Richards and 7^th man was Senior Michael Maietta, who PRed by :11 seonds in his last race…way to go Mike!! Big PRs were recorded by Senior Robbie Bergantz (1:00) and Junior Jordan Williams, whose hard work paid off with a 1:03 PR and a fine time of 19:37.

The fact that the previous list of ‘Big JV PRs’ is quite short caused some serious consternation for the head coach, at least. Had we done something wrong in training in the last two weeks? With the course in great shape and the weather all but perfect, how come we hadn’t recorded more fast times? Would the Varsity also be slower than expected? So, as the Varsity lined up for the biggest race of the year to date, trepidation was palpable, especially because the opponent was Saint Ignatius. SI needed to win the race to be co-champs, and we needed to win to secure our second straight outright championship. The Wildcats are extremely well coached, and will always show up ready to give it their all, and this day was no different. They knew their only hope was to go out at a blazing pace and hope that the Bells didn’t have the gas in the tank…and so, at the mile, it was Greg Innes, Peter Birsinger, Lawrence Smith, Marcos Hinojosa, and Dalton Guthrie together in 4:57. Ben Kelly and Erik Anderson and Kyle Rae were a bit back at the head of a big pack, still racing at under 5:10 pace. As the group gained the summit of the long hill and came racing back through the starting line crowds, Innes and Birsinger took off, but Lawrence responded with his own surge. Marcos pushed out into a no-man’s land, ahead of Dalton, SI’s Michael Reher, Sacred Heart’s Paul Rechsteiner and a contingent of Lancers. Ben was slipping back through the pack, and Kyle and Erik were right with him but moving up from behind. Dalton appeared to be laboring, and as the long line disappeared behind the far knoll, the Wildcats held a slim 3 point lead, with their 4^th man running strong with Ben but their fifth seemingly hurting back in the pack.

When they reemerged in the distance, it looked like SI was holding their lead, and their #5 was moving up. At Crystal, the two mile mark is in clear relief, and if one knows how to identify the various runners at a quarter mile distance it is easy to get an intermediate score, which on this day was harrowing news: SI had the Bells by 5 points at the two mile mark. And at the top of Heartbreak Hill nothing had changed, so with a mere 1000 meters to go, the Bells were staring at a co-championship. Recently we had run a few 1000 meter repeats at tempo pace at the end of a long and hilly run, and on this day that workout served our Varsity well. In the last half mile, Lawrence and Marcos held their spots, Dalton overcame a mid-race stitch to fly over the last 800 meters, and Erik, Kyle, Ben and Will Pandori all passed numerous runners over the last few uphill turns. Erik, Kyle and Ben all fought to stay together, jousting for 800 meters with a trio of St. Francis runners while holding off SI’s #4 and #5. SI had given it all they had, but in the last bit it wasn’t enough, even though both Innes and Devin Dunn ran to the point of exhaustion, with Innes literally collapsing at the finish line. The Bells flipped 10 points in 1000 meters to win by 5, 34-39. Truly one of the most exciting races this author has ever coached.

Lawrence ran 15:29, equal to the 16^th fastest Bellarmine time in history, and the fastest since Neil Davis, an eventual XC NCAA champion at Stanford. Lawrence finished 3^rd only because SI’s super two both broke SI’s school record on the course! Think about that: every year since at least 1981, Bellarmine has run at least twice a year at Crystal, and every year that is at least 200 races around the hallowed track. So, at least 4500 times Bells have crossed under those three boards at the finish line, and Lawrence was the 16^th fastest…not too shabby!! Marcos finished 4^th in 15:50, a :21 PR and the 30^th fastest BCP time ever, and at sub-15 puts him on the all-time BCP list ahead of recent grads Eric Baum and Matt Bejar. Dalton recovered to equal his PR (16:04) and make all-League by finishing 7^th. Erik Anderson PRed in his last Crystal Race in fine fashion, running 16:14 and finishing 9^th, also all-League! Erik was rock solid all season, and on this afternoon he was the key to victory. Just behind him was the rejuvenated super soph Kyle Rae, who fought as hard as he has ever been forced to fight, to finish 11^th in a huge :26 PR at 16:17. Ben held off SI’s #4 and #5 men in the last 100 to finish in 13^th place. And Will Pandori capped a superb Senior year by running on the Varsity in the League Championships, coming in 17^th right in the midst of the fray. The team time of 79:54 was the fastest BCP team time at Crystal since 2000, and the fourth fastest time of the year (Aptos 79:40, SI 79:14, and Mt. View 77:13, 7^th fastest all time!!!!) After the race, the Bells spent some time congratulating the Wildcats on their valiant effort; if they had not run so hard, we would have never broken 80 minutes, which was a big goal for at least the coach. It was a wonderful example of sportsmanship and a tribute to the nature of Cross Country and the caliber of character embodied in all 14 runners involved. Way to go Bells…now, on to CCS, where Carlmont and Salinas await, and only two State Meet berths hang out there with three legitimate takers! 2:50 pm Saturday November 15^th Toro Park Salinas: be there!

The real race of the day was next, as the Sophomores had to win to be champs, because Serra had won the first League race. The team left no doubt about their focus with their rousing pre-race and post-stretch cheer, and at the starting line anyone could see that the focus in their eyes bespoke a readiness and a willingness to do their best. And at the gun they took off and decided to just win the race in the first mile! At the mile Tony Ferrari had already pulled ahead, but that was no surprise; on this day Tony knew he was running for a potential Varsity spot. What was most inspiring was the pack of Bell teammates behind Tony: no fewer than 12 Bells were running with the League pack, led by Alex Jeongco, running his second race since returning from a broken collar bone. While Alex was not able to catch Tony (we’ll come back to Tony in a second), he ran a superb solo effort, pushing on to second place and eventually PRing by :30 seconds in 17:03.

But it was behind these two super stars where the most compelling work was going on, as the Bells fought to claim the title. By the two mile mark, Sanmay Jain had opened a large lead over Serra’s #1 for third place, and he was running with everything he had to hold him at bay. The season has been great but frustrating for Sanmay, due to lingering injuries and even some self doubt. But he shattered all that on this fine day, racing to a :56 PR!!!!! His 17:17 time brought him home 4 ticks ahead of Serra’s #1, and with a 1-2-3 finish it would be hard for Serra to pull off the win…especially when so many other Bells were running so well! Next under the boards came Alex Chapman, who turned his season around and became a major contributor and super tough competitor. He made all-League with his 5^th place time of 17:25, a brilliant :33 PR. Next for the Bells was the heart and soul of the sophs---which is saying a lot given this incredible crowd of young men---Reed Thornburg. He also made all-League by finishing 8^th. Anselmo Sandoval saved his best for last, racing around the course in 18:01 and establishing himself as a factor for the next two years in BCP XC. And Kyle Jorgenson hit a huge :52 PR in the best race of his career, on a day when it was needed most, by running 18:08. Of course, Tony had long since finished when all his teammates were battling the Padres behind him, but what a race it had been for him! A true solo effort from the mile mark on, Tony ran 16:23, with perhaps the fastest last half mile of any BCP runner on the day; for sure his last 100 was as fast as anyone’s…perhaps he was spurred on by what seemed to be an impromptu Presentation cheering section at the finish line?! In any case, his focus and toughness were rewarded, as his time was equal to BCP’s #6 fastest time of the day and has earned him a spot on BCP’s Varsity this Saturday at the CCS Finals. Keep it up Tony!

The team score was almost as amazing as all those great races: BCP 19, Serra 55!! What a turnaround! Other big PRs were scored by Matt Ganan (:43), Kevin Kai (:53), Peter Kiamenesh (:56), Russel Banzon and Andrew Valencia (both 1:00), Evan Bambico (1:02, and realizing that with dedication he could be much faster!), Ben Sheridan (1:08, caps incredible year of improvement), the ever-amusing Dalan Angelo (1:12), Ed Kim (1:20), Nick Fishler (1:31) and Tim Ruder (1:48, and a dark horse for super stardom if he commits to the work!) And the team time of 85:52 was by far (1:17!) the fastest BCP Sophomore team time at Crystal since at least 1999, which is the last year for which we have records. What a day for the sophs!

So, the frosh trudged up the steep hill from our bivouac to the starting line with the realization that they had to win to complete our League Sweep…and they were not making that walk at anything near full strength: spark plug Jose Sandoval was too sick to run, and Matthew Chan, Adrian Hinojosa and Esteban Valencia were hurt, but running. And, Serra had dropped down their #1 freshman in an attempt to beat superfrosh Jack Bordoni. So, even at the last race of this beautiful day there was intrigue and excitement in the air. But, once again, the Bells decided to just take care of business before any of their rivals could sniff a possible upset; at the mile, Jack was clear of the field and his teammates were showing their intensity and competitive spirit behind him, as 16 Bells were in the top 25 at the 1.25 mile mark. This year’s crop of WCAL freshmen was a diverse crowd, as every school but Valley Christian had runners battling for all-League spots (top 10 in League Finals.) But of this fine crop, the cream was Blue and White: as they have done all year, the Bells sustained their effort throughout the race, wearing down the other runners and finishing in a swarm at the end.

By the two mile pole Jack was way ahead, though SI and Serra both had front runners giving chase. Behind them, Daniel Toy had slowly pulled away from the pack, and tough he wouldn’t catch third, his fourth place finish was both all-League and a nice :10 PR in going sub 18 minutes as a freshman (17:55.) Just behind Daniel was the hard charging and super competitive Adrian Hinojosa, whose 18:13 was good for 6^th (all-League) and a :29 PR. Nicholas Mantovani came in just :05 behind Adrian, topping off his great season of finishing in the team’s Top 7 for every race, including his all-League 7^th place overall. Next for the Bells was Matthew Chan, running as hard as ever despite a turned ankle from a week before at Rancho. He finished 9^th, one spot in front of Bradley Afroilan, who had his best race of the year and showed off his tremendous potential. Bradley finished 10^th in the race, giving the Bells 6 all-League runners!!! And Chris Paradis was just outside of that award, as the 7^th man in 12^th place in the race. Just behind Chris was Darren Hollack, with his best race of the year, and Esteban Valencia with another gutsy run…they finished 14^th and 15^th, giving the Bells and incredible 9 in the top 15!! And of course, we can’t forget Jack. He won again, and though he was a little disappointed he didn’t break 17 minutes (his 17:03 solo time was equal to the Bells’ 11^th fastest of the day), winning all three League races and being the team leader of one of the best freshman teams in the area are both tremendous accomplishments. This freshman team will certainly have many more great days at Crystal Springs, though this one was pretty great! And it was a fitting finish to the season to have the whole team waiting just outside the shed as the last Bells finished, cheering each other on and generally reveling in the joy of a great team victory. Congratulations Frosh!!

Well, all in all we ran in 12 League races, and won 11 of them, including 9 individual race winners. Not too shabby…but all the better because the runners accomplished it with great sportsmanship and teamwork. The coaches would like them all to know that the way they raced and trained was as important as the results, and we are very proud of all of you. So, now, CCS on November 15^th, and then hopefully the State Meet, and then for sure the banquet on November 24^th (6:00 pm Liccardo Center, potluck; parents, see the flyer you should have received.) And thanks again for all the support!!!

WCAL II: FOUR FOR FOUR!

The two enduring themes of the 2008 Cross Country season continued on Wednesday, October 22^nd, at Shoreline Park in Mountain View, and while the one is annoying the other is so sweet that it counteracts the distraction. Of course I am writing about heat, and running very very well. And while the heat was unseasonably intense for a mid-Fall afternoon, at the end of the day the running well made it all seem worthwhile. Since everybody already knows, I’ll just cut to the chase: we won all four races, locked up at least co-championships in 3 of the four divisions, and put ourselves in a position to win a fourth…unprecedented, you ask? YES! The WCAL went to a 4 division format in 1999, and no team has won all four divisions outright. We won 3 of 4 last year, and SI won 3 with a co-championship two years ago. So, history is in the making…

But first WCAL II. If one had sat atop the landfill hill just prior to the JV race and gazed down upon the harlequin sea of runners and fans that was spread along Amphitheater Parkway, it could have put one in the mind of CS Lewis…multi-colored tents arrayed like pavilions, the towers of Google rising up like Cair Paravel in the background, the teeming armies arrayed in their purples and blues and yellows and reds, charging out at intervals from the starting line like…OK, enough Narnia. But it was a spectacular sight from up on high, and our boys did run like Aslan’s finest. The JV’s knew it was hot---nearly 90 at the starting gun---but they also knew it was hot for all teams, and would seem especially hot for the more northerly schools, so accustomed to the fog and cool breezes as they are. At the gun, the Bells were off with determination. They rounded the landfill and emerged on the far side having already established their dominance: Matt Abely and Brandon Siko leading a quartet of Serra Padres, with Robbie Cotton, Nick Lazarakis and Matt Richards right in the mix. The group descended the hill and crossed the bridge that would take them out onto the long mile+ loop around the golf course, racing hard and expecting to put a gap on the rest of the field by the time they reemerged.

At the Shoreline course, one can gain intermittent glimpses of the runners during the second mile as they skirt the golf holes down below, and if you know the characteristic gait of the different runners you can make an informed guess as to how the race is shaping up. On this day, one could espy the more diminutive Brandon, who had put a gap on the lankier Matt, and as they crested the little rise that brings them into full view, Brandon was surging. Matt knew he had to slowly reel him in over the last mile but that it would be hard; Brandon was determined to win Showdown #2. In third was a Serra runner, who had a 20 yard lead on Robbie Cotton. Even from afar, one could tell that the Serra runner was already just trying to hang on; he had built a small cushion, but he knew Robbie was there, stalking like the wolf that doesn’t have to hurry…he knows the outcome already.

The runners charged up the only hill on the course and left our view for a moment, and when they came back towards the long downhill finish, Brandon had closed the deal. He had a 50 meter lead, and though Matt was running great, he wouldn’t be able to catch Brandon on this day. Congratulations to Brandon, whose long recovery from injury has been a challenge and a test of will…and Brandon has earned an A+! His 16:52 was a :13 PR, on a day that was much hotter than last year. Matt PRed too, 17:01 besting last year’s time by :11. The race for third truly set the tone for the rest of the Bell’s day, as Robbie slowly tracked down the Serra runner. Just at the bottom of the last hill, the Serra runner made one last effort to kick with all he had, but Robbie just put on his blinker, moved into the right hand lane and blew him away. So convincing was the move that as Robbie passed him, the Padre (Kevin Corley) reached out and patted him on the shoulder, a gesture that said, “Great job, you got me.” Robbie’s time was 17:29, a great :32 PR, but it was the determination of his kick that would be a model for the Bells on this day. Nick Lazarakis continued his superb season of consistency, running every race well, finishing 5^th, giving the Bells 4 in the top 5. 5^th man was Matt Richards, whose Junior year has been great, though perhaps below his goals…but top 7 in every race on the best JV team in northern California is pretty darned good!

Michael Maietta ran his best race of the year as 6^th man, 14^th overall, moving up from 20^th place in WCAL I JV race. 7^th man was David Estko in an :11 PR. Big PRs were turned in by Ben Huttlinger (:50), Andrew Yang (:56), Jordan Williams with a big kick (1:03), Greg Mavor (1:50!) and Yang Shan (1:52.) The team race ended up BCP 22, Serra 52, locking up a co-championship…but we’d like to win it outright on the 5^th of November! Go Bells!

Next up was the Varsity, and as they assembled at the starting line the coaches all felt a great deal of nervousness. SI’s runners are tough and fit, and that is always a dangerous combination. The Wildcats knew they had to win to have any shot at the outright title, and they also knew they had been just one little place out of first at WCAL I. The gun went off, and the field charged…and St. Francis, with super Soph Chris Reis back in the Varsity side, decided they wanted a piece of the pie as well. As the runners came to the first downhill, it was uber-competitive Junior Dalton Guthrie jousting near the front with the SI super duo: Innes and Birsinger. The Varsity runners said they thought that the SI duo was baiting them to go out too slow, and throughout the first half mile the pace was start and stop. By the mile, 4 Bells, 4 Wildcats, 4 Lancers and one each from Sacred Heart and Serra had established a lead pack, Marcos Hinojosa leading the charge for the Bells. Out on the back loop Birsinger and Innes continued their cat and mouse tactics, with the Saint Francis runners finding the pace a little too quick. The Bells were fighting to stay up with the SI quartet, and as the leaders reemerged over the little rollers it was Marcos running solo in third, and Ben Kelly, Dalton, and Lawrence Smith battling in a second pack with SI’s #’s 3 and 4 runners: Mike Reher and Devin Dunn. Erik Anderson, Will Pandori and Alex Cagwin were a little bit back, but all were in front of SI’s #5 man, which is exactly where they had to be if we were going to beat the Wildcats.

Up the hill they came, Marcos’ face locked in a look of sheer determination as he raced after SI’s two leaders. Next came the pack, and in their midst Ben Kelly was running his best race of the year, locked in a dual with teammates Lawrence and Dalton, and the SI 4 and 5 men. Once again, despite Saint Francis’ strong desire, the race had turned into a dual meet, and at the two mile the Bells were 4 points ahead, but SI’s #5 was only two places behind our #7 (Alex Cagwin) and charging. With one mile to go it would come down to just one or two places changing one way or the other in the last stretch. So with great anticipation, all the League’s coaches waited for the return of the pack…

And when they came back, the Bells had proved how strong they are this year. Marcos had held third, and as he sped down the final hill he was racing against the clock in an attempt to set the BCP course record…and in fact he did, beating Matt Bejar’s 15:56 by two seconds. Just behind him Dalton was racing all out against Mike Reher, and made a daring move to go around him just at the bottom of the hill. Reher ran a :51 quarter mile last spring in track, so in the last 50 meters he was able to push ahead of Dalton, though both finished in 16:01, a :10 second PR for Salty. Lawrence and Ben finished next, both having held their all-important position in front of SI’s #4. SF’s top two came in next, right in front of Sacred Heart’s #1, and then BCP’s #5, Erik Anderson. His #12 position, coupled with Will Pandori’s #16 (great :37 PR) and Alex Cagwin’s #20, meant that the Bells had actually gained 2 more points in the last mile. While it may have lacked the excitement of the 33-33 tie from WCAL I, it was a decisive victory achieved by an incredibly dedicated group of athletes, and a well-deserved result. The heat hurt the PRs, but relative to the rest of the League and with the weight of outcome being so great, this was one of the Varsity’s best races in years. With only the championship race to go, the Bells are at the very least co-champs, though an outright victory is what they all want, but then SI wants the co-championship. Can’t wait for Nov. 5!!!

In the Fall, as the sun sinks closer to the horizon and the angle becomes acute, the temps drop quickly, and consequently the sophomores and freshmen found themselves racing in much kinder conditions: though the Sophomore race started a mere 50 minutes after the Varsity race, the temperature at Shoreline had dropped at least 15 degrees. Which was especially nice because this was the one race that the Bells had not captured at WCAL I, but our second place finish had put us in a position to take the title if we could win the next two races; step 1, WCAL II.

The team that lined up on Wednesday included additions Kyle Rae, coming down from the Varsity, and Alex Jeongco, returning from a broken collar bone. And with St. Francis’ Chris Reis returning to the Varsity, it looked like a three man race between Kyle, Tony Ferrari (winner of WCAL I) and Daniel Colom from Serra. And at the .75 mile mark (the bridge just after the long descent) that was in fact exactly the lead three, with Colom running very strong. As the trio crossed the bridge, Kyle and Tony decided to pull the old ‘bilateral’ move: when a pair of teammates surge decisively by an opponent by each runner taking a side and trying to create a little emotional advantage by zooming by on either side. Colom didn’t buckle, but he couldn’t stay with the BCP sophomore dynamic duo, either. When the lead bicycle once again rounded the corner bringing the race back into view, it was Kyle with a 10 yard gap on Tony and Colom another 25 yards back.

As Kyle and Tony began the climb up the lone hill, the look of determination on both of their faces was intense; Kyle locked in and set on a victory, Tony with his usual calm visage locked in on Kyle and planning on reeling him in over the last mile. But on this Wednesday, Kyle had come to make a statement, and over the last half mile he picked up the pace and opened up a sizable gap. At the finish he was actually accelerating, and his superb 16:33 time (:36 PR, 6^th fastest ever Shoreline soph time) was the Bells’ overall 5^th fastest time of the day, signaling that Kyle is ready for a return to the Varsity ranks. Tony lengthened his lead over Daniel Colom to finish second in 16:49, a 1:31 PR and the 7^th fastest BCP time of the day.

A little further back a number of Bells were having fantastic races. Alex Jeongco had only been running for two weeks, but during the first part of his injury lay-off he dedicated himself to hard rides on the stationary bike, so the team was hopeful that he would not have lost much of his tremendous fitness. Well, Alex’s superb summer running regimen paid off, as his lung volume and cardio strength allowed him to come back with scarcely any drop off: he went out in the lead pack just behind the front trio, put a little gap into the field during the second mile, and then powered his way up the final hill and to the finish line in 17:22, amazingly a :42 PR despite the injury! And Alex J finished just in front of Alex Chapman, who had the best race in his young career. Alex C took the race strategy to heart, getting out with one of his strongest starts, surging ahead of the field in the second mile, then powering up the hill to keep any advantage he had made, and then using the downhill to finish all out. By the two mile mark, Alex had put himself in a position to finish in the top 5, as he was in 5^th, lurking behind the Serra #2 man. He was able to outrace him to the finish line over the last half mile, finishing fourth in the race. Alex finished in 17:25, a huge 1:10 PR and a significant contribution to the Sophs’ great day.

So with 4 runners in the top 5, the Bells would seemingly just need a decent race from one other runner and they could win the race. But a tough Serra team had placed 4 runners in the top 8, making the Sophomore race seem like an old school dual meet. And true to this form, the ninth runner to come racing around the land fill and charge to the finish line was the irrepressible Reed Thornburg. Reed finished 9^th in 17:52, a :47 PR, giving BCP a 21 point total. And the Bells would have AJ Killoran (11^th/18:20/1:10 PR) and Kyle Jorgensen (12^th/18:23/:21 PR) come in before the Serra #5, leaving the Padres with 39 points and a tough gap to overcome. If the Bells win WCAL III, we will be Sophomore League Champs! Step One successful! Some big PR’s were recorded by Ben Sheridan (:54), Ian Mace (1:46), and Tim Ruder (2:04!!!) Great job to the whole team, which competed with gusto and guts over the entire course, including some great pack running by various groups of Bells (Ruder, Bambico and Toy; Seid, Chiechi and Krasts; Hakim, Kai, Whitney) and some great sprint finishes (Richardson, Banzon…) Let’s keep up that spirit and take home the title on November 5!!!

Last up were the frosh, and they were looking to continue the great momentum they had built at WCAL I. Fired up from having watched a great Sophomore race, rested from not having stood around in the sun for 2 hours, and prepared by some great strategy pep talks from the upperclassmen the morning before, the frosh stood at the line poised for a run at greatness…and with the gun, they decided to just settle it in the first mile. There is a difference between going out too fast, and going out hard. Often times, young and inexperienced runners, overly excited, will take off at the start and run a PR in the 400…leaving the runner in oxygen debt before the race has even made it to the half mile mark! On this day, the Frosh went out hard, establishing a strong lead pack by the first crossing of the bridge but well within their fitness level. They have worked so hard that this fast pace wasn’t too taxing; instead, it was perfect, as it forced the rest of the league to go harder than they had hoped in order just to stay with the Blue Armada, but leaving many of our rivals spent by the time the pack made it back for the hill climb.

‘The Pack’ does not, of course, include Jack Bordoni. His spectacular season continued on this day, though for the first mile he had some company in the persons of teammates Nick Mantovani and Jose Sandoval. A bit back was a large pack made up of runners from every school in the League, including four Bells: Matthew Chan, Daniel Toy, Adrian Hinojosa and John Bigelow. So, at the mile mark the Bells were in a good position in a very tight and competitive race. The game plan was to surge on the second mile and then hope that during the hill climb the freshmen could maintain any gaps they had opened on mile two. As the runners crested the small hill that brings them back to the road that parallels the finishing straight, it was clear that the plan had worked, as one by one the Bells raced into view: Jack first, Daniel second, an SI runner third, just ahead of Matthew Chan in fourth, Adrian Hinojosa moving all the way up to fifth, Nick and Jose in sixth and seventh with a Serra athlete, then runners in a pack from Mitty, Sacred Heart, St. Francis, Serra, Riordan and John Bigelow from BCP.

This long line worked its way up the hill, and came back into view in roughly the same order, with Adrian closing the gap on the SI runner, who was gaining on Daniel in second. Jack was clear of the field, racing easily to a big win in 17:37, Bellarmine’s third fastest frosh time ever at Shoreline. Next came Daniel, but SI’s #1 was right on his heels, with Adrian (almost literally) right on the Wildcat’s heels. A spirited and dramatic last sprint unfolded over the finishing 50 meters: Daniel with his head down, pumping his arms and giving everything he had, Adrian passing the SI runner, only to have that runner pass him back and then lose his rhythm and crash wildly as Adrian nearly caught Daniel at the line! Daniel and Adrian both ran 18:28, and the SI runner got right back up and finished in 4^th in 18:30. Matthew came in 7 seconds later, followed by Nick (18:53) and Jose (18:57), an amazing result: 6 runners in the top 7! And our #7, John Bigelow, was 10^th! We scored 17 points, two off a perfect score, with second place going to St. Francis…with 90 points!

And behind the top 7 there were so many great finishes that the coaches could not have been more proud: Sean Reilly and Ismail Sasinos and Joe Burson-Ryan showing their best kicks of the year, Andrew McCarty and Darren Hollack and Bradley Afroilan having their best races of the year, Esteban Valencia gutting out a race through knee pain, James Dibona beating six runners who had beaten him…all in all, a great team effort. And, our 15^th fastest overall runner of the day, Jack Bordoni, would have been in the top 7 of 6 other Varsity teams, and would have been 8^th for Serra!!! That is depth, and the mark of a great team. We’ll see everyone at Crystal Springs on Nov. 5 when we go for a four-sweep! Thanks for a great season of support…all three of you who read this!

CRYSTAL SPRINGS INVITE: VICTORY!!!

On October 11^th, at 6:45 am, the Bellarmine Cross Country team took off from the Liccardo lot for our annual trek up the Peninsula to the Crystal Springs Invite. The Crystal Springs course is the only Bay Area site dedicated solely to the sport of cross country, and hosts all area High School League Championships, numerous Invitationals, College Conference meets, and even regional and national Open level races. A time run at Crystal Springs is a runner’s mark, his or her standard by which all Bay Area runners can understand and appreciate another’s career. It is host to our own WCAL Championships, and every other year it is the site of the CCS Championships. And for many Bells, the Crystal Springs Invite is the introduction to this most important course we race. So, much anticipation and nervous excitement boarded the bus along with the runners. And, continuing a happy trend that began way back at Toro Park, all that excitement translated into another superb showing by the Bells.

When the bus arrived the day looked to be a spectacular Fall day, with just a breath of cool breeze below a cloudless sky. But, veterans know that Crystal Springs weather can change before your eyes; some day ask me to recount the incredible storm of 2005!! But on this day, local San Mateo County coaches were predicting that a strong wind would kick up by late morning. Still, at 9:00 am the JV race started in relative calm. The Bell JV team was a little less formidable than at mid-week because Will Pandori was running in the Varsity race, but the team was confident that with a competitive effort they could still achieve a victory. The first mile went according to plan, with team leaders Matt Abely, Brandon Siko, Nick Lazarakis, Robbie Cotton and Matt Richards all taking advantage of the fast first 1200 meters to go out with the lead pack. In a large field (225 runners!), the Bells still had 10 runners in the top 25 at the mile.

The course kicks up to a long and arduous hill right at the mile mark, and a key to running a successful race at Crystal is to run hard up that hill and then be mentally prepared to keep going hard for the next downhill and relatively flat half mile. Many runners mentally ‘sag’ at the top of the hill, and by the time they regain their focus the easiest stretch of the course has passed them by…but not the Bells! We know that from 1.25 to 1.75 is a critical stretch, and on this day Matt and Brandon took off. By the time the leaders disappeared into the far stretch of knolls, Matt had opened up a 20 meter gap on Brandon, with several other runners moving up and racing hard. Just behind them came a large contingent of Bells; at one point, as Kyle Zampiglione—the Bells 11^th runner in this race!—passed by the highest point on the course, several young runners from a rival school were heard to say, in exasperated voices full of awe, “How many Bellarmine runner ARE THERE in this race?!” That’s exactly what we want them to feel: the BCP armada is sailing for the finish line!

On this day, Matt Abely was not to be denied, as the intense but friendly rivalry between the JV runners turned this into another intrasquad scrimmage and battle for an individual champion. Matt chugged up ‘heartbreak hill’ with a clear gap over a fine runner from Carlmont—who will probably be on their Varsity at CCS—and charged the last half mile in strong and confident form. His 16:40 time was a 52 second PR, and his race win was a career first. Let the record show, and all freshmen who may read this (yeah, right!) take special note: Matt’s freshman year Crystal Springs time was 24:09!!! But, he committed himself to the program and dedicated himself to running, and now he is on the verge of running Varsity. Way to go Matt! Next across the line was Brandon Siko in 4^th place, running on painful blisters but as always showing amazing guts as he continues to come back from serious injuries. Right behind Brandon was Robbie Cotton, who just gets better every race; his 17:21 was a 49 second PR. And the top story of the day was BCP’s #4 man on the JVs: Matt Richards. His 17 second PR, 17:23 time, and 7^th place finish were great, but more importantly was a race free of respiratory issues and running well on a course which has been his bête noir for 2 years…way to go Matt! Keep running with confidence and have fun! Nick Lazarakis had another big PR in what is turning out to be his finest year in a great career (5^th/10^th place/17:36/:31 PR), and David Estko (13^th/17:48/:40 PR) and Jonathan Durstenfeld (14^th/17:49/:17 PR) rounded out the Top 7.

The team won the championship, once again holding off a tough Serra squad running on its home course, 23-49. Big PR’s were achieved by Matt Ravizza (:37), Derek Pincus (:54, ran 17:59!), Tyler Thornburg (1:11),and Greg Mavor (1:58). The next League Meet will be a real test for the JVs, because as of this writing, the Varsity team is not set…so keep working hard Bells!

By 10:00, the start time of the Championship Varsity race (the Crystal Springs Invite divides the Varsity division into Varsity and Championship Varsity; all teams pick which race they want to race in; historically, the Championship Varsity race is smaller in size with better teams but not always better individuals), the wind had picked up and was gusting in a southerly direction. But, experienced harriers that they are, the 7 Bell Varsity runners did not let that faze them, remembering that the wind affects all runners the same, and so really is a non-factor…unless one worries about it and makes it a factor! Our rivals from Aptos chose to run the Championship Varsity race as well, and we knew that in such a small field (71 runners; 226 ran the Varsity division race) our depth could be trumped by Aptos’ front running star power, so we had our work cut out for us. We had just nipped Aptos at Lowell, but that was in a much larger race (159 runners, and we won by a mere two points!)

The first mile looked good for the Bells, and especially for Ben Kelly, who was in the lead pack of 7 that passed the mile mark in 5:05. Just behind that septet was a much larger pack, headed up by quartet of Bells: Lawrence Smith, Marcos Hinojosa, Dalton Guthrie, and Erik Anderson. Their pace was also quick, but definitely manageable. Aptos top three were in the lead group with Ben, while their fourth man was lurking just behind our gang of four, and the Aptos fifth was struggling to stay with the main pack at the base of the hill. Will Pandori, running his second Varsity race, was just behind Erik, and Alex Cagwin was back battling with the Aptos 4^th and 5^th.

At 1.25 miles, Ben looked around and realized who he was running with and made a visible decision to slow down. By 1.5 miles, Lawrence, Marcos and Dalton had all passed him. Lawrence had put himself in sort of a no-man’s land, in between the lead group of seven and Marcos behind him, and our Mr. Smith pretty much ran the last two miles of the race all by his lonesome. At CCS finals, Lawrence will have to try to keep contact with Salinas’ #1 in the first mile to see if he can sustain that pace throughout the whole race. On this day, he powered his way to a fantastic 7^th place finish in 15:57, his PR by three seconds but more importantly under the 16:00 standard at Crystal, a mark which puts him on the all-time BCP list (=#35.) By the time Lawrence crossed under the hallowed boards at the finish, Aptos had put three runners in, and with individuals thrown out (in Cross Country, runners who compete but are not on a complete team—less than 5 runners—are not counted in the team scoring) those three were #’s 1-2-3 for team scoring! Next up for the Bells were Dalton and Marcos, running together but again in no man’s land, a real problem with a race as small as the Championship varsity race. They came in 10^th and 11^th, 16:09 and 16:11, which was a 2 second PR for Marcos. Next up came Erik, whose 16:24 was a :13 PR good enough for 23^rd place. Ben came in next for the Bells, in 27^th place, holding off two St. Francis runners in the last 50 meters. For the Bells to beat Salinas at CCS in November, Ben will have to be able to sustain a little better his early race pace, and with three weeks of training to go, we believe it will happen. Will Pandori was 6^th man, and his 16:32 was a huge 1:02 PR!!! Will had what was probably the race of his career, even if his 30^th place doesn’t look as impressive as winning a JV race. Alex was seventh man, and his 16:50 was a huge :26 second PR. Alex was a little disappointed in his finish, but this was his best Crystal Race ever, and he will bounce back even stronger next time out.

The team finished second to the very impressive Aptos squad, 57-60. Sadly, that is the last time we will race them head to head this season. In a small race like this one, one or two places lost or gained in the last 100 meters decides the outcome, and it was a great lesson for our boys, as the CCS Finals will be a brutal three team battle between the Cowboys of Salinas (the favorites), the Scots of Carlmont (3 time defending champions), and the Bells…Nov. 15, 2:50, Toro Park…don’t miss it!!

As the sophs gathered for the start of their race, they had several side issues which could have distracted them from their goal of winning the team title: the wind was howling, Tony Ferrari and Kyle Rae were racing head to head, and several little known squads were toeing the line ominously on either side of the Bells. At the mile, these distractions were sorting themselves out and a great race was taking shape. Tony and Kyle were side by side in the front of the lead pack, racing along with young runners from a diverse slate of schools: St. Francis-Watsonville, Carlmont, Leland and Newark Memorial. By the time the runners became visible well out at the two-mile pole, Kyle and Tony had put distance on everyone but the young man from St. Francis-Watsonville, who would not be headed on this day, but that didn’t really matter to the Bells top two, who were completely focused on the race against each other. At the top of heartbreak hill Tony had opened a short lead, and over the last circuitous, up-and-down half mile, he slowly widened that gap. His 16:34 time, good for second in the race was the 7^th fastest Bell time of the day, and a whopping 1:31 PR. Kyle ran equally well, and his 3^rd place time of 16:43 was a :24 PR and the 9^th fastest Bell time of the day.

Behind these top two, the sophs were giving it everything they had to cut through the wind an earn a second team title for BCP. 3rd man was the ever-improving Reed Thornburg, whose 15^th place time of 17:49 was exactly a 1:00 PR!! He was followed closely by Alex Chapman, who had his best race of the year to finish 4^th man/17^th/17:58/:38 PR. Another vastly improved Bell, making his first trip around the Crystal course, is Anselmo Sandoval, who ran another great race to finish 5^th/20^th/18:05. Sanmay Jain battled through lingering physical ailments to be 6^th/25^th/18:14, and seventh man was AJ Killoran, whose 18:42 was a super :51 PR. These great efforts brought the team title to the Bell sophs, who were quite happy to beat Serra, which had nipped them on Wednesday at WCAL I. Other huge PR efforts were achieved by Andrew Whitney and CJ Toy (both :47), Andrew Sides (:55, after playing a soccer game beforehand!), JD Torres (1:28 despite a nasty fall), Jeff Lee (1:35.) Also, Sebastian Lim, Desmond Leung and Joe Peiffer all ran their first Crystal race and debuted by breaking 20 minutes! And, for WCAL II the sophs will have Alex Jeongco back, so go Bells!!

WCAL I: Venimus, Vidimus, Vicimus...or something like that.

So, my Latin is a little rusty, but that translates to something like 'we came, we saw, we conquered'...what a day October 8th, 2008 was for the Bells! On an absolutely beautiful Fall day at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park, all four Bellarmine Cross Country teams arrived, sized up the competition, and ran with great gusto. All our summer work, and early season training, and the pre-season Invitationals, had been building towards this first day, and it is not hyperbole to say that it was an embarrassment of riches: 3 team wins, 3 individual winners, a great second place team effort, the third fastest Bellarmine time ever run on the course...wow!

First up came the JVs, and the truth is that we knew we were going to win this race. We have the deepest team in Northern California, as evidenced by our second place finish in the Stanford JV race. The challenge for the JV team was to put forth their best effort, and to see just how well they could run. And on this day, the task was made easier by a spirited effort from a very fine Serra team. The plan was for the team leaders to go out under control, work the second mile as a group, and then power our way to the finish, trying to put as many of our runners in the top 15 as possible. And, within the team, there was quite a spirited competition to see who could win the race. At the mile mark, Will Pandori had seized control of the race and fashioned a 20 yard gap over his teammates Matt Abely and Brandon Siko. Behind them a strong pack of four Serra runners had formed, leading a long string of Bells: Robbie Cotton, Matt Richards, Nick Lazarakis, Jonathan Durstenfeld and David Estko, with Mike Maietta and a host of Lancers right behind.

Down into the Middle Lake section of the course they descended, and we waited to see what the Serra challenge would look like when they re-emerged onto the levee. First on to the dirt was Will, looking great and powering to the 2-mile mark in a fine 11:00...but later admitting he was cramping up! Behind him Brandon had moved a short way ahead of Matt, and then came two Serra runners. A bit behind was Robbie Cotton, continuing his breakout season. A few more Serra runners, and Matt Richards, came next, and then a long line of Bells and Lancers passed through before chasing the leaders up into the eucalyptus forests surrounding Speedway Meadows.

Again, the spectators had to wait to see the lead bikes swing up behind the hedges on the far side of the Polo Fields, and sure enough there was Will. He was not to be denied, cramps and all, and he burst out of the tunnel checking his watch and glancing behind. What he saw had to make him happy: Brandon charging hard, and Matt right behind them. As they continued counterclockwise around the lower track, two exciting battles were 'being fought' behind the leaders. Serra's #1 man entered the stadium in fourth, but Robbie Cotton was catching him steadily, and passed him with 100 meters to go, and then finished him off for a 1-4 BCP finish! the 6th runner into the stadium was Serra's #2 man, but again this Padre was marked by a hard charging Bell, Nick Lazarakis. Nick caught up with him at 100 meters to go, and then times his kick perfectly: with 50 to go, the Serra runner drifted to the outside and Nick made his move on the inside, classic racing technique! Sadly, this particular runner was not the sport that most distance runners are, and as Nick passed him, and as the Padre realized that he was going to be beat, he made a very bad choice: he body slammed Nick into the 7 foot high chain link fence that runs the entire perimeter of the grass oval. Nick bounced hard off of the fence, cut and dazed, but finished in 7th, except that the Serra coach immediately disqualified his runner, so Nick ended up in 6th, where he would have finished anyway.

Honestly, I did not see another Bellarmine runner finish, or at least I don't remember if I did. I was concerned for Nick and pretty upset at what had transpired. To Nick's great credit, he just shook it off and treated the whole incident for what it really was: an anomalous mistake made by a young man who needs to get some help for anger/intensity management. The Serra coaches were absolutely mortified, and our whole team kept their cool and didn't let it affect our performance. Good work Bells; as always, I was proud of you!

While I didn't see them finish, the rest of the JVs finished off the race in dominating fashion: Matt Richards, battling some breathing issues, still finished 8th, David Estko 10th, and Jonathan Durstenfeld 11th...8 Bells in the top 11 official finishers! Our team score of 16 was one off of the ultimate 15, and our team time of 88:52 was five minutes faster than the second place team time and a school WCAL I PR. Big individual PRs came from Matt Abely (54 seconds), Greg Mavor (55), Tyler Thornburg (57), Nick Lazarakis (59), Ben Huttlinger (1:01), Matt Ravizza (1:02), Derek Pincus (1:04), Will Pandori (1:14), Robbie Cotton (1:36), and Brandon Delosreyes (2:51). All in all, 28 BCP runners Pr'ed on the run! Great job by all, and good luck this weekend, though without Will (running Varsity) you will have to step it up to win the Crystal Springs Invite JV title.

Next came the Varsity, featuring the #2 CCS ranked SI Wildcats and the ever improving Lancers of Saint Francis. Of course, the Polo Fields is SI's home course, and they always run well in the City, so on paper the Wildcats were a slight favorite, especially when one considers the huge improvements made by their #4 man, and our lack of a sure 5th man...excitement was in order! Normally, SI likes to go out easy and pick up the pace dramatically in the second mile, while Saint Francis likes to go out like the race is 1600 meters and not 5000. But on this day, SI's two superstars, Seniors Greg Innes and Peter Birsinger, took off hard, with BCP Junior Dalton Guthrie actually leading them for the first half mile. Behind them, Saint Francis was actually running under control, while SI's #3 and 4 were mixing it up with Seniors Lawrence Smith, Marcos Hinojosa, Ben Kelly, and Erik Anderson.

In a race as small as a WCAL League meet, with only 56 eligible scorers (the top 7 from each school on any level), this year's lack of top runners from the other WCAL schools really hurts the Bells, because our greatest strength--depth--is rendered less valuable than in a big race with many teams. In other words, we really wanted to see any Crusaders, Padres, Irish, Monarchs, or Warriors up in the mix, putting more numbers in front of SI's #5 man. Alas, at the mile the race looked like a three team affair between BCP, SI and St. F. Dalton was right with SI's dynamic duo, and then Lawrence and Marcos had established themselves ahead of the SI #3-4 and a St. Francis quartet. Just behind them were Erik and Ben and sophomore Kyle Rae, who was scuffling a bit having to run back in the pack, as he was accustomed to running out near the front in sophomore races. Alex Cagwin had received a nasty, albeit inadvertent, shot to the collarbone at the start, but had worked his way up to about 20th in the race. So at the mile, it was too close to call between three teams.

When the race returned for its stretch along the dirt levee, it had become a race between two teams, with SI holding a slight advantage. Innes and Birsinger had 10 yards on Dalton, and they looked eager to throw in a surge. Lawrence had gapped Marcos, who in turn had gapped 6th place. 6th and 7th were the SI 3 and 4, who were leading a small pack which included 3 Lancers, the Sacred Heart and Serra #1's, and Erik and Ben. The race would turn just how that group sorted itself out, and the Bells had to move up and beat as many as they could. That was because the SI #5 man was running the best race of his career, just back in another small pack which also included Alex--who had worked his way up to about 17th--and Kyle, both of who knew they had to beat SI's #5 to put two more points into their team total.

When the bikes once again appeared across the fields, Innes was cruising, pulling Birsinger through to a big PR. Dalton had lost some ground over the last mile, but there was no quit in his legs and he closed incredibly hard, coming in third by one thin second to Birsinger. Dalton's 16:17 was the third fastest Golden Gate 5K time in Bellarmine history, trailing only Neil Davis' 15:47 in 2000, and Wayne Hopp's 15:57 in 2001. Next through the tunnel came Lawrence and Marcos, both of whom Pr'ed (Lawrence 16:32=#5 all time BCP; Marcos 16:34=#6 all time BCP.) Both of them had opened up a big gap over SI's #3 (Michael Reher) and #4 (much-improved Devin Dunn). With the great sight lines of the finish at the Polo Fields, one can figure out the scores as the racers finish the last half mile, and so the tension is fantastic when you can see the individual races unfolding in front of you and you know, for example, that Ben and Erik had to beat St. Francis' #3 man, who was in the stadium in 10th place, just ahead of the two Bells. They caught him with 100 meters to go, and as they passed him one could see his shoulders drop. Erik finished 10th in 17:04, an amazing 40 second PR, and Ben in 11th in a fine 17:13, his fastest time since his sophomore year and his best race of the year.

Serra and Sacred Heart's #1's came next, and then Alex and Kyle, racing with everything they had left, because right behind them was the SI #5 man, running the race of his lifetime. The score would be 33-33, IF Alex and Kyle could hold off Lucas Talavan (SI #5)...and they did! So, the Bells win in the GREAT Cross Country rule of 6th man tie-breaker: in the case of a tie after adding up the scores of the top 5 runners, the winner is determined by whoever's #6 man finishes first. SO, not only did Alex's finish add the one critical point to SI's team total--as did Kyle's--by displacing Talavan, but his 6th place beat SI's sixth place man by 13 places!! What a race! Of course, the first thing we thought about afterwards was: "They are going to be so fired up for WCAL II!" Well, the second thing; the first was just a series of exclamations of pure and sincere joy. The team had fought very hard to beat an outstanding team, and they were emotionally drained, but very happy. Of course, there is no rest in the rough and tumble WCAL, so mark your calendars for Oct. 22nd at Shoreline Park, for WCAL II!

The excitement didn't stop with that race, though! Next up came a scrappy Sophomore team, running without Kyle Rae (Varsity) and Alex Jeongco (broken collar bone.) In addition, Serra was moving up their #1 freshman to take a shot at the Soph team title. The race took off at a decent pace, and the Serra pack moved up strongly, but behind the steady lead of super Soph Tony Ferrari, whose improvement has been truly remarkable and another testament to hard work and consistency. At the mile, Tony and Saint Francis super Soph Chris Reis--coming back from a tough muscle injury--had moved away from all but Serra sophomore Daniel Colom, whose uncle is the president of Guatemala! Behind these leaders, Sanmay Jain, Reed Thornburg and Alex Chapman were leading the Bell pack, mixing it up with an upstart SI runner and St. F's #2, as well as the rest of Serra's tough top 7 pack.

When the bikes led them back on to the dirt, Chris Reis had opened up about a 10 yard gap on Tony, but our man looked cool and collected. Colom was back a bit, but leading a big pack of Padres lined up behind him. Reed, Sanmay and Alex were in the mix, but the BCP #5--Anselmo Sandoval, continuing to get better every week--was back a ways. Serra looked to have a decent team lead at the two mile.

Back they came a few short minutes later, and with a half mile to go Chris still had a slight gap on Tony. But as they came through the tunnel, Tony put a move on his rival and went right by. Reis mounted a slight attempt to come back with 400 meters to go, but Tony was charging. His 17:19 was the Bell's 7th fastest time of the day, and with the Varsity still not set, he is very much in the mix for that last spot. BCP's #2 on this day was Sanmay, who finished in 7th, a great result as he has been battling a whole host of maladies this year. Reed Pr'ed by 2:06 to finish 3rd/9th in the race, in 18:33. Just behind him in 10th, and with a great finish, was Alex Chapman. Anselmo ran a great race to finish 17th, and the top 7 was completed by AJ Killoran (19th/19:40/1:36 PR) and Jordan Pine (24th/20:01/47 sec PR.) Also, Evan Bambico ran the best race of his career to finish as the 8th Bell, and JD Torres, CJ Toy, and Ben Sheridan continued their great improvements. The sophomores finished second to Serra, 37-44, but that slim margin would be easy to flip with only a few minor reversals in the last 400 meters, so keep working hard Bells and let's get them on the 22nd.

The Frosh had high hopes given their great depth, super finishes so far this year, tough 'pack mentality', and the presence of 'front runner' in super star Jack Bordoni. And, in fact, that all added up to a dominating victory, even though the team was missing injured runners Esteban Valencia and Bradley Afroilan, and Jose Sandoval was under the weather. At the start, runners from every school except Valley Christian were up front, jostling for position behind Jack. But by the mile, things had shaken out and the Baby Bell pack had formed: Jack in front, a very strong SI Wildcat and Riordan Crusader running 2-3, and then 4 Bells cruising as a group with another Wildcat, and the #1 from Mitty and Sacred Heart. At the 2 mile, it looked pretty much the same: Jack, SI, Riordan, and then a pack which now included Daniel Toy, Nicolas Mantovani, Matthew Chan, and Adrian Hinojosa. And back about 30 seconds was another pack of Bells, led by John Bigelow, Chris Paradis, and Alec Sanchez.

And, that's the way it was at the finish. Jack cruised to a huge win---24 seconds over the SI runner---and then a wave of Bells: Daniel Toy, 4th place, in 19:12; Nicolas Mantovani 8th/19:32; Matthew Chan 9th/19:34; Adrian Hinojosa 10th/19:34; John Bigelow 12th/20:00; Chris Paradis 13th/20:00; Alec Sanchez 14th/20:01. This freshmen squad is so deep that our #8 runner was 14th in the League!!!!! The best story was the great races had by so many Bells behind this lead group: having their best races of the year by far were Emerson Hofer, Kenny Schumacher, Darren Hollack, Andrew McCartey, Patrick Curley, Simon Coffin and Michael Allen. Everyone of them--the Bells' 9th through 15th runners--would have been on every other team's Top 7!! Keep up the good work Bells, and you can't be sure that Jack will always be there to win the race (who knows what team he will end up on!), so keep up that tough pack mentality.

See all BCP fans at the Crystal Springs Invite this Saturday, and then WCAL II on the 22nd. Thanks for all the great support!

Stanford 2008: A taste of State

The early theme of 2008 Cross Country---heat, heat, and more heat (at least the smoke is gone!)---recurred Saturday on a hot (92 degrees F when the Seeded race went off; thanks to Bill Guthrie and his iPhone!) and unusually humid day at the prestigious Stanford Invitational. The venerable Stanford Golf Course once again hosted the race, but with a new and surprisingly more difficult course. Add in huge fields and a twisty track, and the Bells were in line for a rough and challenging preview of what the 2008 State meet will be like...if in fact we finish in the top 2 at CCS Finals, of course!

The story of this year's meet actually begins in August, when the Bells decided to run in the Seeded Race, which is supposed to be a race of the very best teams regardless of school size. And in the past, it has been just that. But this year the meet management allowed any school that so desired to enter the Seeded race, and it was done by computer on a first come, first served basis. When the race filled up, only 21 of the teams entered were legitimate Seeded teams, and plenty of top flight teams ended up running in the Division level races, especially DIII. And, meet management decided to run only one big JV race, to which the Bells did not initially gain entrance. But after much squeaking, Coach Wheel got the grease...and thank heavens we got in, because it was one of the Bells greatest JV races ever, especially given the nature of the field.

Though the heat had not yet reached the 90's by the start of the JV race, the pressure was still palpable: the Bells were lining up against 268 runners from 38 full teams that hailed from the East and North Bay, Central Valley, LA and San Diego areas, Nevada, Washington, and...New Zealand. Yep, the Kiwis from Auckland Grammar once again made the trip to Stanford, and didn't disappoint: one of their runners won the JV race, and their fans cheered in that awesome New Zealand accent! Gathered on the Second Fairway was by far the deepest and toughest field the JVs will face this year . So, our game plan was to go out relatively easy, and then work our way up as a pack through the enormous field, picking off the many runners who 'took the bait' and went out too fast. Then, the plan was to finish like wild animals down the final straightaway, as history has shown that in a 5K race with so many young runners making their first foray into the 'Big Time', many runners will be limping to the finish and a hard charging runner can capture up to 20 places in the final 400 meters.

The Bells got out well and began navigating through the herd. The course was proving to be narrow, and an unforeseen challenge were the flags lining the entire length of the course; at places the iron standards used to hold up the flag lines jutted into the field and caused the entire surging crowd to slow and swerve. Still, at the mile the Bells were in a great position: Sophomore Kyle Rae---not running Varsity because of a bad cold in the first part of the week---went out in a controlled 5:, followed closely by Sophomore Tony Ferrari and Seniors Brandon Siko and Matt Abely. Kyle was in 25th place at the mile, and Matt was in about 50th. Behind this lead pack were Juniors Matt Richards and Robbie Cotton, and just behind them was Freshman Jack Bordoni, making his debut on the non-freshman level, and showing he is not only fast but smart: he was executing the game plan perfectly.

This year the JV race moved from the old 3K short course to the same 5k course that would be used by he Varsity. It consisted of two 2.5K loops, and ditched the old hill on the back nine of the Golf Course (the rumor is that the Golf Course tried to shut down the whole meet, so the compromise was to use just the flat front nine.) The change was great for spectators, and on this day it allowed all BCP fans to watch the team execute its game plan perfectly. By the 2 mile mark, Kyle and Tony had moved up into the top 12 and were marking the leaders! Brandon had made two big jumps between mini packs, and was in about 40th. Matt was right behind him, and Jack had worked his way up to the top 50...he was running negative splits two-thirds of the way through his first big race!! Matt and Robbie were in the top 75 runners, though their groups had been gapped a bit by the top 60 runners.

With 800 meters to go, Kyle had worked his way through the top pack and was in 8th place. Tony had shadowed Kyle the whole way, and he too had picked off one fading runner at a time and stood in 12th. And behind them, Matt had made a huge jump and was passing hordes of fading rivals; as he turned for the closing 300 meters, he had moved into 20th place! And close behind and closing fast was Jack and Brandon. One of the pre-race points made by the coaches was to stay focused in the finish and be aware that many runners would be fading, so don't stop until you were well past the finish line. The Bells took that to heart and competed every step of the way down the long finishing fairway. Kyle broke into the leading pack and fought his way up to 5th at the line, finishing just 20 seconds behind the winning Kiwi, and more importantly beating three runners by less than two seconds. His time of 17:11 would have been 6th on the Varsity!

Tony finished with the same sort of gusto, finishing in 17:20, 11th place and holding off two other runners by less than three seconds. Tony's time would have also been 6th on the Varsity! Next came Matt, who made a huge jump in the last mile and finished in 16th place, passing nearly 20 runners in the last kilometer. Jack passed even more, and running his negative splits he ended up in 29th place, just catching Brandon in the last 100 meters. Brandon finished in 31st, and to prove the point of how this race is like the State Meet, Brandon's time was an excellent 17:46; 22nd place was a mere 6 seconds in front of him!!!

Matt felt the heat a bit but finished strong in 53rd place. Robbie made his 'Big Race' debut and ran a superb 18:26, seven seconds behind Matt and seven places behind in 60th. Seven runners in the top 60! What a day for the Bells, and only two Seniors on the JV...good news for the future. The team race was truly incredible: 2nd to defending Stanford Invite JV champion Arcardia, one of the best distance running programs in the State. The final score was Arcadia 52, BCP 92, Davis 129. The rest of the top 10 is worth mentioning: 4. Campolindo, 5. Torrey Pines SD 6. Jackson WA 7. Auckland Grammar 8. Jesuit Sacramento 9. Petaluma 10. Foothill Santa Anna; every one of those JV teams comes from a program ranked in the state in their respective divisions, or are a power in their home state/country. That is 'The Big Time', and shows that with continued hard work, the Bells could be in that echelon too. The team time of 87:33 was only 40 seconds behind St. Francis' Varsity team time, and over 2 minutes faster than Serra's Varsity team time!!! For fun, I plugged the runners into the other Varsity races: D IV-V our JVs would have been in 7th place, in the DIII 13th place, in the DII 11th, in the DI 9th and in the Seeded 21st! Not enough can be said about how well the JVs raced...keep it up Bells!!!

The Varsity had plenty of time to think about how well the game plan had worked for the JV, but they also had plenty of time to feel the heat rising; as mentioned the thermometer showed 92 F at race time, and there isn't much shade on the course. Of course, the heat was the same for everyone. Perhaps more daunting was the size of the field, a State Meet-like 224 runners. And while the team planned to go out faster than the JVs, they also hoped to be able to go out 'under control.' But on this day, under control meant still tired at the mile, and way back, though the mile times don't seem too fast, 5:25-5:39. At the mile mark, Ben Kelly was in 67th place and he was the team's number one runner. At 2K, Ben was still our leader and still in the high 60s in the race. Behind him the team was dealing with the crowd and the sharp turns, both of which were new race situations. Lawrence Smith, Dalton Guthrie, Erik Anderson and Marcos Hinojosa had ended up in about 80th place at the 2K mark, and Alex Cagwin and Will Pandori---making his Varsity debut!---were back just under 100th. Obviously, the pre-race goal of beating Amador Valley, the #1 DI team from the North Coast Section, was all but impossible, and even a top 20 finish was in jeopardy of slipping away.

By the two mile, though, things were taking shape, and the Bells were moving up. Ben had faded after the half way point, but Marcos, Lawrence and Dalton had moved up into the top 60 and Erik Anderson was running side by side with Ben. Alex and Will had Ben and Erik in their sights, so the pack part of the plan was working, just much farther back than we had planned. As the race made its way into the final half mile, the Bells were executing phase two of the plan with great zeal, closing hard and trying to catch as many runners as possible in the last stretch. Marcos passed a small group at the head of the last straightaway and held them off with a great sustained kick, almost catching the Jesuit #2 man at the line. He ran 16:36 and finished in 46th place, a great time but too far back for a number one if we are going to beat SI in League. Showing our strong depth/pack mentality, Lawrence and Dalton came in just behind Marcos, in 51st and 52nd place and in 16:42 and 16:43; within a window of 5 seconds on either side of them, 15 other runners finished, which is just like the California State Meet, and shows just how important a sustained finish is.

Showing incredible focus in the final 400 meters, Erik Anderson held off another runner the whole way to the finish line...and that runner was Alex Cagwin! Erik was so focused on beating whoever was on his heels that he literally raced his teammate to the finish line. They finished in 96th and 97th, and in 17:09 and 17:10. Behind them, and finishing equally as strong, was Will, who made an amazing Varsity debut to come in 114th, one place in front of Ben. Will ran 17:22, one tick in front of Ben. In the race, BCP finished in 14th place out of 32 teams, an excellent result against such an august field. The team we had targeted to beat ran out of their heads: Amador Valley finished in 7th place, just behind Mountain View. More interestingly, the Varsity would have won the DI race by 50 points. Our team time of 84:20 was the 3rd fastest CCS team time of the day, and if all CCS runners are scored as one race, BCP would finish second to State power Mountain View, just ahead of Aptos. If all 175 teams were placed in one race, the Bells would be the 18th team...not too shabby!!!

The day saw great pack running for the Bells, which was a pre-race goal: 1, 2, and 3 runners within 7 seconds, 4 and 5 runners within 1 second, and 6 and 7 within of 1 second. If we can get 4-7 up with #3, then we can do some real damage in the future. On this day, the Bells legs were tired and heavy, but we haven't tapered or taken any time off. The next time we see a race of this size and importance, we will be well-rested.

But that is not before we must take on our WCAL rivals in the three League races. Stay tuned and thanks for all the continued support.

Bells march on at Lowell, take Golden Gate Park by storm

On a cool and drizzly morning in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the Bellarmine Cross Country team pulled a Julius Caesar on the opposition at the Lowell Invite: we came, we saw, we conquered. All four teams won their races, and two Bells were individual champs as well. At the end of the day, over 100 Bellarmine harriers raced over the paths and fields of the venerable Park, carrying the standard of BCP with true grit and determination.

The Freshmen ran first and got their initial look at the site of the WCAL race #1. After a week of tutelage from the upperclassmen, they seemed ready to implement a tried and true BCP game plan for the Lowell course: start out hard, use the first downhill mile to get in front of the bulk of the field before the course takes a sharp turn into the slow and sandy single track around Middle Lake, then surge again up to the Polo Fields, then once again put yourself ahead of as many rivals as you can before the one and only hill, and then give it all that's left around the big tree and all the way down Speedway Meadow. At the half mile mark Jack Bordoni had established himself just off the lead pack. Just behind him, cousins Esteban Valencia and Adrian Hinojosa had started out hard and were well up in the lead pack. As the runners trailed away down JFK Blvd., it was hard to tell what the outcome would be. On the Lowell course, after a few tense minutes, the runners reappear and if you know where to look you can suss out who has moved up in the middle of the race. On this drizzly, wet morning it was Daniel Toy and Matthew Chan, the latter finally healthy enough to put in his best effort. As the long line of freshman made it to the foot of the hill--and .6 miles from the finish line--many of the baby Bells were showing the positive effects of our training; while their rivals faded, Nicholas Mantovani, Bradley Afroilan, and Chris Paradis took the hill with vigor and never let up.

Up at the front, a mix up meant Jack would not get to put his name near the top of the BCP all-time Lowell frosh-soph list, but that does not diminish the greatness of his race. Jack was running hard in third with a quarter mile to go when the lead runner did not turn right and instead followed the markings for the USTAF course, which led 4 runners another 50 meters up the meadow before turning back for the finish line. So, Jack ended up third, with the winner being the runner who was actually in 5th with a quarter to go, but who actually ran the real course. Alas, that sort of mistake is not unprecedented in cross country, but Jack still finished third in 12:57, even with an extra 100 yards or so. Behind him Daniel Toy showed his strength, moving all the way up to #2 man, finishing 10th in 13:10. Nicholas continued his excellent season, finishing 12th overall in 13:13/#3 man. Matthew Chan made the biggest jump from mile 1 to the finish, coming in 14th in 13:18. Biggest improvement of the week goes to Bradley Afroilan, who this week entered the Top 7 at #5, 15th place/13:21, same time as #6 Chris Paradis. Showing the BCP depth and dominance, Alec Sanchez finished 20th, Esteban Valencia 21st, Jose Sandoval 23rd, John Bigelow 24th and Kenny Schumacher 28th; 11 runners in the top 30, and that doesn't include Adrian Hinojosa, who developed a bad cramp midway through the race! And one should note the huge improvement made by Ryan Royster, who came in just behind this aforementioned crowd.

The Bells won 34-71 over an excellent Monta Vista team (all told, 9 full teams and 132 runners competed in the frosh race #2; in all 4 divisions, the field was split into two heats due to the large number of schools in the meet.) If all freshmen teams had run in one race (24 teams, 274 runners), the Bells would have finished second to an outstanding Menlo-Atherton team. Hopefully, we'll see M-A at the Crystal Springs Invite! Great job by our newest Bells, and WCAL look out!

Next up were the Sophomores, who knew they had a tough task, as their #1 man, Kyle Rae, would make his Varsity debut several hours later. Even without their number one, this Sophomore class is deep and very, very tough. Once again, the runners were well prepared for the subtleties of the Lowell course and the importance of strategy on this day. At the half mile mark, Alex Jeongco was flying in first place, with Tony Ferrari just a few ticks behind in 3rd. Lurking not far behind was Reed Thornburg, definitely running his fastest opening mile, but also in his best shape of his BCP career. The victory, though, would have to come from behind these three front runners, and on this day there would be many candidates.

When the field re-emerged among the hedges on the far side of the Polo Fields, Tony's inimitable stride was clearly discernable at the head of the pack. He had put a 30 yard gap on the second place runner from Newark Memorial HS. Not to take away from the suspense, but Tony just grabbed the race and wouldn't let go. His gap only grew over the last three quarters of a mile, and at the end he won by 16 seconds, finishing in a BCP frosh-soph school record for the Lowell course 12:00, a 1:43 improvement from last year! He raised his hands ever so slightly at the finish line, but as I had stayed a little longer than normal back at the base of the hill so I could encourage some of the other Bells, I could really only see his expression best after the finish chute, and it was one of great pride and happiness...as it should have been!!! Great job Tony!

Ah, but the race hung in the balance! Behind Tony, Alex was continuing his super season--sadly, Alex broke his collar bone today (9/23) in PE, so his awesome season will have to be put on hold. On this day, he wasn't able to catch second but he did finish third in a searing 12:19, a 51 second PR. Then Reed came charging down the finishing sward and placed 8th in 12:36, a 52 second PR! Right after Reed came Sanmay Jain, who stumbled in the last half mile but still recovered to run 12:41, a 17 second PR. Anselmo Sandoval ran by far the best race of his career to finish #6/12:58/16th place. Alex Chapman and Jordan Pine (59 second PR) rounded out the top 7 and helped the Bells to a 29-97 win over perennial power Mountain View (8 full teams, 122 runners.) With both races together (23 teams, 278 runners) the Bells would have come third, behind an awesome group of Carlmont sophs and a fine Willow Glen squad. Other big PRs included Andrew Whitney :51, Jeff Lee :56, Tim Ruder :58, Nick Fischler 1:00, JD Torres 1:00, Ben Sheridan 1:14, and Evan Bambico 1:16...way to go Sophs!!!

The JV team had been looking forward to the Lowell Invite for months; historically we run very well in this meet, but we’ve never approached the level achieved Saturday. From the gun, the Bells seized control of the race and pretty much turned the whole thing into an intrasquad scrimmage: at the mile mark, the Bells had 6 of the 10 top spots. The real suspense at this point was who would emerge as the winner of the season long---wait, months long! They have been arguing about this since summer!--competition over who would win the race...a bit cocky perhaps, but confidence is a key factor in cross country! When the pack made it's way past the two mile mark and onto the Polo Fields, Senior Will Pandori had built a slight gap over fellow senior Matt Abely, and he held it to the end. And one by one as the field came by the fans congregated near the foot of the hill, the dominance of the Bells became clear to all observers: Bells were in 14 of the top 30 places! Will would not be caught, and he ran 16:23, a 1:20 PR, and good enough to make the top 5 of all but three of the Varsity teams that would run in the meet...incredible. Just behind him was Matt in 16:27, running a :41 PR. Brandon Siko finished very strong to finish 3rd/16:38, Matt Richards 16:44, Nick Lazarakis 16:50, Robbie Cotton 16:54, and Derek Pincus was #7 man in 17:09. All in all, Bellarmine runners came in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13! That’s a perfect 15 score, the Holy Grail of Cross Country. Our second 5 runners (including David Estko, Jonathan Durstenfeld, Mike Maietta, Kyle Zampiglione) would have finished second in the team competition, and would have won the other JV race!!! Even when the races were combined (26 teams, 316 runners), the Bells scored 16 points!! Truly awesome. Way to go JV!

The Varsity race brought clearing skies but also the biggest challenge for the team: the mighty Aptos Mariners were in our heat! Having gone 3 for 3, the Varsity was feeling a little bit of pressure, but we had a plan. The goal was to run the exact opposite of Earlybird: get out hard early, then use the single track and narrow hedge row section to put some distance between their rivals before the Polo Fields, and then beat people to the foot of the hill. At the mile mark, the 3 Aptos stars, Hunt, Moriarity and Gradone, plus Phil McQuitty of Palo Alto and Daniel Filipcik of Woodside---all big names in Bay Area distance running---were in a tight group running under 5 minute pace. Behind by a short gap was a group which included 3 Bells running abreast: Dalton Guthrie, Ben Kelly, and Lawrence Smith, all of whom hit about 5:04 at the mile. Erik Anderson and Kyle Rae were close behind, and then came Marcos Hinojosa and Alex Cagwin, both of whom appeared to be laboring. At the mile, Aptos had us. But by the two mile mark, Lawrence had moved up on the heals of the leaders, Dalton was shadowing him by about 20 yards, and Marcos had moved all the way to #3 man, running along with Erik and Ben. Kyle, who would turn out to be just starting a cold, was fighting his way through the pack with Alex.

Over the last mile Lawrence sustained his amazing pace (it turned out to be a 5:15 average!) and eventually caught Aptos' Dayne Gradone and almost caught Aptos #2 Mitch Moriarity, finishing fifth in a school record 15:23, a :31 PR. This was Lawrence's first time to go out as hard as he did, so it was a big confidence boost to realize that he could have so much left to finish so convincingly. Just two spots behind Lawrence came two Bells, Marcos---who had moved from #6 at the mile, when he said he couldn't breathe---and Dalton---who said that he just didn't have the juice on this day---in identical 15:40 times and 8th and 9th places. They finished one tick behind Kevin Liao from DI rival school Evergreen Valley, so something to shoot for in the future. Next up was Erik, whose toughness and perseverance have been topics on this pages many times. Saturday was no exception, as he literally fought his way past competitors in the last half mile and ended up in 16th in 15:59, just behind Aptos' #4 and on the heals of St. Francis' #'s 1 and 2...another thing to shoot for as League approaches. Then came #5 Ben Kelly in 16:05, followed very closely by Kyle Rae, making his varsity debut in fine style in 21st, and one spot behind and in an identical time of 16:08 was Alex Cagwin.

In the excitement of watching the furious finish of Ben, Kyle and Alex, I lost track of what place the #5 Aptos runner came in; I thought it was 25, which would have made Aptos the winner by 2 or 3 points by my quick calculations. Alas, I was wrong...or, joyfully, I was wrong! he finished 30th, and so on depth and strength we won 52-54. The Lancers of St. Francis were way back in 4th, two and a half minutes behind in team time...but they were without two of their top 7, so we know we will hear from them again. In an oddity of Cross Country, when one scores both Varsity races together, BCP finished third behind mighty Mountain View and awesome Aptos, because the size of the field rewards the Aptos front runners.

Next up for BCP: Saturday 9/27, frosh, sophs, and JV head up to Westmoor High School for the Ram Invite, while the Varsity and top 7 JV head to Stanford for one of the West Coast’s most prestigious meets, the Stanford Invite. We will be running in the JV race at 12:50 in what amounts to the CCS championships and State finals for our JV team: great JV runners from all over the West Coast will be toeing the line! The Varsity runs in the seeded race at 3:10, with some of the best teams in the West...stay tuned!!!

HEAT can't beat the Bells at Earlybird!!!

The 2008 Bellarmine Cross Country season got off to a rousing start at the Earlybird Invitational, the traditional opening meet of the South Bay High School harrier season. During three long months of logging summer mileage, veteran Bell runners looked towards Sep. 6th with great anticipation. And while the searing late summer late combined with the intensely dusty trails of Salinas' Toro Park may have conspired to undermine the PR hopes of some runners, not one Bell on the roster can be disappointed with the incredible team results: Frosh 2nd, Sophs 2nd, Juniors 2nd, and Seniors first! GO BELLS!

The Earlybird Invitational, so ably and graciously hosted by coach Gus Ibarra and the rest of his wonderful North Monterey County High School staff, is unique in that races are run by class/grade, as opposed to Varsity/JV/Frosh-Soph. So first up on this Saturday were the freshmen. With little experience at the three mile distance, and only two weeks of training in their legs, the Bells only brought 20 young runners to the meet. Luckily for them, the 9:30 start time found this nervous group toeing the line in cool temperatures, and without clouds of dust already suspended in the air. The game plan for all four teams on this day was to go out easy and then slowly pick up the pace while picking off runners throughout the race. The frosh showed great 'coachablility' as the took off at a patient pace and settled into a nice spot in the middle of the 208 person field.

At the mile mark Jack Bordoni had moved up to a perfect spot just off the leading group, and had run around 6 minutes for the first mile. Jack was running smoothly and easily, and looked to be in much better control than most of the novices in front of him. Behind Jack, many young Bells were working their way up through the pack, though at the mile Jose Sandoval and Bradley Afroilan had surged further up than their teammates.

At the 1.5 mile mark the Toro Park course changes from a relatively flat affair to a steep hill course, and it is usually there that the race is changed for good. On this day, Jack had positioned himself perfectly and used the hills to pass nearly a dozen runners. At the top of the last hill Jack had moved up to about seventh place and still had bounce in his step. Behind him, Jose was still #2 man, but Nicholas Mantovani was moving with confidence, and at the crest of the hill he took off to catch as many rivals as he could. Behind him Daniel Toy was running with confidence and power, and at the crest of the hill he had moved to #4 for the Bells. Also moving up steadily was Adrian Hinojosa, picking off more than a dozen runners during the second mile.

One of the tougher aspects of cross country that younger runners must master is finishing strong all the way to the very end of a race. After 2.8 miles of exhausting effort, it can be hard to stay focused, but a cross country runner must condition his or herself to remain physically and mentally focused through the finish line. So, the coaches were heartened to see so many frosh push hard through the last mile. Jack executed this game plan perfectly, using his speed to catch all but two of is rivals in the last half mile. His third place is the highest Earlybird finish by a Bell frosh ever, while his blazing 17:26 time is the fastest in years. That means Jack ran 'negative splits', meaning his second two miles were at a faster pace than his first mile. Great job Jack!!! Behind their team leader, the Bells were running strong. Nicholas Mantovani closed well to finish #2 man, 24th overall, in 19:17. Jose Sandoval finished a strong #3 in 19:50, and Daniel Toy ran a strategically beautiful race to finish #4 (19:52, 39th place, two behind Jose.) Adrian Hinojosa had a great debut as #5 (20:01, 42nd.) The top 7 was rounded out by Alec Sanchez (53rd, 20:22, running on painful blisters) and Chris Paradis (54th, 20:23.) John Bigelow, Matthew Chan (running on painful knees), and Bradley Afroilan also ran well and will definitely factor into Top 7 places in the near future. A big HURRAH for Simon Coffin and Darren Hollak who both ran great on only a couple of days of practice. A hearty congratulations to all 20 Freshmen who ran on Saturday!

The team finished second, BCP's highest frosh team finish ever. The Stallions of Madera South took the team title, with Mountain View's mighty Spartans finishing third. Our WCAL rivals, all handicapped by our League's ridiculous ban on frosh summer practice, finished far behind us, but like the Bells they will be much stronger next time we see them in Golden Gate Park on the 20th. With just the two infernally hot weeks of training, our result definitely signals big things for this year's crop of BCP distance runners. Go Bell Frosh!!!

The sophomores came into the race with much to prove, after last year's 5th place Earlybird finish that in no way represented their eventual domination as a team. In the CCS in general, the class of 2011 is one of the strongest in years, with fantastic groups in Mountain View, San Benito, Carlmont, Salinas, Palo Alto, Monta Vista, Gunn, Los Gatos...it is a deep class! But the Bell sophs can match up with any of them. On this day, 258 Sophomores would run, with the Bells contributing 21 runners to the field. The temps were still manageable, though by the end of this race the mercury had risen to uncomfortable levels. Once again, the team strategy was to go out under control and then work their way up through the tiring pack, and once again the boys stuck to the plan perfectly. After a half mile the Bells were well back, but moving up, with the exception of super soph Alex Jeongco, who got boxed at the start and found himself in the back half of the field after 1000 yards.

By the mile, things had sorted themselves out, with Kyle Rae and his shadow Tony Ferrari sitting just off the lead pack but running strong. Behind them, Reed Thornburg was showing the results of a great summer of training, while Alex Jeongco was moving powerfully through the crowded field. Sanmay Jain, Kyle Jorgensen, Alex Chapman, and Ryan Richardson were running for top 7 spots, and behind them a big pack of Bells was showcasing our tremendous depth.

At the top of the last hill, the Bells had made their move, most notably Alex Jeongco. He had nearly caught Kyle and Tony, both of whom had moved up into the top 20 pack. Reed looked particularly tough at the top of the hill, as did JD Torres, Desmond Leung (running his first race) and CJ Toy. In such a large race, it is hard to know exactly what the team standings are at any given point in the race, but at the two mile mark the Bells were not above 4th as a team. But their depth and strength proved too much for all but the eventual winners, the Spartans of Mountain View. Notably, the Bells nipped DI rival Carlmont by 2 points, though it should be said that Scots were without one of their top 5 sophs...though Sanmay was not at full strength either, so future battles between these groups should be close. On Saturday, our top 7 were Kyle (8th overall), Tony (12), Alex Jeongco (16), Reed (37), Sanmay (57), Alex Chapman (60), and Kyle Jorgensen (79).

And now for some eye-popping numbers: even in the heat, the Sophs had 13 PRs: Sanmay at 11 seconds, Tim Ruder :29, Kyle Rae :41 (Kyle's 17:17 was the 4th fastest BCP time of the day), Kyle Jorgensen :45, JD Torres 1:02, Alex Chapman 1:07, Reed Thornburg and Andrew Whitney 1:18, Ryan Richardson 1:20, Evan Bambico 1:35, Ben Sheridan an amazing 1:57, and and #2 man Tony Ferrari 2:33!!!! Let that be a guide for all aspiring Bell distance runners...Tony's improvement is the result of consistent hard work, being a good teammate, and having a positive attitude at all times...you can ALL do it!!!

Last year the class of 2010 had felt a little discouraged by their fourth place finish in the WCAL, especially because the other three divisions had won League titles. So, this year the Juniors are focused on competitive improvement. Still, by 11:30, when the Juniors took their spot at the starting line, the heat had become prohibitive. But this tough group did not let the temps deter them from proving themselves.

Once again, the coaches counseled a controlled start followed by a steady build up. At the mile, the Juniors had proven that they could follow a game plan; even super star Dalton Guthrie was lurking in the middle of the pack, letting other runners set the pace and burn themselves out in the dry heat. But by the top of the hill, the new and improved Juniors had shown that they mean business in 2008. Dalton had moved from roughly 20th into the top 12, and though his face showed signs of strain from the heat, his eyes showed determination; only 15 seconds ahead of him was Saint Ignatius superstar Mike Reher. Dalton caught him by the down hill and surged, putting a short but solid gap between himself and the Wildcats talented #3 man. Reher would chase Dalton for the last mile, but Mr. Guthrie held him off the whole way. Of course, to do that he had to run seriously negative splits and ended up in 6th place overall, with Reher in 7th. Dalton's time of 16:49 was the BCP fastest of the day, and though not a PR, it was quite impressive given the heat and dust.

Just as impressive was the story unfolding behind the Junior's #1 man. Matt Richards ran the first two miles better than any race he'd ever run, which was actually not surprising given his work ethic this summer. He was within 15 seconds of Dalton, but unfortunately for Matt the heat proved too much on this day and he went into heat induced oxygen debt, which is not uncommon when a runner makes a supreme effort like Matt's. Even with his last mile of pain and exhaustion, Matt finished #3 for BCP and 27th overall. He was caught by teammate Robbie Cotton, another super improved Junior who worked hard all summer. Anyone who saw the League track finals last year could have predicted that Robbie would be much improved this year, but to finish #2 was fantastic. Behind Matt came David Estko, whose summer had also been very strong, and he in turn ran his best cross country race ever, finishing 50th out of 253! #5 was steady Jonathan Durstenfeld in 58th, Eric Chapman was #6 in 68th and Derek Pincus #7 in 80th. Given that those last three still have lots of room for improvement, it is clear that the class of 2010 will contribute more to this year's team than many may have predicted.

But the story on this day was that the Juniors finished 2nd! Of all the day's great accomplishments, both individual and team, this was the most impressive: as frosh, this group had finished 8th, then improved to fourth as Sophs...but in 2008 they stood on the podium and had medals hung around their necks! Las Lomas of Walnut Creek won, but only by 6 points!!! Again, a lesson in the fruits of hard work; without the summer put in by the top 4, the Juniors would not have stood on the podium. In the dry, dusty heat of Toro Park, PRs were hard to come by for the class of 2010, but the following young men still managed to best their past records: Matt Richards :08, John Paton :11, Robbie Ruder, running on painful shin splints, :21, David Estko :30, Eric Chapman :46, Tyler Thornburg 1:04, Derek Pincus 1:06, and Matt Ravizza--fresh off a summer of running!--1:58!!! Keep it up Bells!!!

At 12:30, the Seniors not only had to contend with a heat factor of 100 degrees, but the dust suspended in the air made breathing uncomfortable even for those just walking the park's paths. Plus, they had the proverbial target on their backs as the defending class champions. The seniors proved that they understand the meaning of the word 'literal'; the game plan was to run in a pack for the first mile and hit the mark at 5:20. Well, pack yes: 9 runners within 20 seconds at the mile post...5:20? Not so much, but at least they went out under control: 5:40 to 6:00. Now, to most that seems fast, but for a group as talented as this senior class, that was too slow. Still, given the heat and the size of the field (193 finishers), the slow opening mile made sense. Clearly, at a mile and a half, it was obvious that SI's top two runners, old rivals Greg Innes and Peter Birsinger, would not be caught...but would the Bells move up enough to defend their title?

At the top of the hill, the Bells had made their move, with the team pack cruising through a wilted field and surging forward at the 2 mile mark. Lawrence Smith was cruising in around 20th place, with Marcos Hinojosa about 10 seconds behind. Next up the hill were Erik Anderson and Ben Kelly running side by side, and Alex Cagwin close behind. Next up was Brandon Siko, coming back from 9 long months of rehabilitation and running strong. He was just ahead of a train of Bells: Will Pandori, Matt Abely, and Nick Lazarakis. All nine seniors mentioned here ran great last miles and moved up numerous spots, and with a half mile to go it was clear our depth, even without a top 10 finisher, had earned this amazing group another team title, with our #9 runner, Nick Lazarakis, beating 2nd place SI's #4 man!!!!

Top 7 roll call ON THIS DAY (because with this group there will be many big improvements) were: Lawrence 15th place, 16:52; Marcos 18th 17:03, Ben 27th 17:25, Erik 28th 17:28, Alex 31st 17:31, Brandon 35th 17:40, Will 36th 17:44, for an amazing 39 second 1 to 5 split, the smallest of any team by far. In fact, if Kyle and Dalton's times are added to come up with a top 7 team time, our split is only 37 seconds! PR's were hard to come by in these conditions, with this writer thinking the heat took up to 30 seconds out of the runners by the time of the Senior race, but still we had these great marks: Ben Huttlinger and Nick Lazarakis :10, Sean Foote :19, Matt Abely :20, Alex Cagwin 1:03, and Will Pandori 1:05!!! The heat even took its toll on the park; after the senior race had finished, and enormous limb slowly cracked and then completely broke off of the mighty Sycamore Tree under which we were camped...impressive to say the least!

By overall team time, our 85:26 is the Bells' 3rd fastest ever, including CCS races (the CCS championships are held at Toro in even numbered years.) While our team time on Saturday was only 5th fastest (Redondo Union 83:10, Mt. View 83:24, SI 84:58, Aptos 85:14), if one scores the meet as a cross country race, the results are quite different: 1) Redondo Union 102 2) Mt. View without their top 2 runners 105 3) BCP 174 4) SI 183 5) Aptos 190 6) Madera South 250 7) Willow Glen 258. Depth can win cross country races, and with a lot more in the tank than we used on Saturday, the Earlybird Invite results show that 2008 is a year of real promise for Bellarmine. See everybody in the cool fog of San Francisco on the 20th!!! Go Bells!!

2007 RESULTS

Serra Crystal Springs Invite: Tired Legs Still Run Strong

On Saturday, October 13th, Serra High School hosted the 33rd annual Crystal Springs Invite. This meet is always a high light of the season, for many reasons: the venerable course is truly the gem of Bay Area, and perhaps Northern California, cross country; the competition is always tough, with many athletes shooting for a PR on the best known course in the area; and it is the site of not only the WCAL championships, but at least 4 other local leagues, as well as the CCS championships every other year, including 2007. Especially for the freshmen and newcomers, it is an exciting and perhaps nervous day. But even many of the veteran athletes were palpably anxious as they boarded the bus early Saturday morning.

The ride to Crystal Springs was in fact eventful, and anyone who traveled up 280 experienced it too: pea soup fog, though this cloud bank was so thick and white it was more like Manhattan clam chowder fog! But Jesse negotiated the 92 interchange, in zero visibility, with nary a problem, and the four teams de-bussed into a glorious Fall morning. Yet their excitement probably masked the fact that the previous week had been tough training, and the legs were heavy. All by design; the next time the Bells hit Crystal Springs, it will be with fresh legs raring to go! But, adolescent minds don't always think in rational, linear ways...some of the parents out there may have noticed that. When a gun goes off and you are crouched poised in your singlet with your racers on in the midst of a hyper-excited crowd of teenagers, you just take off and worry about it later! And that is exactly what the Bells did, with fantastic results.

First up came our awesome JV team, albeit with a slightly different line-up. Kyle Hillebrecht was hoping to save his weary knees for Wednesday's big WCAL II clash, so he opted for the JV race, which moved up super-Junior Erik Anderson, who has been on the edge of the varsity all season. Well, Mr. Wise fired the starter's pistol, and Kyle threw his rest plan out the window; at the 400 mark he was right in front of the huge pack. He would stay comfortably in front until Carlmont's lone Varsity athlete to run this day, Dan Palladino, surged by with 600 meters to go. But as always, K-Hill's competitive juices could not be contained: he stayed close to Palladino until the final 30 meters, and then accelerated by him on the inside (the dry side, as Coach McCullough had pointed out!) to just nip him at the wire in identical times: 16:36, a 34 second PR for Kyle! After the race, Kyle said his legs felt great until the 2 mile mark...but that competitive fire clearly blocked the pain over that last quarter mile. That was Bellarmine's third individual race win of the season!

Behind Kyle, the Bells were running a super race. Alex Cagwin went out hard, stayed near the leaders all the way through the second mile, and then pulled away from the 4th place runner in the last half mile. He had third place all but locked up, but let down just enough in the last ten meters to let Serra's #1 man slip by and beat him by a second. A lesson learned for Alex, but it does not diminish his fantastic race and big PR by 1:34 seconds to run 17:16. One North Monterey County runner came through, and then two more Bells: Junior Matt Abely and Senior Sean Adamski. True fans of Bellarmine cross country already know the amazing arc of Matt's career, but to PR at Crystal by 2:57 is truly amazing...actually, awesome would not be misused in this case! A great 6th place finish in 17:31 for Matt! And Sean has improved as much as runner on the team, from Earlybird to Crystal. His 17:32 was a nice 24 second PR too.

Next in for the Bells was Will Pandori, who had the race of his excellent career to finish in 11th place and earn a coveted Top 15 T-Shirt. Will ran the first mile like he meant business, and sustained a sub 6 minute pace for the entire hilly 2.95 miles. His 17:42 was a neat 22 second PR. Next Bell under the wooden finish sign was Matt Wiegand. A true lacrosse star, Matt's athleticism has led him to a great initial cross country campaign; it's only too bad he didn't start earlier...any athletes reading this: get your friends to come out for cross country next season (or track in the spring!) Matt's 17:53 was a superb debut at Crystal, and a great 6th man time. Nick Lazarakis bounced back from his disappointment in WCAL I to run 18:09 and 7th man position, helping the Bells to a 52 point win over the Serra Padres. The plaque will be on the chalk rail in room 412 on Monday! The team time of 1:26:43 would have been third fastest in the regular Varsity race, and they would have placed third in the race by points as well. Other big PR's or notable runs were Ben Huttlinger and Rudy Martinez both PRing by 1:34; Doug Thoreson by 1:27; Devin Kelly by 1:09; Matt Menard by 47 seconds; Greg Derenzis by 34; and Robbie Bergantz by 21 seconds. Eric Sumner ran his best race of a frustrating year coming back from a severely sprained ankle. In addition, Sean Foote continued his steady improvement, running a fine 19:06. Keep it up JVers!

The Serra Invite breaks the Varsity into two races, Varsity and Championship Varsity; Bellarmine always runs in the Championship Varsity Division. In some years, the CVD has had only 5 or 6 teams, but this year, with the CCS Championships being held at Crystal Springs, the race was loaded, both literally and figuratively: 117 runners and 17 full teams, and 5 to 10 runners who might achieve top 10 status at this year's State Championships. The Bells were poised for a strong run, but knew that Willow Glen, Clovis West, Saint Francis and Las Lomas were all tough competitors looking to case the Crystal course.

The game plan was to run the first mile together, near but just behind the lead pack. Normally, a good plan, except when the lead pack includes Diego Estrada, Tyre Johnson, Eric Battles, Nohe Lema, et al. So team leader Ben Kelly stalked the leaders, hanging back over the up and down first mile...but that still brought him to the mile in under 5 minutes! Coach Barone noted that he thought Ben looked good at the top of long hill, though he was checking his watch, possibly to check his pace. Nothing wrong with that, but when one is as talented and fit as Ben, it's better just to run! Right behind Ben came Dalton Guthrie and Andrew Fabian, with Lawrence Smith close behind. A few yards back was Marcos Hinojosa, trailed by Erik Anderson, running his first Varsity race, and looking like the super quick pace was not too tough. Brandon Siko was not far behind Erik, and at the 1.5 mile mark the Bells were moving together nicely through the strung out field.

At 1.5 miles the Crystal course turns towards 280 and then descends through a series of twists for over a half mile, before finally rising up brutally to spit the runners both into view and onto the last 800 meters. The top of 'heart break hill', the steep short climb at 2.25 miles, is an excellent point for race observers to read the 'body language' of the runners: there are those who come off the crest with a bounce in their step, and those who appear quite a bit less bouncy. On this day, the faces of the Bell Varsity looked bouncy, but the legs looked leaden, as would be expected after a tough week of training. Still, they fought every step of the way to the finish. Ben overcame some mid-race doubts to finish very strong. Dalton caught up to Ben and stayed with him to the end, but this was Lawrence Smith's day. Perhaps a bit disappointed with his WCAL I results, Lawrence decided to move up a little earlier in the race on Saturday. The result was a #2 man finish, as he wedged himself in between the dynamic duo of Ben and Dalton. The three came across the line in 21st, 22nd and 23rd places, in 16:15, 16:16, and 16:17. An impressive team-running finish, and one that did not go unnoticed; at the results table, your sneaky reporter overheard several teams discussing the "awesome" Bellarmine team running...actually, I believe they said "helluh awesome", but then they said helluh and heckuh after every third word, so I may be a bit off on the direct quote. Heckuh-super job for the top three! Lawrence's time was a 40 second PR, and Dalton improved his PR by...2:46!!!

Marcos Hinojosa ran well, though he allowed a gap to open in the second mile and then had to fight his way to the finish. By the time we see Crystal again, he will stay with his teammates. As it was, his time of 16:38 was a 1:53 PR!!! Another great job by Marcos. He was followed closely by Andrew Fabian, who ran a great first mile and then like Marcos got gapped in mile two. But Andrew will be ready for WCAL III and continue his great season with another great Crystal race. On this day his 16:43 was just 5 seconds off his PR. Erik Anderson was 6th man in his Varsity debut, PRing by 35 seconds and breaking 17:00 minutes in 16:53. And Brandon Siko, still feeling the effects of a twisted back, still PRed by 32 seconds to run 17:01, and excellent time.

Overall, the Varsity ran a fine team time of 82:09; last year's team finished third in the Champ. Var. Div. with a team time of 83:25, and the 82:09 even beat last year's WCAL III time of 82:29, which included a 15:58 by Eric Baum! Superb running! The team finished 3rd in the race, behind Santa Clara (whose Super Twosome of Kindu Ejigu and Vince Rodriguez finally got three more runners to make a dangerous team...look out Division II CCS!) and Clovis West, who ran without their #2 man. Here is the interesting thing, and why Cross Country is such a team sport. Both Santa Clara and Clovis West had much faster team times Saturday, but the Bells almost won the race: Santa Clara 119 points, 1:21:16 time; Clovis West 122 points, 1:21:31; BCP 123 points, 1:22:09; Las Lomas (Walnut Creek) 138, 1:22:11. A close study of those times and scores shows that BCP's depth is key, and in fact our 'split' was the smallest of the top 4 teams: SC--1:32, CW--1:27, BCP--28 seconds!, LL--1:18. In fact, if Kyle Hillebrecht's time is put in as BCP's 4th man, then the race would have been BCP 117, SC 120, CW 125! Pretty darn close any way you slice it. So, stay tuned...the Varsity has some pretty exciting races still to come!

Next up were the Sophs, who were looking to exorcise some ghosts from last year...WCAL III had not gone very well. And, the whole team was looking to launch "Plan Durstenfeld." So far this year, Matt Richards has been the clear number one, followed by his tough teammate Jonathan Durstenfeld. After Jonathan, #'s 3-10 had been filled by any number of great runners, all of whom have been improving with each week, but most of whom are new to the sport or have improved tremendously over the last 12 months, leaving them a little short on the top-level competitive race experience. So, the Plan entails a group of 7 sophomores who will shadow Jonathan for the first two miles and then hang on as long as they can. The idea is that most of these runners have more in them then they realize, they just need to have that 'Aha!' race moment. So, as the gun signaled the start of our third race of the day, the coaches drew a collective breath and peered off to the north.

Matt put himself in a great spot in the beginning, as he always does, just off the lead pack. At the 1.25 mile mark he was in a good position to execute his plan of using the down hill into the second mile, and he ran strong through the 2 mile mark. He continued his strong pace all the way to the finish, and even though he wasn't overly pleased with his place (20th), his excellent time of 17:50 was a big 1:04 PR, and he once again led his team as # 1 man. Well done Matt, and get ready for WCAL III and the return to Crystal.

Behind Matt, Jonathan was running an excellent race. As tough a competitor as there is on the whole team, Jonathan has trained through a very painful knee and maintained his racing edge. On this day, he crested the hill at 1.25 miles and again at 2.25 miles in great position, running with confidence and working his way through the field. And right by his side from pillar to post was Robbie Cotton, our man of the day with a break out performance. Robbie ran focused and intense and never lost that contact with Jonathan. The result was a super 18:08 for Jonathan (24th place, and a 42 second PR) and a sublime debut of 18:11 for Robbie, good for 26th.

At the mile, Plan Durstenfeld looked great, as a long line of Bells tailed off from Jonathan's heels. All in all, they kept it up through the twists and hills of Crystal, and ran a much stronger team race. 4th man on this day was Eric Chapman, 30th place in 18:25--a 1:04 PR--and #5 was David Estko, 31st in 18:28, and Mike Trimberger turned in another great run to finish #6 18:36...Plan Durstenfeld team running! #7 was Andrew Yang, whose 19:11 was a 32 second PR. Of note were big PRs from Greg Mavor, 2:56!; Robbie Ruder 2:09 in 20:42!; John Paton 1:07; and season best races from Tyler Thornburg (20:11!!), Matt Ravizza and Brandon DelosReyes.

But the big news is in the team results: Carlmont 55, Serra 58, St. Francis 102, BCP 104!!! The Bells finished 26 points behind St. Francis in WCAL I, and only 2 back at Crystal...and there is more in the tank, too. Plan Durstenfeld has just begun! Look out Lancers!

Last up were the frosh, who had every right to expect to do well in this race, coming off their big win at WCAL I. But three hurdles made the task even larger than normal: a tough week of training, lots of tough competition, and a new course which they had never seen. But at the starting line, none of that seemed to daunt the little Bells at all, as they had their games faces and ill-fitting singlets on. Team leader Kyle Rae was looking to use Matt Richards' strategy: run a controlled first mile in contact with the leaders, and then open up in the second mile and make a run for the lead pack. He executed the whole plan perfectly, hitting the mile at 5:20, moving up with the second and third place runners as they reeled in St. Francis' front running super star, and put himself in a place to race for the win at the end. As it turned out, Kyle had played a full soccer game the morning of the race, which may explain why he 'slipped' to fifth place. But what is most important to note is that Kyle finished only 5 seconds behind St. Francis' #1 man...and the gap is closing! What can he do if he doesn't play a soccer game next time they race? Tune in on Wednesday to find out! By the way, Kyle's time of 17:07 was the Bell's 9th fastest of the day...not too shabby!

Behind Kyle, Sanmay Jain was once again showing his gifted stride that will grace the BCP track this spring. Though he claims to like track much more than CC, he has had an amazing year, and Saturday was no exception. He ran 18:14, a fantastic debut on this tough course. And right behind him was freshman of the day, Alex Jeongco. Before the race, Alex's coaches asked him to run with Sanmay as long as he could, believing that he could run even faster than he had at WCAL I. Well, as 'long as he could' turned out to be the whole race, as Alex was practically Sanmay's shadow as they chugged up and down the San Mateo County hills. He finished in 18:17, his best race of the year. Next up was the always tough racer, Alex Chapman, whose #4 man time of 18:34 was also his best race of the year! And at #5 was Tony Ferrari, the toughest racer on the team. He closed with his characteristic hard fought last half mile to run 18:43. Reed Thornburg turned in a great race at #6, and his 18:51 gave BCP 6 frosh under 19 minutes! #7 Kyle Jorgenson ran 19:20 on what could be his home course!

In the team race, the Bells looked to be in the top 5, and after the computers had done their thing, the naked eye was right again: BCP in third! Final scores Carlmont 51, San Benito 83, BCP 110, Leland 121, Gilroy 147. So, 4 of the top 5 teams are Division I CCS, which could mean big battles for the next few years. Of course, rarely do the top 7 runners from a freshman team end up being the top 7 runners in their varsity years, but the coaches hope all these great freshmen runners will stick with it and give Carlmont, San Benito and all the rest a great fight for the next three years!

See all you CC fans out at Shoreline Park on Wednesday for WCAL II...go Bells!

WCAL I: Bells announce to League: "We will run to win!"

It was with great anticipation that the Bellarmine buses and vans pulled out of the Liccardo lot last Wednesday, as tremendous successes had characterized the entire first month of the season. But, the veterans knew---and the coaches had warned the newcomers---that the first League meet is always a whole new ballgame. Each of our rivals comes ready to run their hardest, and the size of the races shrinks, which changes the whole tenor of the sport: fewer runners in a race, much harder to stay focused, much easier to get gapped, especially on the twists and turns of the Polo Fields course. So, anticipation tempered with nervous expectation was the feeling as we wound our way up the Peninsula.

The day was sunny, windy, and cool...San Francisco at its best! First race was the JV race, and the whole team had been discussing the possibility of a very low score. Given the way our JVers had been running, even the coaches were perhaps guilty of assuming victory. During Monday's practice many of the runners had planned a race strategy that involved going out hard and then putting in a surge near the mid way point---down in the twisty, narrow, sandy portion of the race around Middle Lake---to open up a gap over the Serra and SI runners, all of whom would be gunning for the Bells. The lead pack took off and at the half mile, the plan was working perfectly: a large group of Bells were stalking St. Francis' rabbit and the Serra runner who took his bait. By the time the lead pack hit the short downhill at the mile mark, the Bells had pulled to the lead, with Erik Anderson, Bryan Finney and Alex Cagwin breaking away from the field. Close behind was a pack of Serra runners, one SI athlete and then a host of Bells leading a large Serra pack.

When they re-emerged onto the Polo Fields upper track, Erik had broken away and opened about 30 meters on Bryan, and both were running hard but under control, with way too much steam to be caught. Alex was in third, fighting with the SI and Serra top guns. They passed the two mile just ahead of the Serra pack, which had been joined by Sean Adamski and an apparently tired Matt Abely who appeared to be laboring. Bellarmine had several athletes running hard in the next ten, including Jack Phipps, Matt Wiegand, and Will Pandori. As the packs headed off into the woods at the east end of the Polo Fields, it appeared that the JV's would win, but probably not post a score as low as SI's 20 points from the previous year's WCAL I.

One of the exciting features of the Polo Fields course is the runners emerge from the tunnel on the north side of the stadium and finish with a long counterclockwise kick in full view of all the spectators. But in fact the runners can be seen moments before they emerge if one watches the shrubs on the far side of the field. On this day, that semi-obscured view showed the Bells in 1-2-3 with a half mile to go. Erik, Bryan and Alex kept those spots to the finish, coming in at 17:44, 18:03 and 18:09 respectively; Erik's time would have won last year's JV race by 5 seconds! Behind them came a pack of four Serra runners, two SI runners, and Sean Adamski and Matt Abely. One of the highlights of the day was Sean's tremendous finish, as he came from seventh to fourth in the last 50 meters to give the Bells a 1-2-3-4 finish. Close behind was Matt, who ran a brilliant last mile and came in 8th place. Quick math shows that the Bells did SI two better than their phenomenal result last year; we scored an unheard of 18 points!!! So close to the Holy Grail: the Perfect 15. For some perspective, the next lowest score on the JV record books is SI's 20 in 2006, Serra's 21 in 2001, and BCP's 23 in 1999. Perhaps even more impressive are the following improvements made by these runners over their times from the previous year at WCAL I: Adamski 24 seconds, Finney 35, Anderson 41, Doug Thoreson 46, Sean Foote 1 minute, Devin Collins 1:11, Greg Derenzis 1:39, Cagwin 1:45, Devin Kelly 2:16, Ben Huttlinger 2:31, Abely 2:34, and Rudy Martinez MIJVR (Most Improved JV Runner) at 2:51!! What a great job, and a testament to hard work and teamwork. One last comment: from the coaches' perspective, the JV race is the most important, because it shows the health of the program, as these are Juniors and Seniors who are not on the Varsity but are still training hard, committed to the tough work necessary to score 18 points!!!! All the coaches are very proud of each and every JV runner...keep it up!

Next came the Varsity race, and with it a great deal of anticipation: St. Francis had thrown down the gauntlet with their Stanford Invite time, and coach McCrystle felt that SI had something up their collective sleeve. A League Varsity race is a unique animal, because only 55ish runners toe the starting line. It is much more a series of duels than a big Invite where the pack can pull one along and a runner can let his or her guard down a bit and just let the collective pack pull one through. Relax for a moment in a League Varsity race and you are out of it. At the Polo Fields, that doesn't come into play until the second mile, as the first is a lightening fast flat loop around the storied eponymous grounds. On this day, the Lancers decided to go for broke, and maybe see if they couldn't run the race right out of their rivals' legs. At the mile mark they had all 7 of their runners in the top 20, and though they looked tired, they were winning the race by 10 full points. Serra was way back, SI had gone out as a controlled pack for the first mile, and the Bells were well placed: Ben Kelly, Dalton Guthrie and Marcos Hinojosa all in the first 8, just off the back of Phil Pompei's blistering lead. Back a bit but running well were Andrew Fabian and Kyle Hillebrecht. Lawrence Smith had opened with his customary tactical mile, but in this race it left him gapped and worried; after the race, Lawrence wasn't happy with himself, and probably has re-assessed his tactics for the next WCAL tilt. Behind Lawrence, but still in the top 22, was Brandon Siko, running with a sore back incurred during core work earlier in the week. The team raced off after the Lancers and into the single track paths of Golden Gate Park.

When they emerged again onto the upper track, it was in hot pursuit of Pompei at the start and SI's tough Greg Innes in second. At the two mile pole, Dalton was third, Ben fourth, Marcos fifth, with an SI trio just behind. Serra's top two were next, with Fabian and Hillebrecht looking ready to make a move on the SI #3 ,4 and 5 men. As the exited the track into the hills, Ben was fading and the SI boys were powering forward. Lawrence had worked his way up to within close range of his Senior teammates, and Brandon was close behind. Despite the excellent second mile, the Bells were 5 points down to SI, whose tight bunch had surged into the lead group. But, this Bell group was not to be denied.

When next they reappeared, Pompei was way out in first, Innes had opened his lead in second, but then Dalton had broken away for a clear third. Hard charging and closing the gap with a half mile to go was SI's #2, and then Marcos emerged from the tunnel with a slight edge on SI's #3. Next came Oran Arms from Serra, and then the clincher for the Bells: Kyle Hillebrecht with a hard closing Ben Kelly right on his heels. At the finish Ben was one tick ahead of Serra's #2--Dominic Chelini--and then Andrew Fabian and Lawrence Smith---finishing with a furious last half mile---one second behind Chelini: 4 runners in 1.5 seconds! SI's #4 and 5 came in at 14th and 5th places in the race, which meant the Wildcats went 2-4-6-14-15 for 41. The Bells, with amazing depth and team running, came in 3-5-8-9-11-12, with Lawrence's 6th man spot adding a point to SI, for 36 points and a 5 point win!!! Bellarmine has won Frosh races, Soph races, JV races, and Varsity Invitationals over the last seven years, but the Bells had not won a WCAL Varsity race since 2000! Congratulations to the whole team for their part in the exciting victory.

Some observations: Kyle ran probably the best race of his career, and Andrew ran his best race of the season. The times were great: Dalton 16:51, Marcos 17:03, Kyle 17:09, Ben 17:13, Andrew 17:14, Lawrence 17:14, and Brandon 17:34, for a team time of 85:30, 47 seconds faster than last year's Varsity team time at the same race. Interestingly, SI and Bellarmine had exactly the same team times this year: 85:30. But, the BCP split (time between 1st and 5th runner) was only 23 seconds, while SI's was an equally impressive but not good enough 35. Big time improvements were seen by Lawrence at 34 seconds, Brandon 57 seconds, Kyle 1:06 minutes and Marcos at 2:57 seconds...any athlete reading this take note: if you want to improve, then you should run all Winter, go out for track, do what your coaches say, and have fun! You may not improve by a Hinojosian THREE MINUTES, but you will get better! St. Francis? Faded badly in the second mile and then just held on to nip Serra for third, 89-92. But, they bounced back on the next Saturday to run brilliantly at the Artichoke Invitational, so they will be back. Now, with the target squarely on their back, the Bells will have to prepare to defend their win and claim a League title...and, truth be told, the Bells have even more in the tank; this was not our best!

The Sophs knew they were in a tough spot. With Dalton Guthrie on the Varsity and Serra, SI, and St. Francis loaded on this level, the Bells were looking just to improve on last year's disappointing distant 4th place at the League Championships. Consistency in practice and racing had been the problem last year, but this year those issues have been replaced with hard work and consistency. That combination paid off with a very fine team effort and some real hope for the last two League races.

In the first mile, team leader Matt Richards went out hard with the leaders, and at the half mile point even led the race for a short stretch. At the mile he had placed himself among the top 7 runners and looked focused as he headed off into the Middle Lake loop. behind him Eric Chapman was leading the Bells charge, with Jonathan Durstenfeld close behind, both in the top 18 runners. A tight knot of Bells came through in the next big group: David Estko, Robbie Cotton, Mike Trimberger, and Stephen Cabebe. Kyle Barton and Derek Pincus were close behind and super improved Tyler Thornburg was not far behind them.

At the two mile, Matt had cemented himself at 5th. He was running a smart and steady race, and looked determined to keep his spot in the overall. Eric had faded a bit behind him, but Jonathan was moving up through the pack, coming by the two-mile in 16th place. After Eric, David and Robbie came by running well but gapped from some rivals they probably could have beaten had they been close enough to sniff a race, and then Trimberger and Cabebe back a bit more.

Matt eventually emerged from the tunnel in 4th, having passed two of the Super Serra Sophs in the last 3/4's of a mile. He gave it all he had to the finish, and held off Serra's #2 by 4 seconds, finishing in 18:12. Jonathan ran brilliantly, holding off SI's #4 man for the last half mile to finish 14th in 18:55. Two newcomers were the next Bells to finish: David Estko and Robbie Cotton, in 19:32 and 19:35 respectively. David in particular had a great kick, which makes one think that there is much room for improvement as the neophytes get more racing experience. Eric Chapman had a tough day, but finished a respectable 5th man for BCP in 19:47. Next up was another newcomer, Mike Trimberger, and Stephen Cabebe, who finished side by side in 19:53. The team finished 4th with 84 points. Last year in the WCAL Finals, the frosh finished 4th...with 109 points, a mere 22 ahead of Mitty in fifth and 45 points out of third. This year, St. Francis finished third with 58 points, only 26 ahead. The key for this team is for Chapman, Estko, Cotton, Trimberger, Cabebe, Barton, Pincus, Thornburg, and any other runners who want to take on the challenge, to run with Durstenfeld, and we'll test this strategy this Saturday at the Serra Invite! Some huge Soph time improvements: Chapman 38 seconds, Cabebe 1:04, Richards 1:05, Chris Choi 1:40, John Paton 2:13, and Robbie Ruder a whopping 2:55!!!!

The last race of the day was the frosh, and at the starting line it looked like a gathering of a "People who like to wear Blue" convention: 40 of 103 runners in the race were Bells! The gun went off...and the Bells won. Of course, there was a lot more to it than that, but at every turn there were Bellarmine frosh fighting to get one spot ahead, from the lead pack to the tail of the race. It was a great finish to a super day. St. Francis super frosh Chris Reis got out to an early lead, shadowed by a pack that included Kyle Rae and Sanmay Jain from Bellarmine. As the leaders headed down the hill to the mile, a parent from another school noted aloud, "How many guys does Bellarmine have in this race?!?!" Well, at the mile, 10 of the top 20! down they went to tackle the sand pits of Middle Lake for the second time this year; they had wrestled with them in the opposite direction at the Lowell Invite...and this day would prove to be just as successful!

At the two mile Ries had opened a good lead on Kyle, but Kyle was focusing in on him, hoping maybe he could walk him down in the last 400 meters. Behind Kyle Sanmay Jain had run a beautiful second mile to put a chunk of distance between himself and the Mitty-Serra-Riordan trio racing behind him. Behind that triad came Alex Jeangco and Kyle Jorgenson, both running extremely hard in the top 10. Then a long line of Bells emerged and headed off into the trees, all holding excellent overall places: Tony Ferrari, Alex Chapman, the vastly improved Andrew Krasts, Reed Thornburg, Jordan Pine and CJ Toy, AJ Killoran having the race of his life, Andrew Barton and JD Torres...one after the other they came streaming down the trail, a sea of Blue Bells.

At the finish, Ries actually extended his lead over Kyle, but with the way young Mr. Rae has been training, I wouldn't be surprised if things don't change by the end of the season. Kyle's time of 18:26 was excellent. Sanmay ran another sublime race, finishing 3rd in 18:59. Alex closed strongly to finish 6th in 19:30, but he can probably try to run with Sanmay in future races. Kyle Jorgenson had his best last mile of the season, finishing 8th/19:36. Tony Ferrari ran his best race of the year, capturing a top ten spot (9th/19:42), and Alex Chapman did very well as 6th man (12th, 19:52.) Hats off to most improved Andrew Krasts (17th/20:19.) The team total of 28 points gave the Bells a 57 point window over second place St. Francis; the Bells 13th runner would have been 5th man for the Lancers! Of note for excellent improvements were AJ Killoran, Andrew Barton, JD Torres, Michael Doubek, Justin Johnson, Evan Bambico and Carl Peterson. Great effort by the frosh...keep it up!!!!!!!!!

STANFORD 2007: Down, dirty, fast and fun

Every year in late September, top cross country teams from across the western United States gather on the Stanford Golf Course to race around the hallowed links and establish their mid-season reputations. Historically, big name racers who have bypassed early season meets use Stanford to make their debuts (like Brad Suhr of Carlmont this year), and big time SoCal programs travel up north to mix it up with rivals they probably won't see again until the State Meet in late November. Against this backdrop, the Bells annually join the fray in hopes of proving their worth in the 'big time', and this year was no different.

This year there was a special entry: the Rams of Central Catholic High School in Portland. Special to 'us' (read: coach McCrystle) because the Rams outstanding coach is none other than Dave Frank, former teammate of Mr. McCrystle's and good friend for 25 years! His team is excellent this year, and they had come down to mix it up with the hot shots in the Seeded race. The Bellarmine parents put together an outstanding picnic for the Ram runners, and all enjoyed themselves immensely, especially the T-Shirt exchange, where Marcos Hinojosa got a brand new Ram CC shirt for a gross old shirt from some forgotten Invite! A sincere thanks and feeling of great gratitude from Coach McCrystle to all the families involved for responding on short notice and providing such a splendid repast...you are the best! By the way, the Rams finished 6th in the Seeded race without their #1 man!

Typically, BCP brings its top 14 upperclassmen to Stanford, and the second 7 run the ultra-competitive JV race. The Bells toed the line on the #2 fairway next to some of the top programs in California and beyond: Jesuit-Sacramento, Jesuit-Portland, Ferris of Spokane Washington, El Toro, Torrey Pines, Palos Verdes and Arcadia of Southern California, and Central California powers Buchanan and Clovis East. The race is a mere 3 kilometers, or 1.8 miles, all flat and mostly on grass. The start is mass stampede down about 200+ meters until a sharp left hand turn, and can often result in big pile-ups and crashes. This year was no different, and after the gun there was a false start followed by a second mad dash and then grinding halt at the turn, where 221 runners were converging on a 90 degree bend. Luckily, this year most of the Bells avoided the crashes, though Matt Abely did find himself near the back 25 runners after the first quarter mile.

At the mile mark, the long train of runners had started to thin, and on this day the Bells had a runner right in the front pack: Bryan Finney. Bryan has matured to the point where he is a consistent top-rate competitor in every race, and Stanford was no exception. He was in a small group of six, which included two super stars from Arcadia High School. Close behind was Erik Anderson, working his way through the many runners who had misjudged the speed of the race and were beginning to tire. Third at the mile was Alex Cagwin, running in the top form of his short career. Super steady sophomore Matt Richards was in uncharted waters, having to open with such a fast mile, but he looked steady and in control as he came by the mile roughly in the top third of the field. Sean Adamski continued his steady in-season improvement by opening with an under-control mile, and behind him vastly improved Matt Abely had worked his way up from 200th place to 120th. Nick Lazarakis was adjusting to his first 'big time' CC race as well, working his way up through the field.

At the 2K mark, Bryan had dropped off the pace, and later admitted to not knowing how much he had left or how much he should save for a 3K race. Erik continued chugging has way through the field, passing Bryan and opening up a good sized gap on a large herd of runners who were chugging along in 17th-30th place. Alex Cagwin had kept the front pair in his sites and begin an attack this large group. Stanford's course features a long straight finish that sees more place changes at the finish than most courses, probably because in a meet of such magnitude and intensity many runners have run so hard that they have almost nothing left and crash out as they near the finish. Another factor is that the finish line can be seen clearly from 300 yards away, prompting some runners to take off at a full sprint too early. Erik timed his kick perfectly, holding off a knot of 10 runners, all of whom would finish within 4 seconds of him!

And at the head of that knot was Bryan, who surged in the final 100 and passed 6 runners in the final 50 meters to finish immediately on Erik's heels. And two seconds later, in the midst of the hard-charging 'knot' was Alex, two seconds behind his teammates. A short twenty seconds passed before Matt Richards, locked in several duals over the last 300 meters, crossed the finish line. Right behind Matt came Matt Abely, who had used his tremendous strength to push up from 200th to 71st by the finish! And another 5 short seconds later Sean used his strong track kick to pass a number of runners in the final 100, just leading a hard-charging Nick over the final 200 meters of fairway.

When the dust had settled and the numbers were tallied, the Bells had recorded the best BCP JV finish in many, many years. The earned 6th place out of 30 full teams, 1st CCS team and 3rd Northern California! Places and times out of 221 runners were as follows: Anderson 16th 10:14, Finney 17th 10:14, Cagwin 23rd 10:16, Richards 62nd 10:36, Abely 71st, 10:40, Adamski 88th 10:45, and Lazarakis 103rd 10:55. The team time of 52:00 was 1:07 faster than last year's excellent team, which finished 12th. An excellent result against tough competition, and a harbinger of good things to come for the WCAL races looming on the horizon.

The Varsity team was competing in the Division I boy's race, and in retrospect, that was probably a mistake: 49 teams and 344 runners filled the boxes on the starting line, meaning that the first 200 meters would be like a recreation of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, complete with tramplings and maybe even a goring! The Seeded race, which we could have entered, had 23 teams and 163 runners...a lesson learned for next year! But this year, it was the stampede, and at the gun BCP's inside box position caused some problems: Marcos Hinojosa went down, rolled over, was hurdled by Kyle Hillebrecht (whom he kicked--inadvertently--right around the equator), and finally got himself righted...only to find himself dead last in a field of 300+ runners! It was quite a site to see a Bell runner literally last at the quarter mile mark.

The size of the field bit the Bells on the foot again, as someone stepped on Lawrence Smith's shoe at the half mile mark and gave him a flat tire. Lawrence looked up only to see Erik Anderson standing on the sidelines cheering him on. In amazing Mr. Bean style, Lawrence kicked his shoe off---and Erik caught it! That would have been so cool to post on Youtube! But, Lawrence had to run the last 2.6 miles with only one shoe! As the team approached the mile mark it was clear this was going to be an uphill battle. Ben Kelly and Dalton Guthrie were out fast, both around 5:05 pace, but the rest of the team was caught in the crowd and struggling to get into a rhythm. The other 5 came through somewhere between 5:25 and 5:35, and by that time it was just a race of survival.

But survive they did! Ben and Dalton stayed with their pack the whole way through the race, eventually finishing in 26th and 31st places, respectively. They both kicked strong on the final straight, fighting to hold on to their top 10% positions, which was no easy trick given the mass of humanity barreling down the last fairway. Behind them, Lawrence was fighting on, some how surviving dirt, gravel, cart paths, hills, long grass and furious competition with only one foot shod, to finish 56th. Easily as impressive and amazing was Marcos' race. After being trampled at the start and being literally the tip of the tail on the 334 runner snake, Marcos fought and fought and fought his way past 271 runners to finish in 73rd place! Where would he have finished had he not fallen? Top 50? Very likely!

Close on Marcos' heels were Kyle Hillebrecht (88th), Brandon Siko (98th), and Andrew Fabian (101st). All three had worked their way through the crowds to move up into the top 30% of the race after having been in the last third at the mile. Overall their times were Kelly 16:34, Guthrie 16:38, Smith 16:57--setting the BCP one-shoe record for 5K---Hinojosa 17:04, Hillebrecht 17:14, Siko 17:18, and Fabian 17:20. The team came in 9th place in the D I race, #2 CCS behind Carlmont, and #7 CCS overall by team time: 84:27. The runners themselves were disappointed with their races, both in where they placed as well as their times. But, it should be noted that the course was longer than last year, as the new route redirected runners counterclockwise around the golf green before running through the tunnel onto the back loops, whereas in the past the course cut directly to the left of the green. How much distance this added to the course was a matter of debate among many coaches; yours truly figures about 150 extra yards was added.

All in all, a tough race but a good learning experience. The team realized eventually that some races will be tough, and one must learn to overcome whatever obstacles fate might throw one's way. Slightly troubling was St. Francis' team time of 84:13 in the D II race...how would the Bells perform head to head with the Lancers at WCAL I, a mere 5 days away? One could only wait in anticipation...stay tuned!

Westmoor Freshman race story by Dr. Richard Nevle

A bus full of chattering harriers departed Bellarmine in the cool morning air to take on the 2.4 mile challenge of the Westmoor Invitational, infamous for its notorious “Furrowed Incline of Death”, a deeply gouged 30-degree slope that imparts near saturation of lactic acid in the pasterns of even the fittest Kentucky thoroughbreds. Undaunted – and perhaps a bit naïve - a squirrely, excited, and anxious crowd of 31 freshmen lined up sharply at 9:30 A.M., ready to test their wings in a very competitive second heat, which included WCAL competitors St. Ignatius and Serra as well as super fast squads from Jesuit and Carlmont. Running beast Kyle Rae exploded off the starting line and marked off the first half mile in the lead, hitting the incline at full tilt. But there the race action started to heat up as Rae was passed in the last five yards of the climb by a tough Alameda runner. Sanmay Jain, Alex Jeongco, and Kyle Jorgensen all crested the hill within seconds of Rae, with Alex Chapman, Reed Thornberg, and Tony Ferrari and soon to follow. The Bellarmine harriers glided over the course like fighter jets in formation, which pleased the coaches to no end, after weeks of repeating the mantra of pack running. As the two mile mark approached, a long-legged runner from Castro Valley, looking more pronghorn antelope than human, had taken the lead, and Rae had fallen to 7^th, grittily battling to hold on to a place in the top ten. By races’ end, the Bells finished a respectable 3^rd place in the second heat behind superpowers Carlmont and Jesuit. Rae finished ninth at 14:26, more than 20 seconds faster than sophomore Matt Richard’s Westmoor time in 2006. Sanmay, 2^nd for the Bells took 14^th came in at 14:48 (Matt Richards’ time from 2006), followed five and six seconds later, respectively, by Alex Jeongco and Alex Chapman. Tony Ferrari, Reed Thornburg, Jordan Pine, and CJ Toy all finished the race in under 16 minutes, demonstrating the promising depth of the freshmen squad. With a top 5 average time that was 23 seconds faster than that of Serra, the second quickest WCAL team on Saturday, the Bellarmine freshmen proved that they are THE force to be reckoned in what is sure to be an exciting first match of WCAL cross country talent on Wednesday!

Lowell Invite, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, September 22: We came, we ran, we conquered.

Each week seems to bring something new from Zeus, god of weather...I think he must be going through a mid-life crisis, because rain in September is unheard of around these parts. But there we were on Saturday morning, playing anti-jenga with 50 backpacks under our measly tent while the heavens dumped on us. But so far this year, neither smoke nor heat nor wind nor freak rain storms have been able to dampen the energy and competitive fire of the mighty Bells: we stormed into San Francisco and after four furious races we left few doubts as to our 2007 fitness: We are ready to fly!

The Lowell Invite meet director split each division into 2 races because the fields were too big for the course; at various places, the Park's trails are very narrow and root-strewn, and having a pack of 20 runners crashing into a 5 foot wide sandy trail is not a good idea. For the coaches it is a bit of an inconvenience because we would like to see our runners against all competition, but as it worked out, we were able to get a very good idea of where we stand versus the rest of the WCAL, and experience some great competition against schools from up and down the state.

First up came the freshmen, itching to get into another race. The first race is always so 'new', that the second seems like a much better test of their fitness, especially after two weeks to process the experience. With that sense of "we know what we're up against this time", 35 Bells lined up in Lindley Meadow for frosh Race I. At the start super frosh Kyle Rae started out fast with Monta Vista's #1 and 2 men and St. Francis' hot shot Chris Ries. Stalking close behind was Mr. Steady, Sanmay Jain, followed by a host of Bells at the head of the peloton. By far the biggest surprise was the presence of Alex Chapman in the group of leading Bells. The pack disappeared into the winding sand trails around Middle Lake with the Bells and perennial powerhouse Monta Vista of Cupertino looking like the teams to beat.

When the pack reemerged onto the upper Polo Fields track, Kyle and Sanmay had fallen off the lead group, but they had also gapped the main field and were running strong. Back in the pack, Alex Jeongco had worked his way to the head of a Bell contingent that was battling the Matadors of Monta Vista and the Crusaders of Riordan. The Bells ran the only hill on the course, which is really just a speed bump and comes a half mile from the finish, with great confidence and hit the final 200 meters on Speedway Meadow with a shot at the title. Kyle finished very strong to take fifth, just one tick out of fourth. Behind him came Sanmay in sixth (12:58), and importantly both maintained the strong gap over the Monta Vista #2 runner (7th place) they had opened on the hill. Kyle ran 12:42, 17 seconds faster than Dalton Guthrie ran last year. #3 for the Bells was Alex Jeongco, who kicked furiously to finish 11th and hold off MV's #3 man, who was next in 12th.

The revelation of the day was BCP's next runner: Alex Chapman. Alex has yet to train as hard as he can, but on this day he showed his toughness and determination with a gutsy 13:23, #4 man and good enough for 14th place. Next came Reed Thornburg (#5, 18th, 13:28) and Kyle Jorgensen (#6, 19th, 13:35), both in front of MV's #5. Tony Ferrari rounded out the Top 7 by coming in right after MV's #5 (21st, 13:47). An incredibly close battle, and even with Monta Vista's top runner winning the race, the Bells prevailed 54-58! It should be noted that two more Bells made huge improvements--Andrew Krasts and CJ Toy--and came in 8th and 9th for the Bells, as both beat Monta Vista's #6 and 7!

After combining the two frosh races, the Bells finished a fantastic second place to a very, very impressive squad from Mountain View, 63-90, with Monta Vista third with 103 (23 complete teams and 252 runners total.) This year's freshmen group has tremendous depth: this year's #10 man, Jordan Pine, with his excellent 14:18, would have been last year's frosh #5 man! So far, the Bells have beaten St. Francis, Serra, St. Ignatius, and Riordan...so, if we keep working hard, then that team goal of a WCAL title looks like a real possibility. Good work frosh!

The sophomores came to the starting line in much drier conditions: the rain had stopped, and 5 previous races had packed down the course fairly well in those places where the parched earth had not already soaked up every last drop of water. In the first race, Serra and SI staged a dual meet, with the Padres pulling out a close 27-30 victory; between the two teams, they had 14 of the first 21 scored runners!

In race two, the Monta Vista Matadors put on a clinic. At the mile mark, they had four of the first ten runners, and a glance back at the main field showed a tidal wave of purple. Saint Francis was putting up a good fight, and the Bells were utilizing good pack running, albeit back a bit in the crowd. #1 man Matt Richards was clipping along at sub-6 minute pace, out ahead of David Estko and the rest of the Bells. Matt was able to push up the hill section, and then use his strength to hold off some hard chargers in the last 200 meters to finish in the top 10 at 9th place. His 12:33 time was a 1:20 PR over last year! Keep it up Matt, and to all others, see the power of consistent training. Matt was the #2 WCAL finisher in the race, and 6th WCAL runner overall in the Soph division.

Behind Matt the Bells were lead by David Estko, who continues to improve as his confidence and experience grow. He finished in 27th place in 13:03, a great 6:08 pace. Right behind David was Jonathan Durstenfeld, running on a painful knee but toughing out a 13:04 28th place, a 50 second PR. What guts! Next in for the Bells were Eric Chapman (#4, 31st, 13:12--a 1:31 PR!) and newcomer Robbie Cotton making his 2007 and career debut (#5, 32nd, 13:15.) This gang of four has been training well together and their continued hard work is the key to the sophomore season...the League is very tough, but if this bunch can keep this group mentality and continue to improve, the Bells will make some noise. Mike Trimberger (#6, 38th, 13:25) and Stephen Cabebe (#7, 43rd, 13:34) rounded out the top 7--and both of those runners can move up with the previously mentioned foursome, too! Important PR's on Saturday included: Wison Clasara 31 seconds, Durstenfeld 50 seconds, Spencer Lauber 50 seconds, Kurt Martin 14 seconds, Robbie Ruder 1:49!, and Andrew Yang 1:30!

The Soph team finished fourth in their race (Monta Vista 29!!!, St. Francis 66, Evergreen Valley 93, BCP 109) and 6th overall in the Soph division (Monta Vista 53, Serra 97, SI 105, St. Francis 115, Evergreen Valley 164, BCP 178; 272 runners and 24 complete teams.) Next week at Westmoor the Sophs will have one last chance to hone their racing tactics before the WCAL I race. Go Sophs!

Next up were the JVs. After last year's success at this Invitational, there was a lot of talk all week in anticipation of this race; much of it centered on how well the JVs could do. It was never cocky, but it was confident...and as it turns out, the JV runners probably undersold themselves! This was domination with a capital D!

The skies had cleared nicely, and a light breeze was keeping the temperatures perfect for cross country (nice and cool), as the JV team--all 30 of them!--lined up at the ridiculously narrow starting chute at the far west end of Speedway Meadow. At the gun it was clear that all the week's talk had been anything but show; at least 5 Bells moved to the front of the pack by the half mile mark. At the mile, it was Erik Anderson leading the way for the Bells, neck and neck with his teammate, senior Bryan Finney. Both Bryan and Erik knew that the end of the long John F. Kennedy Drive stretch, when the course turns onto the narrow sandy trails around Middle Lake, is the perfect spot to make a move; trailing racers lose contact and consequently lose ground. When the pack emerged from the Middle Drive loop, Anderson and Finney had broken away, and by the look in their faces, veteran BCP CC fans knew it was just a matter of which would win.

More on that later, though, because behind the dynamic duo the rest of the Bells were on the move, wearing down the field. At the base of the hill Alex Cagwin, running in a group in the top 10, looked like he was as fresh and strong as he was at the start of the race, and it's no surprise that he covered the last half mile like a thoroughbred and finished 4th in 17:01, an amazing return from a long bout with injury and recovery. Congrats Alex! After one SI Wildcat came in, the next runner was none other than Matt Abely, whose consistent training and complete dedication to distance running has produced an amazing transformation; last year at Lowell, Matt was 13th man on the sophomore team, and he ran 14:35 for 2.1 miles. This year, he was 4th man on the JV's and ran 17:08 for 2.99 miles! Way to go Matt, and take note young Bells!

5th man this day was senior Sean Adamski, who rebounded well from his opening meet to PR by 45 seconds, finishing 10th in 17:18. Sean finished especially strong, kicking by SI's #2 man in the last 50 meters. Sean's training has been going very well, and he has many more good races ahead of him this year. #6 was the vastly improved Nick Lazarakis, who like Sean used a strong kick to hold off the SI #3 runner, finishing 12th in 17:23. #7 man was Jack Phipps, who earned his medal (which he proceeded to model for much of the rest of the day) by placing 15th in 17:30, another big improvement over the year's first race. The pack of JV Bells was truly remarkable; e.g., the list of runners who ran 19:23 or better--a pace of 6:30 or better on the 2.99 mile course--is lengthy: Will Pandori 17:42, Conor Sullivan 18:18, Eric Sumner 18:21, Greg Derenzis 18:45, mystery man 18:52, Sean Foote 18:54, Devin Collins 18:55, Brian Lanier 19:04, Sam Alexander 19:23, and Miles Orantia 19:23...and Ben Huttlinger and Robbie Bergantz were oh so close!

But back to Erik and Bryan. They came off the hills side by side, and went around the final tree virtually neck and neck. At that point Bryan's 800 speed paid off, and though Erik fought valiantly Bryan pulled away with about 100 meters to go and won in 16:44, a 50 second PR over last year. Erik finished strong and ran a brilliant 16:47. Even with a 1-2 finish to cheer for, the real story was in the team result. The Bells won with only 23 points to SI's 62! They would have won the race even if one takes out their first 3 runners! Combine both JV races, and Bellarmine still wins...29 to 78 over SI!! So, in a race with 292 runners and 26 teams, Bellarmine scores 29 points! Amazing...keep it up JV!

Finally, the time for the Varsity race came. Willow Glen and Saint Francis were in race #1 with the Bells, so we knew the competition was going to be tough. Hanging over the squad was the knowledge that Marcos Hinojosa's grandfather was on his deathbed, though in acknowledging that in the pre-race prayer the team also noted that their strength was true in the fun times as well as the hard, and they would support each other no matter how the sadness affected Marcos. But at least temporarily, the excitement of the first Varsity race of the season--and the first ever for Marcos, Brandon Siko and Dalton Guthrie--allowed the tem to focus on the competition. The gun went off, and Ben Kelly moved out fast. At the half mile point Ben was the lead Bell and had placed himself square in the center of a large lead pack, headed by none other than St. Francis senior Phil Pompei, fresh off a huge mileage summer.

Behind the lead pack, the Bells were employing awesome group running. At the mile the scenario hadn't changed: Ben in the lead group of 10 at about 5:00 flat, then a gap to Kyle Hillebrecht, Dalton Guthrie, Andrew Fabian, and Marcos Hinojosa all at about 5:10. Lawrence Smith was just off their shoulder at 5:15, and Brandon Siko lingering a couple ticks behind at 5:18. They were flying, but then again you have to if you want to race in the big time!

The field was lost to the crowds for almost a mile, and then reappeared with a bit of a shake up. Mohamed Abdalla was once again pacing a teammate, but this time it was Nohe Lema and they were off the front. A large pack was back about 30 meters, headed by Pompei and Jake Arveson of Monterey. Ben was in the lead of another group of about 10, though by the time they reached the 2.5 mile mark Ben looked spent and the pack was itching to get around him. A huge wave of runners hit the grass behind the lead 5, and Dalton Guthrie pushed his way into this group. All 7 Bells closed incredibly hard over the last 400 meters, but none stronger than Dalton and Lawrence Smith. Dalton gave it every ounce in the last 25 meters, just nipping Willow Glen's Valentino Julian and Serra's Spencer Mcleod to finish as Bellarmine's #1 man again, this week in 8th place in 15:50. And Lawrence passed at least 6 rivals in the last 200 meters, just outleaning Terra Nova's Luke Frazier by an inch at the line. Lawrence finished 11th in 15:54. He had been the Bell's #6 at the mile, #5 at the two mile, and #4 at the 2.5 mark...and #2 at the finish!

Right behind Lawrence came Ben, who held on for a fine 15:55 and 15th place, a 28 second PR over last year. And just behind Ben was Marcos, who also closed strong to finish 19th, in 15:58. Just a note: last year at Lowell, Marcos ran 14:35...for 2.1 miles!!! Andrew Fabian PRed by 27 seconds to run a great 16:13, good for 29th, and Brandon Siko put together another amazing race, finishing 39th in 16:19. To put that in perspective, last year Brandon was 5th man...on the sophomore team! This year, he tore it up for the Varsity, running what would have been the #2 time on last year's Varsity team!!! Think about that for a second.

The Bells finished second to a superb Willow Glen team, 56-75. After combining the two varsity races (thanks Finnbarr and Wart), the Bells still finished second: Willow Glen 97, BCP 134, Los Osos of Rancho Cucamunga 145, with 305 runners and 43 teams. The team time of 79:39 is 2:24 faster than last year's time. In fact, last year Eric Baum ran 16:02 as #1 man; this year Kyle Hillebrecht ran 16:03 as #5! Hard work pays off, and good teamwork makes it all easier. Speaking about all the Bells, Saturday was superb for two reasons: hard fought, charging finishes exhibited by all runners on all four teams, and good sportsmanship in the sometimes rough and tumble finish chute. Keep up the good work everyone, and see you at Westmoor or Stanford!

Earlybird Invitational, Toro Park, Salinas, September 8: BCP makes strong debut; Guthrie, Junior team star.

After a long cool summer, and then a short but climatically surreal two weeks--hot, hazy, a pall of smoke that put one in the mind of hordes of dementors, or at least placed one in the pages of Dickensian London--an antsy Bellarmine Cross Country team traveled down to Steinbeck country to inaugurate the 2008 season. The first meet of the year is always a time of anticipation, excitement, nerves, and questions: what have all the miles wrought, how strong are our rivals, will these new racers help, how good are the newcomers, are my aches and pains healing???? Well, by 1:00 pm on Saturday, fans of the BCP cross country program could answer all those, and come up with one powerful summation: the Bells are ready to ring out loud and clear in 2008!

First up were the freshmen, and as always the nerves and confusion were palpable as 30 young Bells toed the line at Toro Park's big grass field. The cloud cover was still in place, and the temperatures cool, a big break for our neophytes. 234 young men took off at exactly 9:30 am, and by the mile it was clear that Bellarmine had brought in some strong competitors, especially compared to the other WCAL schools in attendance. At the mile mark, Kyle Rae had separated from the crowd and was running in 6th place, looking cool and focused. Behind him, a large group of Bells was moving well through the field as their first race unfolded. Bellarmine looked strong at the bottom of the hills, racing as a team against Carlmont and San Benito. Then, the relatively short training season so far showed, as the Bells lost a good number of spots by the time the 2-mile mark finally appeared down at the bottom of the hill loop.

Despite the lag on mile two, the Bell newbies run hard to the end. Kyle Rae dropped a bit on the last hill, but caught back up to the first group and kicked hard to finish a fantastic 8th in the race. His time of 17:58 was 23 seconds faster than current sophomore and #1 Varsity runner Dalton Guthrie ran last year on the same course! Despite having a cold and slowing on the hills, Sanmay Jain rallied over the last mile to finish 31st (26th scoring place) in 19:16. Perhaps the gutsiest race of all, though, was by Reed Thornburg. #6 man for the Bells at the mile, and #4 at the top of the hills, he finished #3 man, 42nd overall/35th scoring, in 19:43 passing several runners in the last quarter mile. Alex Jeongco ran a great debut, finishing 4th man/46th/38th/ 19:56. He was followed closely by a hard-charging Tony Ferrari, 5th/39/49/ 20:01. Rounding out the top seven were Kyle Jorgensen (6th/41/51/20:17) and Jordan Pine (7th/47/59/20:37). The team finished 5th overall, but just a slim 10 points out of third and the medal stand! With two weeks of consistent hard training, the coaches look forward to another big effort at Golden Gate Park, with some marked improvement on the horizon, and perhaps a top 3 team finish. Great job Frosh at your first race!

The sophs came into this season with redemption on their mind. Injury, inconsistency and immaturity combined in 2006 to bedevil their season, but with a strong track spring and an even better summer regimen, the class of 2010 is looking to make their mark in the annals of BCP CC. Saturday was a great start: as freshmen, they finished 8th at the Earlybird...this year they were 4th! Last year #1 man Dalton Guthrie finished 18th, in 18:21, and this year...well, more on that later!

Only 16 sophomores suited up for the Bells, and when the gun went off, there wasn't much blue near the front of the 220-boy field. But at the mile mark Dalton Guthrie had staked a 25 yard lead and announced to his coach that he "felt good!", a comment he relayed as he raced by! Behind Dalton, steady #2 man Matt Richards, fresh off a great summer of training, was running an intelligent race, pacing himself as he picked off one rival at a time. Another sophomore with a great summer resume, Jonathan Durstenfeld, was holding a strong spot at #3 man as the main field turned for the hill loop. Dalton fought hard through the rolling up hill section, but at the peak super-soph Gregory Harper from Las Lomas of Walnut Creek, a ranked age-group triathlete, had closed the gap. With 1200 yards to go, Harper threw in a surge and opened a sizable lead, but anyone who knows Dalton knows also that the race was far from over. Dalton caught Harper at about 300 meters to go, and opened a slight lead. With less than 70 meters go, Harper pulled even in a full out sprint and then just edged ahead. On this day, Dalton was one second slower, but his amazing 16:30--fastest opening day race at BCP in nearly 10 years--would be the #1 Bell time of the day. The last 3/4s of a mile was an exhilarating battle that foreshadows the sort of toughness and spirit that will hopefully be the hallmark of the Bells all year...way to go Dalton!

Matt ran a great race, smart and consistent and 2:13 faster than the year before! He finished #2/19th scoring/25th overall. Jonathan held on for a nice 1:26 PR in finishing #3/35/49/18:53. It is worth noting that the Sophs #4-7 on this day were completely different from last year, due to a host of factors but most positively because of an infusion of new runners. #4 was hard working David Estko, a frosh football refuge, who debuted at #4/45/61/19:23, all after a great summer of hard work on the trails. #5 was super talent Eric Chapman (5/62/87/19:59) who has recently pledged to train harder. #6 Stephen Cabebe has been fighting knee pain, but his hard summer work paid off with a 1 minute PR (6/70/98/20:14.) Another newcomer, Mike Trimberger, ran a great first career race, coming in #7/73/106/20:27.

Other notable PR's included Wison Clasara 1:33 seconds; Kurt Martin 1:02; and Andrew Yang (#8 on the day) a whopping 2:54 seconds!!! Another notable race was run by Tyler Thornburg, whose frosh season was wiped out by a freak accident last year on the eve of the first race; this year he ran a great 21:17 to start the season.

The Bells 4th place team finish placed them behind Serra 127-163, but notably and very excitingly put them ahead of last year's frosh WCAL champs, SI, who finished 5th with 166; Matt Richards super improvement made all the difference there! When new recruit and soccer player Robbie Cotton joins the team in two weeks, along with another soccer star, Derrick Pincus, the sophs will be even more formidable. Keep up the improvement you wise fools!

The coaches knew that the best chance for a team medal was on the Junior level, and even though the cloud cover was gone the sun had definitely lost the intensity of the previous two weeks: perfect conditions for the deep and dedicated Junior squad. 22 third year boys took off at the gun, and true to the competitive spirit they had honed over a great track season last spring, the leading Juniors moved quickly to the front. Team leader Ben Kelly and league 2-mile champ Marcos Hinojosa went out in the first mile with the 'big boys' in 5:10, and perhaps became a little spooked. Ben in particular seemed to be affected by the quick early pace, but great runners have to be willing to push themselves, even if at first it seems too tough. The key is to learn from all race experiences. By the bottom of the hills, Marcos had dropped Ben and then Lawrence Smith passed him too. Lawrence was running his first race since recovering from a stress fracture in track, which of course meant he was feeling a little trepidation. One could see his confidence grow as the race unfolded, and by the top of the hill he had the assured glint in his eye that said "Here I come!"

By the two mile mark Brandon Siko and Erik Anderson had caught Ben too, and the three Bells would form a power convoy all the way to the finish, coming across the line within 3 ticks of each other. First, though, was Lawrence, who ran his usual tactical gem to finish #1 Junior (#2 Bell overall)/9th place scoring/14th overall/16:47. Marcos finished strong as #2/11/17/16:56...a 4:22 PR, which has to be an all time BCP record!!!!!!!! No one can say they have more desire than Brandon, and he fought every inch of the last mile to just nip his teammates Erik Anderson and Ben Kelly. The three came in 20th, 22nd and 24th, scoring (28-30-32 overall) and 17:27-17:29-17:30 in time, BCP's 6th, 7th, and 8th fastest times of the day.

One of the top stories of the day had to be Matt Abely, whose 2:21 second PR and 6th place team spot had to feel good after a summer of big mileage. Matt finished 35/48/18:23! Nick Lazarakis continued the great end to last year's track season to finish 7th/36/49/18:25. The team title was won because of the Junior's amazing depth: after the first three runners were in, the team score was Willow Glen 27, SI 33, BCP 40, but the Bells ended up beating the mighty Rams 86-102. Perhaps more importantly, the Juniors beat fellow D I CCS rivals San Benito 86-112 and clobbered WCAL rivals Saint Ignatius (137 pts.) and Serra (176). Huzzah Juniors! And the top runners will only get better...look out Lowell Invite!

The Senior team had been hit hard by injury, low summer miles, and job defections, but 11 hearty Bells joined the throng of 190 under an ever warmer sun. Local favorite Diego Estrada of Alisal High School took off like a rocket and by the mile had a 30 meter lead. Behind him a long line of luminaries stretched out along the dusty paths of mile two. Notably absent was Carlmont super star Brad Suhr, who decided to sit this meet out, and equally accomplished Mohamed Abdalla of Willow Glen, who chose to pace a teammate rather than race all out. Still, the competition was stiff as Andrew Fabian and Kyle Hillebrecht fought to hang on to the back of the lead runners. Despite chronically painful knees, Kyle looked good as he led Andrew to the base of the hills. Andrew would later comment that after a half mile his legs felt as if he had already run a race (a similar comment to the one made by Ben after his race) and one could see he was not at the top of his form on this day. Back in the pack Bryan Finney fought his way up the hills, followed by injured Jack Phipps and lacrosse super star and first time CCer Matt Weigand. A little ways back Sean Adamski--still working on his fitness after a light mileage summer--was holding #6 man position, and behind him Eric Sumner was racing after missing a month due to a severe ankle sprain. All in all the seniors lacked the kind of pack running that would be needed to return to the podium place they had enjoyed the year before, when Sean Adamski's 6th place broke a tie with Monte Vista and secured second place.

Even with the injuries and limited training, the senior leadership came through as all runners pushed through a tough last mile and somehow secured a fifth place finish in a deep field. Kyle finished very strong to come in 13th scoring/18th overall/16:53--the Bells' 3rd fastest time on the day. Andrew revived some over the last half mile and finished 17/23/17:04. Bryan closed well and came in 39/52/17:56, and Jack Phipps pulled Matt through to a nice debut time, 18:40 and 18:42, good enough for 46th and 48th scoring. Sean finished 6th man again, 55/80/19:08, and Eric pulled through on just a few days of running to finish 77/118/20:27. Serra finished 4th, beating the Bells 129-163, but surprisingly, SI finished well back.

In the overall picture, BCP had the 6th best overall team time (4th CCS, 2nd DI CCS, 1st WCAL)--last year, we were 10th, and this year we ran 2:21 faster than last year's top 5 team time! More importantly, if one scores the meet as a cross country meet, it comes out Carlmont--without their #1 man!--150 pts, Las Lomas (North Coast Section #3 DII) 157, BCP 167, Aptos 178, Los Gatos 196, North Monterey County 202, Madera 203--the team time champion!--SI 233, Willow Glen (without Mohamed) 271...Serra not in the top 10! So, hope and excitement for more great races...see you in San Francisco on the 22nd!

Links to Local XCountry Sites

Here are some other websites with more information on meet results, times, etc.

WCAL II: Bellarmine's finest team effort of 2006! Just four short days after the Serra Invite, two buses full of Bells showed up at sun-bleached Shoreline Park for WCAL II. The coaches were unsure what to expect, given recent sickness, injury, mid-terms, missed practices, and other distractions, but the teams seemed focused, as well as hot and dusty on this warm Indian summer day. SI, Serra, and Saint Francis all brought their 'A' games, though just like the Bells, all League rivals were feeling the wear and tear of a long and competitive season. The coaching staff had been preaching improvement over the first League meet, and the team had spent much time in practice discussing strategy, competitiveness, and mental toughness in advance of this meet. So, the coaches were hopeful that this might translate into some top efforts...and they were rewarded by what has to be the best top to bottom overall team effort of this fantastic season.

The JVs got things started at 2:00 under a wilting sun, with the only shade provided by the occasional Turkey Vulture soaring around in hopes of finding a collapsed frosh on the side of the trail. Varsity runner Eric Sumner was coming off a few days of sickness, so he moved down to the JV level and joined the usual cast of mighty Juniors and Seniors. In WCAL I, the Bells finished 2nd to SI, 20-49, so that was the benchmark for improvement. At the mile, the SI armada was sailing along with runners in the top 6 spots, though the Bells were well placed, just off the front group with Phipps, Sumner, Tapia, Dwyer, and Cameron running hard. After the 1200 meter mark at Shoreline, the runners disappear onto the long 'back loop' around the Shoreline golf course. The back loop is narrow and dotted with occasional clumps of loose asphalt rocks, which makes it difficult for runners to pass and move up through the field. So, strategic running requires that runners who want to do well have to be in contact with the lead pack at the mile mark...and the Bells were. On this bleak course, the runners emerge again at the 2700 meter mark, and usually the race has shaken out by that point.

The SI top 2 were the first to crest the little bump at the 2700 meter mark, but right on their tail was Jack Phipps. Jack is in his first season of cross country, and not even he knows just how good he could be. On this day, he was very good. Running equally as well behind Jack as the runners approached the 2-mile mark and the last hill loop was Sam Dwyer and Andrew Tapia, having the best race of his career. Just back a bit more were Eric Sumner, running well but feeling the effects of his recent sickness, Alan Cameron, and Bryan Finney. The last mile at Shoreline is a long 'up' followed by a long twisting downhill ramble all the way to the 50 yard finish on the bike trail. On the uphill, Jack kept contact with the leaders, eventually passing SI's #2. At the end, Jack kicked hard to run 17:15/2nd place, BCP's 7th fastest time overall on the day. At the finish, he had plenty left, which led him to believe that he might be able to take the SI #1 at WCAL III...we'll see, and it will be fun to watch!

Next in came Sam Dwyer, running 17:58 for 8th, 3 spots ahead of his place at WCAL I. Andrew Tapia maintained his pace to run his best race of the year, 18:05/10th. Last year at Shoreline, Andrew ran 19:28, and in WCAL I Andrew finished 16th! Eric hung on to run 18:07, and Alan ran his toughest race of the year, 18:14/15th...1:40 seconds faster than last year! Alan wasn't even in the Top 7 at WCAL I. Bryan Finney blazed down the finishing straight to complete the BCP blanket finish, 18:17/16th place. The top 7 was rounded out by senior Sean Semeniuk. The team result was even more impressive than these fantastic individual accomplishments: they closed the gap with SI to 36-46, ten points, and that is with Sean Adamski not being able to finish the race due to dehydration (don't worry: Sean has run tough every day since and will back and raring to go at WCAL III.) The League title is not out of reach: for 2006, the League has adopted a new scoring system: the first two meets are each worth 1-8 points--1st place earns 8 points, 2nd 7, etc.--but the Championships are worth double: 1st 16 points, 2nd 14, etc. So, SI has 16 points and BCP has 14 after two races, meaning if BCP wins WCAL III, we are co-champs! Go Bells!

The Varsity lined up in the stubble of the starting field knowing that Eric Baum wasn't at full strength after his weekend illness, but also with the knowledge that SI's 2 point margin from WCAL I was within reach because of the team's great depth. The strategy was to mark SI's top 5, and for the Bells pack to mix it up with the Wildcats' top 3. At the mile, Ben Kelly and Eric Baum were setting the pace, with Chris Partin in the lead pack along with a mix from all League schools except Valley Christian. Andrew Fabian, Kyle Tuttle, Deven Carroll, and Kyle Hillebrecht were all in the top 15. SI's top 3 were also in the mix, hanging off the lead at the mile mark.

When the group emerged from the back loop, Mitty's Menso DeJong had broken from the pack. SI's top 2, Eric, Ben and Chris, and Phil Pompei from St. Francis made up the lead pack, with Andrew and the two Kyles just behind with many others. As the leaders scaled the long hill just after the two mile mark, Ben made a move to chase the SI leaders, with Chris and Eric maintaining their spots in the top 6. On the downhill last 800, SI's top two passed DeJong and ended up finishing 1-2, which was the difference in the race. Behind them, DeJong held off Pompei, and then came Ben Kelly in 5th place, moving up from 10th in WCAL I. His time of 16:17 was a 27 second improvement over last year. Ben thinks he may be able to move up even more at WCAL III...go Ben!

Chris Partin lost some ground in the last mile, but he held on to finish strong in 8th place, moving up from 11th in WCAL I. Again, Chris feels he can sustain better at Crystal and place even higher at WCAL III. Eric felt the effects of his recent illness over the last mile, but held off the SI #3 to finish 9th. At that point, the race was still in the balance, but SI's #4 was able to kick hard and hold off Andrew and Kyle, finishing 12th, 3 and 4 seconds ahead of Andrew and Kyle, respectively. Andrew's time--16:52--was a 38 second improvement over last year, and Kyle's--16:53--was 45 seconds faster! Kyle Hillebrecht kicked past SI's #5 man, to add a point to the Wildcats' total. If Eric Baum had been healthy, that effort probably would have given the Bells the victory, but on this day the Varsity learned that being healthy is as important as being good, at least late in cross country seasons. Kyle's time was a 44 second improvement from last year's WCAL II. Deven was 7th man, and had also been sick recently, so he is still looking for his best race of the year.

The final score was SI 48, BCP 51, St. Francis 82. If Eric had finished either 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, the Bells would have won the race. The point is not that Eric could have/should have run better--he ran better than his coaches expected, given his recent illness--but that the Varsity team ran better than they had in WCAL I, and improvement is the key. With a return to health by Eric, and another gutty run by the Bells, a co-championship is a real possibility.

The Sophomores came in high from their 2nd place Serra Invite result, but edgy because of their 3rd place finish at WCAL I: SI 25, Serra 50, BCP 57. At Shoreline, the weather had cooled by the 3:40 pm starting time, and the sophomores came to the line ready to compete. At the gun, they took off hard, and at the mile, it was a two team race: Bellarmine and SI. The coaches waited impatiently to see the lead pack off in the distance, but the late afternoon sun made it hard to tell which uniform was which. As the leaders surged over the 2700 meter crest, there was WCAL I winner Lawrence Smith, running just behind SI's top 2. Just as exciting was the next little group: Erik 'Prefontaine" Anderson and Brandon Siko running shoulder to shoulder with SI's #3 and 4. Behind them, SI's #5 was in a group with Serra's top 4 runners, and then Conor Sullivan, Nick Lazarakis, Mike Maietta and Will Pandori were running hard in the midst of many SI runners.

On the long uphill, Lawrence and SI's #1 pulled away from the SI #2. Behind that group, but gaining ground, came Erik and Brandon and the SI #s 3-4. A real dogfight was unfolding on the slopes of Shoreline's former garbage mounds, and the face of the Bellarmine runners told the story: Lawrence looked cool and collected, as if he knew he would win; Erik looked like his next step might be his last, but nobody had better get in his way; and Brandon, smarting from his feeling that he had run poorly at Serra, charged ahead with determination and toughness etched on his face, looking like an Olympic boxer. When the runners emerged from around the bend to begin their long downhill finish, Lawrence had pulled away and would win handily in 17:25, a 30 second improvement over last year. SI came in next, but then Erik passed the other Wildcat and finished 3rd in 17:31, a 1:06 improvement! SI's #2 came in 4th and then Brandon came hurtling in at 5th, one place ahead of SI's #3, and the best finish of his career. His 17:40 time was a 43 second improvement. The top 3 ran as brave and competitive a team effort as the Bells have had at this level in a long time, or maybe just since Fabian/Hillebrecht/Sumner fought over these same arid mounds!

Conor Sullivan finished fourth for the Bells, feeling the effect of the fast pace over the last mile. The real surprise was Justin Koh's last mile, as he moved up from around 25th to finish 16th. With consistent training all season, Justin could have been the difference for the sophomore squad in their season long battle with SI. On this day, Justin's effort was especially important because Nick Lazarakis was unable to finish the race due to light-headed cold symptoms. New comer Mike Maietta ran a great last mile to hold off SI's 6th man, and Will Pandori ran his usual tough race to be 7th man.

The biggest improvement of the day at this point had just been achieved by the Sophomores, as they earned 2nd and closed to within 10 points of SI, 29-39. The sophomore league is quite curious: Serra finished 3rd with 53 points, and then 4th was Riordan with 147! If the Bells could somehow win the last league meet (SI was missing one top runner), they would be co-champs; just as impressive would be to hold off Serra again and take second in the league...go sophomore Bells!

The coaches were completely at a loss when they contemplated the freshman race: who would step up? Would they keep their narrow WCAL I third place margin over Serra, after the Padres had wiped them out at the Serra Invite? Would they continue to reel from having lost their top runner and 2nd best WCAL freshman, Dalton Guthrie, a month earlier? Well, the top moment of the day turned out be the collective effort of the frosh, as they improved in every facet of cross country running and nipped Serra for third, closing the gap to SI and St. Francis in the process. At WCAL I, the scores were: Saint Francis 36, SI 45, BCP 97, Serra 108. At WCAL II, it ended up: St. Francis 37, SI 51, BCP 67, Serra 67...Bellarmine wins tiebreaker on better 6th man!

Matt Richards was disappointed by his Serra Invite performance, but he decided to respond by redoubling his efforts at WCAL II...and he redeemed himself mightily! He went out hard with the leaders, and at the mile he was in the top 5, chuggin' along at sub-6 minute pace. In the second pack, super talent Eric Chapman was once again going out hard, showing his toughness; at the Serra Invite he had gone out hard, and paid the price, going into oxygen debt and feeling the hurt that an all out effort can bring. In the third pack, a host of Bells were mixing it up with a deep WCAL freshmen League, showing that they can listen by 'running in a pack', as their coaches had said maybe a thousand times during the previous three weeks.

As the leaders came out of the back loop, SI's super frosh had a big lead, followed by St. F #1, Serra #1...and BCP #1 Matt Richards! But wait! Just behind this lead string of runners came St. F's #2-3 men, and Eric Chapman right on their heels. In WCAL I, BCP's top runner--Matt--had finished 10th, and now the Bells had two in the top 7. When the leaders came by the crowd on the long uphill, Matt looked cool and focused, and even more impressive was Eric's calm and confident visage. At the finish, Matt held on to 4th, running a great 18:35. Eric kicked hard all the way down the last hill, passing one of the Lancers to finish 6th in 18:45...he finished 27th at WCAL I!!!

Back in the pack, the rest of the frosh were coming into their own, pushing forward through the pack and finally racing their WCAL rivals. Sam Hayes moved up almost 10 spots in the last mile, passing his teammate Jacob Baker near the end as the pair came in 16th and 20th respectively. Michael Carroll held on to finish 5th man, and then Stephen Cabebe and Sean Seebach fought their way past numerous rivals in the last mile, and Stephen's 23rd place finish beat Serra's 6th man, meaning BCP won the 67 point tie! Of note: Andrew Yang moved up from 54th in WCAL I to 36th in WCAL II; Tyler Young went from 63rd to 40th; Stephen Cabebe 41st to 23rd; Jacob Baker from 28th to 20th, Wison Clasara from 83rd to 50th, and Felix Li from 85 to 55!!! That is the sort of improvement that shows this class can come together and be a great team at WCAL III and in the years to come!

See you at Crystal Springs on All Saints Day for the League Championships! Thanks to all for their continued support.

Serra Invite: Short-handed Bells post strong Crystal times! On a cool, overcast October 14th morning, a small-ish contingent of Bells, 58 in total, made the journey to the venerable Crystal Springs cross country course for the 32nd annual Serra Invite. As far as the author knows, St. Robert Cardinal Bellarmine College Preparatory has competed in all 32, so potential hurdles such as SAT tests, sickness, laziness, or injuries incurred at the St. Francis football game, were not going to stop the determined Bell harriers who woke up early on this fine Fall day. So, despite being shorthanded on every level, the Bells competed valiantly and did very well.

First up was the JV race, and only a scrawny gang of 10 juniors and seniors toed the gravel...but with this brave crowd, 10 was enough! To cut to the chase, the JV Bells continued their tremendous season by winning the title, 44-76 over a very strong Carlmont team running on their home course. Serra, also running on its home course, finished a distant third with 91 points. The Bells were led by the Three Junior Musketeers, Sam Dwyer, Bryan Finney, and Jack Phipps. Sam's 5th place time of 17:25 was a 46 second improvement over this meet last year. Bryan showed his 800 speed, and kicked in one tick ahead of Jack, 17:27-17:26. Bryan's time was 1:37 seconds faster than last year! All three will look to dip under 17 at League Finals.

Sean Adamski ran 1:08 faster than last year to finish 12th, despite a shin bruise caused by a collision with a SJCC stadium bench the night before. Sean contemplated not running, but valor overcame fear and pain and he ran brilliantly. Eliot Williams ran the best race of his 4 year Bell career to be fifth man in 17:57, 1:42 faster than last year! Alan Cameron chipped in as 6th man--despite 100+ yell leader push-ups the night before--in a fast 18:02, a 1:22 improvement. Alan will look to go under 18 minutes at the League finals, and culminate a great 4 year career. 7th man was newcomer Aaron Yung, who ran a great 18:43. Of note on this day was junior Matt Menard, whose 21:02 was a 1:30 cut down from last year! Great job to Aaron and Matt, and with continued improvement like that, next year's JV team will be as formidable as this year's!

Next up was the Championship Varsity race, and for this race at least the Bells were going to have to wade in to the deep end without their usual A-game: Eric Baum was sick and unable to run. The Bells decided to just run 6 (Devin Carroll was taking the SAT), but they also elected to go all out, and that they did. Due to SAT's, the big meet at Toro Park at the same time (site of the CCS championships), and a second non-championship Varsity race, only 5 full teams (a full team is 5 runners, though of course 7 are allowed; 5 must finish for a team to be 'complete') and 35 total runners took off down Crystal's rocky slope when the gun went off. At the mile, the dynamic duo of Mohamed Abdullah and Marcos Corona of Willow Glen were WAY out in front. Behind them, the Bells were in the thick of the pack, hitting the mile around 5:05. Ben Kelly was setting the pace, followed closely by the whole BCP team.

While the Willow Glen wunderkinds ran away from the field, Carlmont decided to put on a team show the likes of which hasn't been seen at Crystal since BCP's 2000 CCS Championship team ran 79:32. The Scots ran 79:21, with the Senior Surh having a bit of an off day. Their coach believes that if they run their best they can finish 'on the podium' at the State meet, which means in the top 3! Without Super-Baum, the Bells fought hard and ran PR's for all 6 runners. Ben Kelly ran 16:25, 9 seconds faster than last year, to finish 12th. He was followed closely by Chris Partin, whose 16:31 (13th) was the best Crystal debut that this researcher could find in BCP Crystal Springs history. On November 1 they both will give it their all to see how close they can come to 16:00. The twins, Andrew Fabian and Kyle Tuttle, continued their Siamese season, running joined at the hip to finish 15th/16:37 and 17th/16:38, respectively. Andrew's time was a 57 second improvement from Serra 2005, and Kyle cut his time by 1:02! Both their times were also PR's over last year's League finals, but it is more impressive to see how they have improved during the year that has elapsed since Serra 2005. Kyle Hillebrecht kicked strongly, as always, to finish in 17:09 and secure BCP's 3rd place over Serra and Saint Francis. Eric Sumner improved 45 seconds from last year in 17:13. Overall, the team finished 3rd: Carlmont 27, Willow Glen 49 (80:03 team time!!), and BCP 78.

The Sophomores, still smarting from their third place finish at WCAL I, brought 18 hungry runners to the line. In the biggest race of the day--109 runners--the Sophomore Bells gave it their usual all-out effort, and despite a few balky legs, the results were typical for this fantastic team: Leland 40, BCP 81, Serra 93. At the mile mark, team leader Lawrence Smith was employing his usual strategy: marking the leaders, under control, ready to strike when the time was right. On this particular day, the Leland Chargers unveiled a heretofore well-kept secret: a deep and fast fleet of sophomores. At the 2 mile, they held 3 of the top 4 spots, with Lawrence just off the pace, but looking cool and collected. As the race unfolded, Larwence picked off one Charger but couldn't catch the top 2 or Evergreen Valley's speedy number 1 man. Still, his 4th place time of 16:56 was a big PR and a 54 second improvement over the previous year.

Behind Lawrence, the Bells were scratching and clawing their way through a tough field. At the end, it was Erik Anderson giving it all his all to finish #2 man, in "T-Shirt" position, 14th in 17:33, a 1:02 cut-down. At the Serra Invite, there are no medals, but the top 15 runners in each race earn a coveted long-sleeve meet t-shirt. Conor Sullivan ran his best race of the year, running one tick under 18:00 minutes. #4 man was Nick Lazarakis, whose enormous improvement is shown by his 2:16 second difference over last year!! That's what summer running will do, by the way. Mike Maietta showed his potential and improvement by running a great debut, 18:24 for 5th man spot. Brandon Siko ran with a hurt thigh, and a wrapping that was too tight, but still finished as 6th man. Consistent Will Pandori once again chipped in at #7. A couple important notes: newcomers Sean Foote and Marcos Hinojosa ran spectacular maiden journeys: Sean, who started the year jogging 9 minute miles, finished in 19:18, and Marcos came in one tick back! Also, Robbie Bergantz improved by 3:50 seconds, and Matt Abely bettered his 2005 Serra time by 3:49 seconds. Those sorts of quantum level leaps are the result of consistent effort in practice, and that sort of improvement means as much to the coaches as top-ten finishes. Keep it up Bells!

Last up on this day were the frosh, and after a long day on their feet, perhaps it was too much to expect them to have their best day. In fact, they were short-handed, tired, and injured, and their results showed what you would expect: BCP in 7th. On this day the Bells were paced by Matt Richards, who went out hard but faded a bit over the last mile and a half. Matt himself was disappointed, but his performance was gutty...and he wouldn't have to think about it for long, because 4 days later the baby Bells were going to have to race again in WCAL II! Matt finished 22nd in 18:54. #2 Jonathan Durstenfeld had his best race in several weeks to run 19:02/28th. The rest of the top 7 were: Jacob Baker 29th 19:05, Michael Carroll running in pain at 35th 19:14, Stephen Cabebe 40th 19:23, Eric Chapman 41st in an all-out 19:29, and Andrew Yang made his top 7 debut in a fine 49th 20:17. Despite their disappointment at the 7th place finish, the Bell 9th graders knew they didn't have time to dwell on the result...WCAL II in 4 days!!!

WCAL I: Bells rise to tough League level! Over the first month of the season, Bellarmine's four cross country teams gained valuable experience running in 4 different invitationals, achieving great success and engaging in intense competition. But all of that was just the warm up, because the first West Catholic Athletic League cross country meet took place on October 4th, and as newcomers to the sport witnessed first hand, no League in the Bay Area can come close to the depth and quality our League presents each season. In our area, only the Diablo Foothill Athletic League (in the Dublin PLeasant Hill Moraga area) comes close for the number of quality teams (College Park of Pleasant Hill and the DFAL won the DI race at Stanford last weekend), but they only come close. So, three times each fall, the excitement builds as the WCAL meets near. With the early success on all four levels, anticipation was running high as the two jam packed buses made their way up 280 under heavy skies.

The JV team was the first up, and they new the daunting challenge ahead of them. Saint Ignatius had destroyed the JV fields in each invitational they had run, and they had done so with truly intimidating tactics: they run as a solid block, at a hard pace right from the start, and basically wear the opposition down. But knowing that was the case, the JVers planned on mixing things up by running right up in front with the Wildcat pack. In the first half mile, the Bells were well placed, with 4 runners neck and neck with the SI Top 7 pack. Of the other 6 teams in the League, only Serra was even putting up a mock fight, and by the mile mark it was a two team race between SI and BCP.

The second mile of the Polo Fields course is as tough a stretch for racing as a harrier will come across, and not because of Himalayan uphills, searing sun, or tricky footing. Instead, the second mile at the Polo Fields forces a runner to stay conscious of the single most important aspect of cross country running: keeping contact. The second mile at the Polo Fields is narrow, windy, and virtually labyrinthine at one point. It is hemmed in by all sorts of bushes, trees and shrubs. And the ground itself is sandy, mushy, grassy, and just generally slow and tough to run on. If a runner does not hang on to his closest rivals, he or she will lose sight of them, and then the second mile becomes a battle against the greatest opponent of every cross country runner: his or her own mind! Distance running is almost all mental, and one fact of running cross country is: if a runner loses contact with a rival, it is very, very, very difficult to overcome the mental gap that opens up in the spirit and the mind. That is why coaches always implore their charges to hang on, don't get gapped, keep contact! As the Polo Fields course is SI's home course, they know that the second mile is, in addition to being tough, also the segment of the course to gap the opposition, and that is exactly what their JV armada did. When the race reappeared back on the upper track, SI had jumped out to take 5 of the top 6 spots. Kyle Hillebrecht was back in 7th, but he was maintaining contact with the tail end of the lead group. Behind him came Jack Phipps, heroically running on his injured toe, followed closely by Sam Dwyer. Next came Bryan Finney, running a smart race pace-wise. A little further back in the next pack came Sean Adamski and Andrew Tapia, followed by Sahil Jain--finally healthy enough to train-- and Alan Cameron, who unfortunately was struggling a bit on this day.

The last mile at the Polo Fields has more ups and down than the first two, and much can change over the last 1000 yards as the screams of the assembled teams and their fans can stir some runners to big kicks. On this day, the Bells finished the last mile strongly, but it was not enough to overcome the Wildcats of SI. Our fellow Jesuit school in the Sunset District finished 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 for an amazingly low score of 20 points, only 5 from a perfect 1-5 finish! The Bells finished second with an impressive 49, beating Serra by 17 points. Kyle Hillebrecht gave all Bellarmine fans a preview of the day to come when he kicked by SI's #4 man in the last 20 meters to finish 5th overall in 18:15. Jack Phipps finished hard to stave off Serra's #2 man and come in 8th place in 18:30. Bryan Finney bounced back from a disappointment at Stanford to be #3, 10th/18:38, one second and one place ahead of Sam Dwyer, who improved 1 minute over last year's time on this same course. A short ways back, Sean Adamski continued his steady season to finish #5/15th/18:43. It is a testament to the strength of the program that the top 5 JVers were all juniors! Senior Andrew Tapia broke up the 11th grade party to finish #6/16th/18:49--a 1:43 second PR over last year!-- and Sahil Jain showed his great potential by racing to a #7 position in his first race, finishing 18th in 18:56. The JVers can be proud of their fine race, but should look to closing the gap with the formidable Wildcats.

At 2:50 pm the Varsity was on the starting line, stretching beneath a steady but soft rain, nervously and curiously eyeing the SI Top 7. Because SI had not run a true varsity in any race yet this year, and had in fact had many of their runners use the early season Invitationals as tempo runs, nobody knew what to expect. But based on last year in both track and cross country, and first hand observations at Earlybird and Lowell, the team knew that any Wildcat team would be tough. Serra was down, and St. Francis was reeling from losing two runners at Stanford (though both should be back at WCAL II) so pre-race prognostication had the Varsity contest as a two team race. The first mile was fast but a large bunch was still together. BCP had five runners in the top 12, and Saint Francis had 3. Riordan, Sacred Heart and Mitty all had one runner in the group, and then 4 SI runners were hanging towards the back of the big lead pack. If you didn't read all the way through the long third paragraph above, you should now, because SI did exactly the same thing in the Varsity race as they did in the JV race...

When the race reemerged onto the Polo Fields upper track, the great Eric Baum had broken away from the lead group, along with SI sophomore Greg Innes and Mitty Senior Menso DeJong. The trio were running hard but under control, and it was impossible to tell who might be the strongest. Close behind was St. Francis #1 Sam Pompei, and then SI's #2 and 3, who had used the narrow sand paths of mile 2 to jump ahead of Riordan and Sacred Heart's top guns, and the Bells' 2-5 man pack. The racers disappeared into the forest, and all BCP fans held their breath, waiting for the lead bicycles to signal the runners had looped out and back and were ready to enter the lower Polo Fields track.

The last 1000 yards at the Polo Fields course is very exciting; a fan can catch a glimpse of the runners as they crest a small rise and run at the level of the upper Polo Fields track for 50 yards, before they drop down out of sight again. Finally, they come bursting out of the tunnel on the north side of the soccer fields, and the whole crowd watches the final 600 yards as the runners race counter clockwise around the actual Polo Fields themselves. Eric emerged from the tunnel with a 25 yard gap on SI's Innes, who was closing fast. With 200 yards to go, it looked like Innes had the legs to catch Baum, but Eric looked back, saw he was there, and kicked in over the last 100 to earn a tremendous victory, simply raising his fist in a modest gesture that belied his great pride. And proud he should be, as he earned the first Bellarmine Varsity level individual victory since Wayne Hopp III won the League Finals at Crystal Springs in 2001. Eric ran 16:44, a smoking 5:24 pace, especially fast because the rain had made the course slow and mushy. Behind Eric, SI went 2, 5, 6. The 10 seconds the #2 and 3 SI runners gained over the second mile proved to much for the Bell pack to catch. Still, the sight of Ben Kelly, Chris Partin, Andrew Fabian, and Kyle Tuttle finishing 10, 11, 12 ,13 was truly inspiring, even beautiful. Their times were 17:21. 17:23, 17:24, and 17:25, and that is pack running! Deven Carroll ran 18:07/27th, and Eric Sumner closed strong to finish right on his heels in 18:10/28th. Eric's time was a 58 second PR...way to go Eric! SI's 4 man came in 14th, and their 5th man came in 18th, just enough to squeak out a 45-47 victory. WCAL II is run on the wide open trails of Shoreline Park, and it will be quite interesting to see how the change of venue affects the outcome of the next League race. Remember, sports fans, that this year WCAL III is worth double points, which means the League outcome is still very much in doubt.

Bellarmine's deepest class, 2009, took off under clearing skies, but with no less of a formidable SI team with which to contend. Once again, the Bells came to race, and at the half mile at least 5 Bells were in the lead group, led by race leader Erik Anderson. At the mile, Lawrence Smith, Brandon Siko, Erik Anderson, Nick Lazarakis, Conor Sullivan and Justin Koh were all jostling with a strong SI team that had clearly prepared to race hard on their home course. Surprisingly, Serra was also in the mix, matching BCP with 5 in the top group.

At the 2-mile mark, the fast pace and SI's strategy had put BCP behind a bit, with the exception of supersoph Lawrence Smith. Lawrence and SI 10th grader Devin Dunn had broken away and put 15 seconds on the field. Lawrence looked smooth as he marked each of Devin's steps, and the two leaders headed into the forest clear of the field and ready for a battle to the finish. Brandon Siko was holding down #2 for BCP, and Erik "Prefontaine" Anderson was running #3, but SI had 7 running with them, and Serra 4, meaning that some Herculean heroics were needed.

When the lead bikes led Lawrence and Devin through the tunnel, Lawrence had a slim 2 meter lead, but as soon as his feet hit the asphalt of the lower track, Lawrence took off like a shot and ended the race within 50 meters. His SI rival was beaten with a quarter to go, and all Lawrence had to do was keep his form and finish his kick, which he did in 17:48...a time that would have won the JV race by 1 second, and was a 1:17 second PR on this course! Of the many great kicking finishes by the Bells on this day, Lawrence's pedal-to-the-metal dash was perhaps the most inspiring...way to go Lawrence! Behind Lawrence another blue and red tidal wave was sweeping around the soccer fields, as SI finished 2,3,5,6 and 9 for another amazing total: 25 points! And on this day, the Bells were nosed out by the Padres, 50-57. Erik Anderson continued his inspired season, running with everything he had to finish 8th/18:25, exactly a 2 minute PR! Brandon Siko ran a gutsy race, holding off Serra's #2 man until the last meter to finish 11th/18:31. After a 50 second gap, Conor Sullivan came home in 19:21/#4/18th, and right behind him Nick Lazarakis ran the best race of his career, sprinting to hold off Serra's #6 man in 19:25 (1:34 PR)/19th place. Just before the race, team leader Will Pandori had to pull out due to illness, and so the Bells were looking to see who would step up into the gap. On this day, it was Justin Koh (23rd/19:33)and Mike Maietta (26th/19:36), who had his best race yet as a Bell and finished out the top 7. The third place team finish will no doubt inspire the whole team to train hard for the last two WCAL races...keep running sophs!

Last up came the frosh. Having lost #1 man Dalton Guthrie to a knee injury and top 5 runner Derek Pincus to a shoulder injury was tough enough, but plenty of other freshmen had been sick, injured, or out for various other reasons. The upshot of all this disequilibrium has been that the 9th graders have not quite gelled as a team, and definitely have not reached their potential. Only moments before the start of the frosh race, it was impossible to tell how the group would respond. They had witnessed three stirring performances by the upper classmen, so no excuses about not being excited to race would be accepted!

The first mile saw Matt Richards continue his meteoric rise through the WCAL frosh ranks as he hung on to the top pack, hitting the mile mark in 7th place, just off the lead pack of St. Francis and SI runners. Behind him came a host of Bells, led by the super tough Michael Carroll, but it was tough to tell who would re-emerge from the second mile still in contention.

By the second mile some things had become clear: Matt was really rounding in to tough racing shape, Michael Carroll wasn't afraid of pain, Sam Hayes and Sean Seebach were having their breakthrough races, and it is hard to run after you've been sick for a week. Matt was still in the top 7 at the 2-mile mark, hanging on to St. F's top 3. Michael winced with every step, but his stride was clearly healthy and he was battling in the top 20. Sam and Sean weren't backing down, having gone out hard and keeping themselves in contact with the top 5th of the race. In to the forest they went!

Matt ran a great race, finishing 10th in 19:07, only 2 seconds slower than Lawrence Smith's time when he finished 3rd in the 2005 freshman race at the Polo Fields. In the last half mile, he showed he still has speed work to do, but his improvement has been tremendous. Michael finished 18th in 19:57, a tough result after a painful pulled muscle knocked him from the Westmoor race the weekend before. #3 man was breakthrough star Sam Hayes, who kicked like a cheetah for the last 300 yards to come in 20th/20:16. Just behind Sam, kicking with equal aplomb and fire, was Most Improved Bell of the Day Sean Seebach, who finished 22nd/20:18. #5 man was the steadily improving Eric Chapman, whose last mile was probably the fastest on the whole freshman team as he showed his tremendous potential to kick in at 20:25/27th. #6 Jacob Baker ran well to finish in 28th/20:26, and Jonathan Durstenfeld felt the effects of a cold to finish 31st, 20:33. Overall, the team ran very well and came in third. St. Francis celebrated the Feast Day of their namesake by winning with 36 points, upsetting the favored Wildcats, who scored 45 for second. BCP was next with 97, just clipping Serra with 108 and the much improved Valley Christian frosh, who totaled 123, though their first three had 27 points (2, 12, 13)!

All in all, a great day for the Bells, and one that sets up WCAL II as a very exciting next round in the always competitive WCAL! See you there!

STANFORD 2006: Bells ring out for big CCS DI victory! If you've never experienced the visceral sensation of absolute physical exhaustion that comes from racing against 300+ peers, in a hallowed setting while thousands look on in full-throated admiration, well...I'm sorry for you. I hope life has dealt you other pure, primal moments from which you can make a comparison, but if not, then you need to get out and watch the 2006 Bells run cross country, because this season is turning out to be one for the ages. Both the JV and Varsity teams lined up against deep and talented fields on Saturday at the Stanford golf course, and both teams came away having acquitted themselves as true cross country warriors: way to go Bells once again!!

On an unusually cool and cloudy day for the Stanford Cross Country Invitational (this meet is notorious for sweltering Indian Summer temperatures), the JV team lined up in box #2 against easily the finest JV field assembled in the history of Bay Area cross country. All down the line were the famous colors of programs such as Royal-Simi Valley (#1 USA), Ferris-Spokane WA (#2 USA), Jesuit-Sacramento (#4 USA), Mead-Oregon (#2 Northwest), El Toro and Thousand Oaks-both SoCal (top 10 nationally), and ranked in California Buchanan-Fresno, College Park-Dublin, Davis High, Sultana-LA area, and Madera-Central Valley. In the team's pre-race discussions, much was made of the importance of getting out fast, because the Stanford HS JV course is a flat 3K (1.8 mile) course, and the finish comes before one even settles into a rhythm. The team clearly took the game plan to heart, and Bryan Finney, Alan Cameron and Kyle Hillebrecht were off like rockets at the gun. The pace was quick, and the long line of runners raced around the front nine of the golf course. By the time the leaders hit the mile at 4:50 (!)the Bells had settled in and were all in competitive positions. Junior Kyle Hillebrecht and Sophomore Lawrence Smith paced the team at 5:19, followed closely by Sam Dwyer only a few seconds behind. Next came a tight bunch of Sean Adamski (5:34), Andrew Tapia (5:34), and Alan Cameron (5:36). Bryan Finney was trapped in the huge field, but managed to come by the mile in 5:51.

The finish on the Stanford course is one of the trickiest and toughest in the sport. After fighting through a smoking pace, runners turn onto a long, slightly uphill, thickly grassed, 400 yard straightaway. Many have overextended themselves already, and at the sight of the deceptively distant finish line they begin to kick, only to realize they do not have the energy for a 400 meter sprint. The savvy runner gently accelerates until only 100 yards from the finish, and then kicks in past hordes of stumbling rivals who have nothing left. The Bells timed their kicks perfectly, and in the last 100 yards the Bells made up many spots without giving up any. First Bell in was Lawrence Smith, who finished in 10:16, or a 5:31/mile pace. Lawrence was 38th overall, 31st for team scoring (runners who finish from incomplete teams do not count in the team scoring), running against juniors and seniors from some of the finest programs in the whole US of A! Lawrence was the #1 CCS finisher, and the 11th sophomore overall in the race. #2 man for the Bells, and a huge relief for the whole program given his achy IT band, was Kyle Hillebrecht, whose 10:25/5:35 was his typical gutty performance. He finished 58th, 49th for scoring, and improved over his 2005 time by 10 seconds! All after a week of easy running while he rested his legs. Way to go Kyle! Right on Kyle's heels on Saturday was Sam Dwyer, showing once again his super improvement. He ran 10:31/5:39 pace to finish 69th/60 for scoring. Last year's JV team's #1 man (current Varsity runner Deven Carroll) ran 10:30, so this year's team was racing very well. #4 and 5 came charging to the finish together: Sean Adamski in 10:56 (105th/92nd) and Andrew Tapia in 10:59 (112th/99th). #6 Alan Cameron finished strongly in 11:07 to hold off a furiously closing pack, and Bryan Finney showed his strong speed to kick hard over the last 200 yards and finish in 12:03. BCP totaled 331 points to finish 12th in the race, but importantly #1 CCS team in DI. Notable teams beaten by the Bells included Madera and El Camino San Diego. All in all, 220 runners and 29 complete teams finished the race (a complete team is a team that has 5 runners finish the race.) Way to go Bells...we have our work cut out for us on Wednesday, so let's get ready to race!

The Varsity arrived in time to see the Bells JV, and by the end of the race were inspired to get out on the course and run with the same zeal exhibited by their teammates. Anticipation for the race was huge, as 52 teams had entered runners, and squads had traveled from Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, San Diego, the LA area, the Central Valley and far Northern California. While the nationally ranked teams were in the Seeded Race, many strong regionally ranked teams had come to take on the Bells. Once again, the Bells were in box #2, and remembering last year's debacle when the JV race had been equally huge, the team planned to get out fast and run as a close unit all the way to the base of the hills around the 2 mile mark. At the uphill section, the runners planned to go hard together and then give it all they had for the last 3/4's of a mile to the long, grueling finish. It turned out to be a super strategy! As the race stretched out over the first flat mile, looping around the golf holes, the Bells kept contact with one another and the front of the massive field, except for Eric Baum, who once again showed he is an all-CCS candidate by charging to the front and racing with the best the field could offer. At the mile, Eric was clipping along at 4:51, but looking as smooth as ever. Close behind were all six Bell harriers, opening up for the first time this year and really ripping an opening mile: Ben Kelly 5:02, Chris Partin 5:05, Andrew Fabian 5:05, Kyle Tuttle 5:06, Deven Carroll 5:09 and Eric Sumner 5:15! Now that's pack running!

At the tunnel under Junipero Serra Boulevard, which leads the runners onto the back nine of the golf course and the hills of the cross country course, the Bells were still in a pack, still up front, and still competing: Eric Sumner at #7 was running with San Benito/Hollister's #4 man! Just like the JV's, the Varsity knew that the last 400 yards were critical. First down the fairway came Eric Baum, who visibly dropped his hands to kick and passed several runners right before the finish line. In 2005, Eric had run 17:01 as #2 man for the Varsity, but on this day he was ready to show just what his senior year is all about. He came in at 16:15/5:14 pace! He finished 15th, #4 CCS, and showed great toughness over the last 100 yards. Great job Eric! #2 man was once again supersoph Ben Kelly. Ben ran 17:24 in 2005, and this year he too lit up the course, improving to 16:43/5:23 pace, finishing 42nd/41st scoring. Ben was #6 sophomore, and #6 CCS runner overall. The Bells team placing depended on how #3-5 would finish, and close behind Ben came the dynamic duo of seniors Chris Partin and Kyle Tuttle. They kicked together, Kyle closing right to Chris' shoulder at the line, 16:54 to 16:55. This sort of depth can mean great things for the team in the big meets to come in the next month. They finished 59-60, 57-58 scoring, in 5:27 pace. Not long after their spirited finish Junior Andrew Fabian kicked down the finishing lane, running 17:10/91st-88 scoring/5:32 pace. In the 15 seconds between Kyle and Andrew's finish, 31 runners crossed the line! Andrew's kick held off a herd of competitors, as 21 runners finished within the next 10 seconds! Deven Carroll ran very well, especially after missing school due to illness on Thursday, to finish in 17:23. #7 man was Eric Sumner, who ran a great 17:52 after PRing in the mile at the mile mark!

When all the dust had settled, and 327 runners had crossed the finish line, the Bells had finished a remarkable 7th out of 47 complete teams. More importantly, they finished #1 CCS in the DI race, besting rival San Benito-Hollister for the first time this year. The Haybalers had run without their #2 man, but even with him the Bells would have beaten their rivals from the south. Lots of miles remain between now and November 11th, but Bellarmine has to be cautiously optimistic about our fighting chances at the CCS level. As for WCAL I this Wednesday, anything can happen, and SI has to be the clear favorite as of press time, but I wouldn't want to bet against the Bells.

Some analysis of the race from the CCS perspective is quite interesting. If one scores all CCS Divisions together as one big race, Bellarmine does quite well: Los Gatos 87, Willow Glen 178, BCP 190, San Lorenzo Valley 242, North Monterey County 279, San Benito 292, Monta Vista 299, Carmel 317, Mountain View 364, Palma 390, and Saint Francis 419. The Lancers lost two runners during the race, though only one was in their top 5, so one can't consider that total an accurate reflection of their true capability. By the same token, San Benito didn't have their #2, and top teams Carlmont and SI were not in the race. Still, BCP stacks up with the very best the section has to offer. In scoring just DI CCS runners who ran at Stanford, the score would be BCP 49, San Benito 81, Monta Vista 102, Homestead 128, Evergreen Valley 135, Alisal 162, and Piedmont Hills 170. With their #2 man in the race, San Benito closes the gap to 52-59, if he finishes 8th. If Carlmont is in the race, the score would be around Carlmont 50, BCP 63, San Benito 64. This is a much more realistic gap between the two teams, and shows that the end of the season will be quite exciting. Way to go Bells, and we'll see you all on Wednesday at Golden Gate Fields.

LOWELL 2006: TRULY A DAY TO REMEMBER! Normally, when one receives an e-mail from a meet director time dated at 1:00 am on the day of the meet, one does not assume that the day in question will turn out to be a red-letter date. But that is just another example of the axiom that few things are ever what they first seem to be. Despite a bumpy beginning and a rather chaotic organization, Saturday September 23rd could not have ended up more perfect for the Bellarmine Cross Country program: four races entered, four races won! And, even more importantly--at least for the coaches--all Bellarmine student-athletes who ran this day were competitive and tough, from number 1 to 68!

The day began with a simply beautiful bus ride, the sun slowly rising and illuminating the Bay as Jesse steered us up a sleepy Peninsula. Once in the Park, all bucolic somnolence was lost: The SF Park and Rec had issued multiple permits for Lindley and Speedway meadows, and so the finish line for all races had to be moved, and much chaotic migration of teams ensued. Coach McCrystle eventually walked off the difference in the old and new courses (about 400 yards), which made the Frosh and Soph races roughly 2.2 miles, and the JV and Varsity courses about 3.05 miles, almost a 5K. In addition, all 4 boys divisions and 2 of the girls' were split into two heats, due to high numbers (at least 72 teams ran!), with the meet director publishing not one, not two, but ultimately three different time schedules! But, as we saw at the first meet, albeit on a much smaller scale, an athlete must be prepared for all variety of challenges!

Under magnificent sun, the young Bells toed the line for their second High School meet, and not without some questions. Jacob Baker was out for Rosh Hashana, and Derek Pincus is nursing a fractured shoulder. Clearly, the Bells were going to need someone to step up. Dalton Guthrie shirked none of his responsibility as #1 man, and showed that his strong training focus is paying dividends. He took off with the leaders and never looked back, finishing fourth in his race and sixth fastest freshman on the day, out of 247 runners! His 12:59 translates to about 5:56/mile. While Dalton's heroics were not unexpected, given his first race and top flight training, what occurred behind him was exciting and hopeful. Michael Carroll showed amazing promise and great heart to lead a trio of Bells across the line in 12th, 13th, and 14th. Michael ran 13:53, and was followed by team leader Matt Richards (13:53) and super tough Jonathan Durstenfeld (13:54). The Bells had to wait a bit to see who would step up and fill out the Top 7, and the next Bell across the line was the revelation of the day for the froshies: Sam Hayes ran his first race, carrying his number in his hand and with his running shorts under a pair of basketball pants, and still finished a strong 21st in 14:23! With consistent training and proper pin application, the sky is the limit for Sam. Another brilliant debut was Eric Chapman, #6 man on the day with a fine 14:43 for 32nd place...and he was in the lead pack at the half mile mark! Eric and Sam will both benefit from consistent training with the top freshmen. Stephan Cabebe finished out the top 7 with a strong 14:49, and Sean Seebach showed his promise by debuting as 8th man in 14:53. The 9th graders won the first heat 40-51 over a strong Livermore squad. With consistent hard training, all these runners will help the top 4 and our 9th grade team can surprise some people in the WCAL. 'Surprise', because Saturday Saint Ignatius won the overall freshman division. I took the time to score both races together, and not just go on team times, and the results show that the Bells have work to do, but as noted, work that can be done. SI scored 60 points, Monta Vista 82, Serra, another WCAL rival, was third with 118, and 2 points behind in fourth were the Bells. King High of Orange County came 5th winning a tiebreaker over Livermore 151-151 (Livermore didn't run a 6th man and therefore lost the tiebreaker automatically.) All in all, 22 full freshman teams ran. So, great job freshmen and let's get ready for Westmoor!

The sophomores had the luxury of watching two freshman races, and so they had sussed out the nuances of the new finish line by the time their competition began. Once again we were in the first heat, and once again the Bells came out on top! Under still brilliant blue skies and near perfect temperatures, the sophs went out hard and never looked back. Super-consistent super star Lawrence Smith emerged from the ring of bushes around the Polo Fields running 4th, neck and neck with two runners from Grace Davis-Modesto. As it turns out, perhaps I should write 'running jaw and jaw', as the two Grace Davis athletes attempted to intimidate Lawrence with unsportsmanlike banter throughout the race. They had no idea who they were dealing with, and Shake and Bake could not be shook: he finished fourth in a blistering 12:35, or a 5:43 pace! Lawrence finished exactly as Dalton had in the frosh race: 4th in his race, 6th overall soph, out of 295 runners. Behind Lawrence's brave lead, Erik Anderson continued his crazy ascendancy through the cross country ranks. He finished #2 man/13:08/12th in his race, 21st overall!!! Erik epitomized the efforts of the whole team on this day: as he came down the final 25 yards, a Beyer High School runner hot on his tail, the exhaustion etched in his face, he fought to keep his form and held off his nearest competitor, spent but proud...and at least one of his coaches was acting like a crazy man near the finish line. Conor Sullivan showed he is quickly regaining his form, something that was obvious during the last two weeks of training. He finished third man in 13:31, just a hair's width in front of super-improved Nick Lazarakis, also in 13:31. Just behind Nick was Brandon Siko, who two days before had been too sick to even come to school, and yet here he was powering his way to a 13:32 5th man finish! Another brave effort from the Bell sophomores...Will Pandori returned from two weeks of nursing painful shin splints to run a great 13:40 6th man, and newcomer Mike Maietta debuted in the Top 7 despite dealing with health issues himself the last two weeks. Mike has really challenged himself to train with the top sophomores, and it showed in Saturday's race, though this observer believes he has even more in the tank. So, BCP easily won heat 1, 71-100 over the trash talkers from Modesto. In the combined race, SI once again came out on top, 53-147. In League, it is highly likely that SI's #1 sophomore will run on the Varsity team, and that change alone will narrow the gap by 25+ points...but still, much work to do, and we have just the team to do it. Serra finished third in the combined race with 178 points, showcasing the depth and strength of the WCAL in cross country. All in all, 27 full sophomore teams completed the race, and our League finished 1-2-3, though Homestead was a close 4th with 184 points. Can't wait for Westmoor, where the 'wise fools' will match up with SI once again.

The JV race moved to the long course starting line, which, for those who could not make it to the Lowell Invitational, is something of a.......unique situation in High School cross country, or perhaps just high school sports. The line itself is spray painted on the marshy grass at the narrow west end of Speedway meadows. quickly after the start, the meadow narrows precipitously as the ubiquitous Golden Gate Park shrubbery intrudes on the grass, squeezing the runners through a narrow gap before disgorging them on the meadow proper, which is where the fun begins. One really never knows what one will find on this hallowed swath of green, but one can be sure it will be nonstandard (anyone remember last year's costumed kickball beer-fest?) This year two jumpy house castles, a huge family reunion/BBQ, innumerable dog walkers, and several bemused former Grateful Dead groupies helped to line the first quarter mile. Our JVers knew they would be good, and did not let any of the SF nuttiness detract them from a tough and all-out race. In addition to these environmental distractions, there was the thought of teammate Ryan Ruiz, unable to join them on this day as he recovers from his intestinal surgery. If anything, that helped the Bells to focus even more. And lastly, team leader and potential Varsity runner Kyle Hillebrecht was taking a week off to rest a sore hip. Of the four races on the day for Bellarmine, though, this one showcased the most savvy racing, as four Bell harriers bided their time, ran their race, and brought home a dominating title! At the turn-around point, Sam Dwyer, Jack Phipps, and Bryan Finney were stalking the El Modena leaders, having run a perfect opening 1.5 miles: steady, hard, and in contact with the front. As the small lead group emerged from the twisty single-track portion of the race, and burst out onto the Polo Fields upper track, Sam was lurking in third, Jack fourth and Bryan fifth. At the base of the lone hill, Sam sensed his strength was superior to the King and El Modena runners (both schools are from Orange County), and pushed past them. As he came down the hill and flew around the giant cypress, it was clear his strategy had been perfect: his pursuers didn't have the gas and Sam took the tape, winning in an awesome 17:12, or 5:33/mile. Clearly, Sam's best day in a Bell uniform, but not that surprising as no one has worked as hard as Sam. More surprising was the continued spectacular performance of Jack Phipps. A natural athlete, Jack has not backed down from tough workouts or mileage, and his results tell that story. He raced past the broken El Modena #1 in the last quarter mile to finish 3rd in 17:23, a tremendous and tactically brilliant effort for only his second cross country race. Bryan Finney had his best day in a Bell cross country uniform, and finished a super 5th, in 17:34. Just as important for the team victory was 4th man Alan Cameron's gutty kick to the finish line in 17:59, 1 second ahead of El Modena's #3 man. Alan had marked the lead pack from the start, keeping himself in position to use his speed, and that he did. Earlybird hero Sean Adamski continued his fine season to finish in 10th place, 18:03, and Andrew Tapia ran his best race ever for Bellarmine, coming in 12th place in 18:04. That gave Bellarmine 6 in the top 12, and newcomer Keith Grant showed his great promise by finishing #7/19th/18:40. In heat 1, the Bells outkicked a strong El Modena squad, 27-44. In the combined race, SI once again took home the hardware, edging the Bells 41-60. SI chose to run the Lowell Invite like it was Earlybird II, and so they ran all their Juniors in the JV race, even though at least one and probably two of them will be running in the Varsity race in 10 days. El Modena was a distant third with 102 points, Monta Vista fourth and Newark Memorial a surprising fifth. All in all, 333 runners on 31 full JV teams made this an exciting competition and a tremendous result for BCP. The story of the day was Sam's big win and the eventual League showdown 10 days from now! Can't wait!

The Varsity had to wait through three races before their turn, and by that time the old Pea Soup decided it was time to mark the last day of summer in grand San Francisco style: fog! The sun disappeared, the wind picked up a bit, and a chill was in the air. But nothing could distract the Bellarmine Top 7 from their goal: run a great race against tough competition. CCS powerhouses Willow Glen and Monta Vista, along with SI's seniors, state meet veterans from Oakland High, and several Orange County foes all joined the Bells for heat 1. An intriguing subplot for the Bells was the debut of nationally ranked triathlete Senior Chris Partin. Chris brings a great deal of competition experience from his many high level triathlons, but this was his first all-out three miler. But, if his training was any indication, he was ready to make a difference. The team plan was to go out together under control, pick it up on the long downhill mile, work their way through the return mile, and use the hill as a springboard to a strong finish...and that is what they did, except that Eric Baum decided to chase the Willow Glen superstars, Mohammed Abdallah and Marcos Corona. Eric was flying in third place at the mile, and not far behind in a tight clump was the rest of the Bells. During the second mile, Ben Kelly and Chris Partin gained some separation from the other four Bells, and kept Eric in their sights. Eric himself fell off his early pace a bit, but kept contact with the top 10 despite an upset stomach. At the base of the hill, with about a half mile to go, Ben and Chris were looking strong, running 20-30 seconds behind Eric and the top 10 group. Andrew Fabian came next, running a beautiful race at a blistering pace that he later couldn't believe. Kyle Tuttle, also feeling an upset stomach, came next, just behind Andrew. He was followed by Deven Carroll and Eric Sumner, both of whom were just outside the top 50 and running great. The whole team finished strong this week, paced by Eric, who kicked in the last 100 yards to pass four runners and hold onto 7th place, running a smoking ultrasonic 16:01/5:17 pace. 5:17 on Crystal comes out to about 15:37...way to go Eric! Even though the Golden Gate Fields courses are much easier than Crystal, it is something to shoot for. Ben Kelly showed he is all the way back, finishing in 17th place, 16:23. And Chris Partin proved he is the real X factor, never tiring and going strong into the finish in 16:31, good for 18th place. As Chris gets used to sub-5:30 pace, he will improve even more. Andrew Fabian showed one of his strongest kicks ever to close brilliantly over the last 400 meters in 16:40, good for 24th place. Kyle overcame his upset stomach to still run a great 16:48/32nd, and Deven battled through a turned ankle suffered halfway through the race to run 17:12/48th. Eric Sumner showed his best kick ever, nearly catching Deven in 17:13/50th. In heat 1, as predicted by their head coach, the Bells beat all comers, nipping state D II ranked Willow Glen 98-107, and outdistancing CCS D I rival Monta Vista 98-118. The combined results truly show the importance of depth. BCP beat a strong El Modena squad (winners of heat II by 56 points over fellow Orange Countyers Villa Park and our own Serra by 85) 149-156. Willow Glen, despite going 1-2, finished third with 192 points...no #4 or 5 men! Monta Vista showed they are for real, coming in fourth with 203 points. Hard to say how SI would have fared, as their seniors treated the first part of the race as a tempo run, but clearly with the addition of Chris Partin, the Bells are a force to be reckoned with. WCAL I, on many of these same paths and meadows, will be an epic battle on October 4th...go Bells, and I hope to see you there! Thanks to all parents for their continued support...the food and cheering are the best.

SOME EARLYBIRD INTERPRETATION: By now you know that BCP finished 10th out of 44 teams in the combined results at the Earlybird. That result, though, comes from using team times. BCP's team time, 86:21, was a mere 27 seconds behind 8th place SI and 8 seconds behind 9th place and fellow CCS D I rival Monta Vista. But ranking teams by team time is not how Cross Country races are scored...so what if Saturday's combined results were scored by places? Good question! If all CCS teams were scored (which means throwing out would-be champion Madera and 7th place Las Lomas), the Bells would come in 6th (1. Los Gatos 83 2. Carlmont 116 3. San Benito 156 4. North Monterey Cty 196 5. St. Ignatius 218 6. BCP 262 7. Willow Glen 273 8. Monta Vista 289 9. Saratoga 346 10. Carmel 365 11. Palma 415 12. Seaside 458 13. Santa Theresa 461 14. Serra 482) If only CCS D I teams are scored, BCP finishes 3rd ( 1. Carlmont 43 2. San Benito 55 3. BCP 98 4. Monta Vista 110), and if just the four WCAL schools in attendance are scored then the Bells are second (1. SI 28 2. BCP 35 3. Serra 73 4. Mitty 106). So, food for thought, and the Varsity knows the work ahead. By the way, two years ago at the early-season Chieftan Classic, on a slightly shorter course, the BCP top 7 team time was 87:36, which would translate roughly to 88:45 (though that time was without #1 Danny Smith, who would have brought the team time down to around 88 minutes.) So, by comparison we're doing great in 2006!!!

Earlybird 2006: Depth is key to big day for the Bells!

The 2006 Bellarmine Cross Country season opened with a bang, as 77 Bells completed the three miles of Toro Park's sycamore and oak shaded trails under sunny skies and warm temperatures. By the completion of the senior race, those 77 runners had earned BCP three fantastic podium finishes: Sophomores third, Juniors second, and Seniors third. The Bells' mantra was depth, depth, depth...without a runner finishing better than 14th the whole day, and in fact with only three runners finishing in the top 20 in any race, BCP still stood on the awards stage three times, a true testament to depth and team running. This will need to be the squad's strength throughout the year, as our WCAL rivals--especially Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis--have shown they have the front runners to score low points in any type of meet.

The day began with the freshmen race, and the smallest Bellarmine squad in years (16 runners) toed the line for the start with 223 others tyros. In addition to the nerves and questions surrounding their first high school race ever, the freshmen also had to deal with a start delayed by 15 minutes, which is never easy. But overcoming adversity and adjusting to whatever the race throws your way are two keys to competitive racing, so nothing like baptism by fire! All in all the freshmen did well, though consistent team workouts will improve their results in the future. The team finished a fine 8th out of 21 full teams, though we were beaten by two WCAL rivals (Saint Ignatius, 5th with 159 points, and Serra, 7th with 225 points, a mere 5 in front of the Bells!) The ninth graders have a nice goal, then: work towards beating Serra and closing the gap on SI in League. On Saturday, the frosh were led by Dalton Guthrie, whose blazing 18:21 was tied for BCP's 12 fastest time of the day! What a debut! For comparison's sake, two years ago on a slightly shorter Toro Park course, Andrew Fabian was our top frosh with a time of 19:12. Dalton finished 15th in the race, #2 WCAL and just in front of Mitty's #1 frosh. The top seven included Matt Richards (53rd, 20:18), the fast-finishing Jonathan Durstenfeld (54, 20:19), Derek Pincus (72, 20:46), Jacob Baker (76, 20:55), Michael Carroll (79, 20:57), and William Singleton (86, 21:03). The team score was 230, good enough for 8th. Well done Bells, and congratulations on your first race!

Next up came the sophomores, most of whom had run a high school race before but none of whom had run around Toro's narrow three-mile track. Nonetheless, they ran like wily veterans and pulled off a super 3rd place team finish! 271 sophomores finished the race, including 24 Bells. The mass start caught some of our sophs a little slow out of the gates, and at the half-mile mark most of the top Bells were a bit back in the pack...except for Ben Kelly, who had staked out a place in the top 15. The pace was quick, but the Bells steadily made their way through the massive peloton, until at the 2-mile mark on top of the hills BCP had pulled into team medal contention. Strong finishes from the whole team in the last mile pulled the Top Seven ahead of out-of-area power houses Las Lomas (East Bay) and Madera (Central Valley) and into third! SI was deep and strong (5 in the top 45 in the race) to score a low 95, and San Benito (Hollister High) showed that their sophomores are the class of the division with their top 4 in the first 27! The Haybalers #5 finished 109th (82nd in scoring), or they would have won the race easily. While SI's top runner will run Varsity (as will the Bells'), as many as four of San Benito's sophomores could run Varsity this year! Bellarmine totaled 165,just ahead of Las Lomas' 167 and Madera's 175!! The Bells were paced by Benjamin Kelly, who blazed a 17:19, good enough for 14th in a deep sophomore division and #3 BCP time on the day. Lawrence Smith closed incredibly well to debut 2006 with a sizzling 17:51 (29th), good enough for BCP's #7 and a legitimate shot at Varsity this year. MOST IMPROVED BELL of the day goes to Sophomore #3 Erik Anderson (50th, 18:38), 15th fastest Bell on the day...what a debut, and the sophomores have to be thinking League Title/battle royale with SI this year, given improvements by runners like Erik! 4th man was super steady Brandon Siko (57, 18:46), and 5th man was another big improvement as Nick Lazarakis showed what summer miles can do to come in 70th/19:07. #6 on this Saturday was Conor Sullivan (71, 19:09), who immediately vowed he would be back to frosh form by the next race. Will Pandori ran one of the day's gutsiest races, finishing 7th man, 86th/19:34, on achy shins. Love the toughness! Worth noting were the excellent debuts of Graham Smith (20:10), Alex Cogwin (20:20) and Mike Maietta (20:32). All in all, a FANTASTIC start to 2006!

By the time the Junior race began, the temperatures had picked up and the aroma of sun screen was everywhere! But after a summer dedicated to running in the sun and heat of Santa Clara County, our 11th graders were more than up to the task. 235 juniors and 18 complete teams took off under bright sun and noisy acorn woodpeckers...and no race proved more the importance of depth and team running than the Junior race (just like the acorn woodpeckers and their communal granaries we camped beneath!). Just like all of last year, the Big Three (Andrew Fabian, Kyle Hillebrecht, and Eric Sumner) took off together and were in the top 30 through the mile mark. By the top of the hills, small gaps had opened up, and Andrew was working his way up through the field, while Kyle and Eric were yo-yoing up and down the pack around 40th. Just behind these three, newcomer Jack Phipps was quietly and calmly moving up through the long parade of tiring runners, and behind Jack, Sam Dwyer and Sean Adamski were moving steadily up as well. The last mile saw all the top Juniors close strongly and maintain a great pace, as 4 runners broke 6 minutes a mile pace and two more came in under 6:05...great team running! At the finish, Andrew had run a super quick 17:27, #4 Bell overall and good enough for 22nd in the fastest and deepest race of the day. K-Hill closed very strongly over the last mile to creep up into 32nd/17:41, #5 Bell in the meet. Eric held strong all the way to the finish for a super 2006 debut in 37/17:53, #8 Bell overall. TOP NEWCOMER Jack Phipps never died and finished in an amazing 41/17:56, to break the 6-minute pace mark in his first race...who knows what is possible for Mr. Phipps this year! Welcome to the sport Jack! BCP's #5 man on this day was Sam Dwyer, who ran his best BCP race ever, 48/18:08...great job Sam! But the hero of the day was Sean Adamski, who fought up and down the hills in the last 1.5 miles to finish 52/18:13. At the end of the race, North Monterey County had won handily with 52 points, but behind them BCP and fellow Division 1 CCS rival Monta Vista had 114 points! In the sport of Cross Country there are no ties, so in the case of the top 5 team scores being the same, the first 6th man to cross the line wins the race for his team...and Sean's 52nd place was well ahead of Monta Vista's 84th!! Bryan Finney finished out the top 7 on this warm day with a 71/19:02, which beat Monta Vista's #6 man as well!!! Notable first time Bellarmine finishers included Keith Grant (19:39), Tim Kelm (20:11) and Aaron Yung (20:31). Way to go to all Juniors, and the coaches can't wait for the League JV battle!

Lastly came the Seniors, and after last year's third place finish their was much anticipation for another podium spot and 7 more medals! Granted, last year's team had included the injured Louis Balocca and Sean Semeniuk, but summer running had brought several other runners up to Top 7 class. The two strongest teams of the day, Los Gatos' and Madera's senior teams, were in the race, but the Bells were looking to best all other teams. 18 full teams and 196 runners circled the barbeque pits of Toro Park for the Senior race, and the class of 2007 accomplished their goals against that field. Eric Baum, BCP's undisputed #1 and team leader, took off at a fast rate, but appeared under control and ready to maintain about a 5:35 pace. At the top of the Hills, Eric was still cruising, though Carlmont's top three were all in front of him. In the last mile, though, Eric's summer miles kicked in and he was able to pass a number of top-class athletes, including two Carlmonters, to come in 14th and 16:44, almost exactly 5:35 pace! Great job Eric, and we all look forward to a great senior year for you. For the first mile, Eric had company as his trusty training partners Kyle Tuttle and Deven Carroll were right with him. By the top of the hills, Kyle had pulled slightly ahead of Deven, but the two were still well up in the field and putting BCP in place for a team medal. In the last mile, Kyle showed that he has improved as much as any Bellarmine runner to kick in for an awesome 23/17:10, #2 BCP overall. Deven found the last mile a little tougher, but still held on to 41/17:41, #6 BCP on the day. Ryan Ruiz put all his tough summer running to work, and was rewarded with a hard-fought 58/18:21. Just behind Ryan was Alan Cameron, whose last half mile was blazing and whose 68/18:35 cemented the team third place finish over Carlmont. Alan beat Carlmont's # 4 and 5 runners, which was enough to pull off a 143 to 148 third place victory. Andrew Tapia ran the best race of his BCP career to come in 72/18:41--and add points to Carlmont's #4 and 5 runners, too!--and Eliot Williams rounded out the Top 7 with a fine 101/19:34.

All in all, a great beginning of the season...but for all four levels, just a beginning. There is much work to do, for League and CCS, so keep running hard and we'll see you all in San Francisco on Sept. 23rd!

CCS: Great race, great season, tough result

A superb season came to a bittersweet end on a beautiful November Saturday morning two weeks ago when the Bells Varsity team gave it their all, finished strong, but came up just a bit short in the Division I race. Facing the final race without Benjamin Kelly and Justin Phan, the Bells knew ahead of time that their work was cut out for them, and nothing short of their best race of the season would be needed to finish in the top 2 and qualify for the State Meet. The first mile was blisteringly fast, and team leader Matt Bejar went our in sub 5 minutes; not far behind were the other 6, all under 5:10 seconds. At the 1.2 mile mark, the Bells, Carlmont and Serra were locked in as tight a duel as the CCS DI has seen in many years. By the 2 mile mark, the fast pace started to take its toll on the Bellarmine team, and all but Colby Moore were visibly slowed. With a half mile to go, the Bells had slipped far behind in the team standings, but true to their indomitable spirit they found a last reserve of strength and kicked at the end, closing the gap...but not surpassing their admirable foes on this day. Carlmont won the race with 93 points, Serra---finally healthy and running to their potential---closed strong and scored 96, and the Bells came third with 114. The 21 point 1st-to-3rd gap was the closest in CCS since 1983, when Overfelt finished 10 points out in 3rd place. Individually, Matt Bejar ended his BCP cross country career right where you'd expect: #1 man, and in the Top 10. He finished tenth in his second best time ever on the course, 16:06. Behind Matt was Most Improved Eric Baum, cementing his place amongst the favorites for next CCS season with a 2 second PR in 16:14/14th place. Bellarmine's finest race of the day belonged to Senior Colby Moore, who PRed by 25 seconds to run a sizzling 16:34/25th place, a great end to a great career. Andrew Harada and Kyle Wulff ran valiantly on a tough day, gutting out 16:47/31st and 16:51/34th, respectively, Kyle's latter time being a 4 second PR on the course. Junior Varsity MVP Kyle Tuttle ended up 6th man, overcoming a long taper to run a fine 17:12/45th, and Sophomore MVP Andrew Fabian also stepped up to run a great 17:18/50th. Overall, Bellarmine finished 6th, beating Willow Glen and finishing just behind SI. It was Bellarmine's best overall and DI finish since 2000. The team time, 82:32, was easily BCP's strongest season ending time since 2000 as well. Great job Varsity!

WCAL III: A Great Season Comes to a Superb Finish

Running in their last all-team race of the year, the Bellarmine Cross Country team saved their best for last and ran brilliantly in the WCAL Championships at Crystal Springs last Wednesday. After hundreds of miles logged, countless hillsides climbed, many laps around the track, thousands of sit-ups and striders and morning runs and long bus rides and hot dusty trails, the team met its ultimate goal: constantly improving through dedication to consistent training over the course of a season. One of the beauties of Cross Country is that some goals are easily quantifiable, and last Wednesday's meet proves that our team goals were met with resounding success. Way to go to all Bellarmine students who made it through the whole season.

First up on this beautiful day on the San Francisco Peninsula was a JV team looking to finish second again and thereby wrest second place in the League away from our Rivals at SI. The team got off to a strong start, and at the 1.2 mile mark (reached when the race passes by the starting line again), the Bells were well-placed in the top group, with Deven Carroll leading the charge through a fast first mile. Saint Ignatius got out quite well, and at the 1.5 mile mark the Wildcats were in second behind Serra's very deep team. Right behind Deven were season stand out Kyle Tuttle and Senior Andrew Willis, running his best race of the year up to that point. At the 2-mile, Kyle had worked his way up to the top 6 group, catching the SI, Serra, and St. Francis front runners. From there, it was a battle to the finish as Bellarmine's top 7 fought with each SI runner to the finish. In the last quarter mile, Kyle broke away from SI's #1 to finish 4th in a super-fast 17:09, an 18 second PR over his Varsity time from the Serra Invite. SI's #1 came 3 seconds back. The next runner over the line was Deven, who held on valiantly to finish 6th/17:16, a 36 second improvement over his time on the same course at the Serra Invite. SI's #2 came in 3 seconds behind Deven. Next across the line was Andrew Willis in a huge 37 second PR, in his last race, of 17:23...and you guessed it, SI's #3 came across 2 seconds later! Nine seconds after Andrew, and in 14th place, Junior Sean Semeniuk completed one of the most stunning times of the day, 17:32, a 39 second improvement. After another track season this spring, Sean will be one of the favorites to contribute on the Varsity level next year. Congrats on a great first year Sean! And, of course SI's 4th man came in one place and one second after Sean! But then, SI's #5 man came in 18th, and BCP needed a strong finish from another JVer or the close race would go to the Wildcats of the Sunset District. Luckily for the Bells, #5 Bobby Carroll came in 21st, saving the proverbial bacon by one point, 53-54, thereby securing a second place league finish for the Bells! Serra won with a largely Senior team, but their 39 points left us only 14 behind the winners, after finishing 46 points behind in WCAL #1 and 21 behind in WCAL #2. The following runners are listed because they PRed in the last race by significant amounts; congrats to all: Jr Ryan Ruiz 18:09, 52 sec PR; Jr Eliot Williams 18:15, 1:24 PR; Jr Alan Cameron 18:53, 31 sec PR; Sr Jonathan Barrera, 1:21 PR; Jr David Casterman, 21:09, 1:29 PR; Jr Vincent Leung 23:12, 1:38 PR! Way to go Bells!!!

The Varsity was still looking to put their best race on the course, but the beautiful weather belied the clouds on the team's horizon, at least on this day. Super frosh Benjamin Kelly tried to run despite aching knees, and was tripped early in the race. Senior Justin Phan exacerbated an injured ankle during the race, and couldn't contribute his usual awesome competitive run. But not all was lost! Despite claiming to be "not into it" Matt Bejar finished fourth in the race, PRed by 16 seconds at 15:56, and made it onto the historic BCP All-Time Crystal Springs list by breaking 16 minutes. Congratulations Matt! For all who will come out to the CCS Championships, look for Matt to compete for the overall DI title against Rigo Vasquez of San Benito, Miguel Zepeda and Alejandro Alvarez of Watsonville, the Surh brothers of Carlmont, and Enrique Lopez and Diego Estrada of Alisal. They are all within 10 seconds of one another on the Crystal course! At WCAL III, the race of the day for BCP was Eric Baum, who not only ran his best race of a great year, PRed by 22 seconds, medaled by finishing 6th in League, but he kicked by a huge crowd of runners in the last 50 yards, beating three runners by less than a second. What a great job Eric! Seniors Colby Moore and Andrew Harada pushed each other through a tough second and third mile to finish in 16:44 for Colby, an 11 second PR, and 16:46 for Andrew. Andrew Wulff suffered through a tough third mile but still ran a respectable 17:07, though more will be needed from him on November 12th. The team missed a healthy Ben and Justin, but still finished 4th, one point behind Serra. Overall, the Varsity finished 3rd in League on the strength of its two third place finishes. Now, the big work comes against the DI field at CCS on November 12...race time is 11:05, and I hope to see many of you BCP Cross Country fans there as possible. Fresno here we come! (the State Championships are in Fresno, and we need to finish in the top 2 to make it.)

The Sophomore team was looking to close the gap between themselves and second place Serra; SI was clearly the strongest team in the Soph League. To jog your memory, WCAL I ended up SI 29, Serra 57, BCP 60, and WCAL II was SI 40, Serra 41, and BCP 53. The big three, Andrew Fabian-Kyle Hillebrecht-Eric Sumner, were ready to have their best race of the year, and rapidly improving Danny Jordan was poised for a breakout race. The pace at the mile was quick, and Andrew, Kyle and Eric were right near the lead. SI and Serra had five and three runners, respectively in the lead group, so another great battle was shaping up. At the two mile mark, an SI newcomer came out of nowhere to break away from the pack. Behind him Andrew and the Serra #1 were steadily pulling away from the field, and at least for a half mile the Bells were falling behind. But over the last mile, the sophs dug down and started picking off runners one by one. At the finish, Andrew had worked his way up to 3rd, and ran a sizzling 17:17, a 16 second PR. Right behind him, Kyle, who had saved his best race of the year, kicked in at 17:20, a huge 30 second PR. And right behind Kyle came Most Improved Runner Eric Sumner in 17:21, a huge 37 second PR. As predicted by his coaches, Danny Jordan had a huge finale, breaking 18:00 for the first time and finishing 13th in 17:54. On this day Ryan Pilkington was #5, running a 28 second PR in 18:25 to finish 25th. Andrew Datu came in 26th, 18:32, a 32 second PR, and Bryan Finney finished out the top 7 on this day in a 21 second PR, 18:42. Right behind Bryan was Sam Alexander, who continued the biggest one year turnaround in this author's memory, running 18:42, a 47 second PR; last year as a freshman, Sam ran 21:35 in the League finals! Other notable PRs belonged to Ryan O'Connor, 19:23/1:03 PR, Matt Menard 22:13/19 seconds, Douglas Le 22:14/27 seconds, and Andrew Sanchez, 23:29/1:31 seconds! Great improvement! The team battle could not have been closer, as SI scored 31, followed by Serra and BCP with 52. On this day Serra won the tie-breaker by virtue of a better 6th man place, but the victory for the Bells was in improving each week as much as they did. Great year Sophs!

The last race was of course the freshmen, and unlike last year, no one was in danger of being hit by lightning or swept away in a tornado. Like all the Bell teams, the goal of the frosh was to continue their improvement and win second place, by beating Serra. That goal was easily met, as the Bells finished second to SI, 25-45, beating third place Serra by 42 points! Once again, Lawrence Smith led the way for the Baby Bells. Lawrence went out under control and steadily worked his way through the pack until with a half mile to go he was running neck and neck, or on this day arm and arm, with SI's #3 man. With a mere 30 meters to go, Lawrence tried to make his move for third, but the SI runner gave him a sharp elbow to the chest and held him off, perhaps legally. Lawrence's time of 17:32 was one of Bellarmine's fastest freshman times in years, and was also an 18 second PR. Conor Sullivan fought through the last mile, holding off Mitty's #1 man in 17:57, a 9 second PR but more importantly an 18-minute-breaking-mark, a fantastic finish for a freshman. Brandon Siko ran his typical tough-as-they-come race, finishing the last two miles probably as fast as anyone in the race, and finishing in the top 10 at 8th. His 18:01 time was a 25 second PR, and he beat SI's #4 man by 2 seconds...remarkable! Perhaps even more remarkable was #4 man Erik Anderson's magnificent 13th/18:10, a 25 second PR and clearly Most Improved Freshman from day 1 to the final meet. Next for the Bells was Justin Koh, who finished off a fine freshman year with a big 2 minute 8 second PR in #5/14th/18:17 (at the Serra Invite, Justin ran after playing soccer.) Will Pandori gritted his way through a hard fought 20th/18:45, a 32 second PR, and Brian Lanier continued his excellent late season run to finish #7/22/18:46, a 1:13 second PR! Other big frosh PRs included Miles Orantia, 19:03/1:12, Nick Lazarakis, 19:09/1:14, Bobby Allen, 19:36, 42 seconds, Patrick Moran, 19:39/40 seconds, Greg Derenzis, 19:54/55 seconds, Bobby Goodley-Espinosa, 19:59/1:06, Parijat Chakrabarti, 20:54/1:17, Robbie Bergantz 21:00/3:13!!!, Nate Olson 21:09/1:05, and Michael Weiland 22:11/1:06. But all the frosh deserve recognition for their spirit and dedication, and especially for their competitive racing spirit. The program will be in good hands for the next few years with these young men in the fold.

WCAL II: Bells meet the challenge and move up!

After WCAL I, the BCP cross country team set their sites on improving on all four levels, and worked hard during the two week interim in preparation for these goals. Finally, on October 19th, all four teams traveled to the new Shoreline course to test how far they had come. Those who were in attendance were treated to fantastic racing by the whole WCAL, but especially blessed to witness the competitive spirit of all four teams, three of which improved dramatically over WCAL I. Great job Bells!!!

The afternoon turned out to be one of the those beautiful, breezy, coolish Fall days on which one, if they happen to be standing on top of a big landfill mound out near the southern edges of San Francisco Bay, sighs as they gaze upon the spectacular 360 degree panaroma that is the Santa Clara Valley, taking in the clouds and sunlight and multicolored waters and soaring hawks and brilliant hillside silhouettes, and realizes that it is good to be alive. Especially if BCP JV cross country team is about to move up into second place! Even though the JV has not yet been at full strength, they have competed successfully in every race they have run, and in WCAL I came in a strong third. But paced by great runs by all the top 7, they moved up into second and closed the gap on Serra to 21 points. The team was paced by the brilliant 1-2 punch of Juniors Deven Carroll and Kyle Tuttle, who closed strongly to finish 5th/17:37 and 6th/17:38 respectively. Next up were two star soccer players, Bobby Carroll and Chris Nardi, who fought the final hills to finish 8th/17:46 and 15th/17:58, both breaking the 6 minute/mile mark on a tough course. The Bells 5th man was cross country newcomer Sean Semeniuk, who ran a fine 22nd/18:12 despite getting out very poorly and being trapped at the half mile mark. Sean has outstanding potential, and with another year of track racing under his belt will be a top candidate for the BCP Top 7 in 2006; keep it up Sean! Seniors Andrew Willis and Alexander Sporck fought through tough starts to end up #6/33rd/18:38 and #7/34th/18:39. Eliot Williams had his best race of the year to run 18:48, and all the Bells ran well. Final scores were Serra 35, BCP 56, and SI 75. One last race to keep our second place and see if we can't close the gap to Serra even more.

Next came the much anticipated Varsity race, which promised to be a barn-burner and did not disappoint. Andrew Harada took off with the lead group, while #1 man Matt Bejar got trapped near the back of the pack on the narrow paths of the Shoreline course and had to fight his way to the front. By the 1 mile Matt had worked his way up to the front pack, and engaged the SI top 3 runners is a spirited race. Behind him, Andrew was finding his opening mile pace hard to maintain on the soft, decomposed asphalt of mile 2, but Eric Baum and Justin Phan slowly moved up through the pack into the top 10 runners. Kyle Wulff, Ben Kelly and Colby Moore were a bit behind, and let a gap develop between the top ten and the second ten runners that would be hard to overcome even with their big kicks. In the mix of the race, SI's #'s 4 and 5 were fighting to keep contact with the lead top 10, and by the time the pack hit the final hill, they had caught SF's #3,4 and 5, which was enough in the end to pull off the upset and a great victory. The Bells ran valiantly, but the last 100 meters was perhaps misjudged, making the final score a bit misleading, as they were much closer than SI 41, SF 48, BCP 58 looks on paper. Matt Bejar powered his way to 3rd place, beating 2 runners who beat him at the Polo Fields. Though there is no frame of reference for this course, Matt's excellent 3 mile time of 15:56 would at least convert to a sub 16 time on Crystal. Great job Matt! But the man of the race for the Bells was Justin Phan, whose #3/12th/16:36 was the result of perfect game plan execution. He ran with Eric, finishing a mere 14 seconds behind the Baum-alater. At WCAL III and beyond, the Varsity goal will be to recreate Justin's pack running mentality; can't wait for November 2nd!

The Sophs were looking to move up from 3rd to second, but given the strength of the field they knew it was a tough order to fill. But right from the gun, the whole team looked poised to execute the 'team running' strategy, and ultimately it paid off with a great move up to just 13 points out of first place! Andrew Fabian, Kyle Hillebrecht and Eric Sumner all went out hard and put themselves into the lead group at the half mile mark. Then the race disappeared out onto the back mile, and the crowd awaited the return of the pack. When they finally came into view, Andrew was charging to the lead, Kyle was fighting in front group, and Eric was having his breakout race, running right by Kyle's side. Andrew built a short lead up the last hill but was caught in the last half mile. He finished a brilliant 2nd in BCP's 8th fastest time of the day, 17:30. What a race! Thanks Andrew for giving us all such a thrill. Behind Andrew, Eric kicked home in 7th/17:50, with Kyle right behind him in 11th/17:55, both under 6 minute pace. On any other day, when Andrew Fabian hadn't raced for the win or Eric Sumner hadn't had a breakout race, Danny Jordan's fantastic #4/14th/18:10 would have earned him man of the race honors easily; as it is, he'll have to share it. Sean Adamski had one of his best races of a great season to finish 19th/18:31, and Ryan O'Connor had his best race of the year, 23rd/18:46, with Bryan Finney right on his heels 24th/18:49. Does one sense a pattern? Lots of improvement, which hopefully continue right through League Finals, when anything could happen!

Last up was the freshman squad, eager to improve on their third place finish in the first League race. The weather had turned a bit cold by the time their race started, and the team started a bit cool too, finding the narrow opening path tough to traverse. But but the half mile mark things had sorted themselves out, and the team was running its strategy to perfection, as Lawrence Smith and Conor Sullivan were in 3rd and 4th and Justin Koh, Brandon Siko, Erik Anderson and Will Pandori were running in a tight group a bit back in the pack. Lawrence kept his spot all the way to finish to run a blistering 3rd/17:50, breaking 6 minute pace on a tough course as a freshman...way to go, and can't wait to see you on Crystal in two weeks. Conor also ran bravely, and came in 8th/18:10. The man of the race, though, was BCP's #3 man Justin Koh, who felt ill all day but executed the game plan and finished a superb 9th/18:12, moving up two overall spots in the League from the first race. Behind Justin was super tough Brandon Siko in 11th/18:23, and close on his heels was Most Improved Bell Erik Anderson, who came 14th 18:37. Next up was Will Pandori, who had been fighting illness all week but gutted out a great 22nd, 18:55. Seventh man was the much improved Brian Lanier, who ran another great race and finished 30th 19:24. All the Bells ran great adn should be very proud of their tremendous improvement to 2nd, SI 32 BCP 45. A great result for a hard working team.

For almost all the Bells only one race remains. We hope to see lots of fans out at Crystal Springs on All Souls Day to cheer on one heck of a great group of kids...Go Bells!

SERRA INVITE: Not even Mother Nature can silence the Bells!

(Dear reader: Any summary of the 2005 Serra Invite that did not mention the windy weather would be ludicrous. That being said, any use of climatic terms or descriptions, especially when intended for humor, are made with a sensitivity to and deep empathy for all those affected by the recent weather in the Southeast. I know that our thoughts, prayers, money and actions continue to be in solidarity with those affected, and I apologize if anyone thinks the following at all inappropriate.)

Mother nature cooked up quite a mistral for the 40+ teams assembled at the Crystal Springs cross country course for the 2005 Serra Invite, but BCP countered with it's Typhoon Bellarmine to conquer both nature and rivals. The mighty Bells finished 1st, 2nd, and twice fourth, recording dozens of PR's in the process. By the time the last few wind-weary troops collapsed onto the bus, Bellarmine had left their mark as one of the premier programs in the area. Way to go runners!

Upon arrival, the Bells attempted to encamp atop our usual knoll, but the wind was so fierce it actually lifted the canopy off the ground, even after we had attempted to anchor it with plenty of athletic bags. Luckily, Dr. Nevle is a Doctor of Geology, and he scouted the local landscape in search of a swale or arete that might provide shelter. Some relief was found, but wind chill was a constant factor on a day that was climatically bitter but athletically sweet, as the Bells ONCE AGAIN in this fantastic season proved their mettle to run valiantly over the venerable 2.95 miles of Crystal Springs.

The JVs lined up with a fiercely cold wind right in their face. If we were a wind-surfing team, we'd still be fishing guys off of the Farallons! As it was, we feared some of the slighter team members might be lifted up and carried across 280 on some of the gusts, but luckily the coaches' fears were replaced with feelings of joy as the JV team ran hard to finish a brilliant second to Serra, 37-58, nipping the powerful Los Gatos Wildcats by 9 points. Sean Semeniuk showed a glimpse of his powerful talent, making his maiden trip around CS in a remarkable wind-effected 18:19. His 9th place earned him one of the coveted Serra Invite T-shirts, and proved to Sean he will be a leader for the JVs in the last two league meets. Vince Sokhanvari bounced back from his Wednesday faux pas to run his second straight hard race, finishing #2/11th/18:41. Ryan Ruiz (18/19:01) and Chris Davis (19/19:01) recorded season best efforts to place #3 and #4, but Andrew Tapia earned JV Man of the Race for his #5/22nd/19:10. Andrew pushed himself to stay with teammate Ruiz as long as he could, and the result was his best race of the year. Alan Cameron and Eliot Williams both finished strong, Eliot catching a three rivals in the final meters, to finish #6/28/19:25/1-minute-PR and #7/32/19:40, respectively. #8 Stanley Chung improved 2:53 seconds over last year's time, to 19:44!!!! Way to go Stanley and all the Bell JVs; the coaches are looking forward to WCAL II.

The Varsity opted for the Championship Flight Race, which provided outstanding competition in the form of local powers Saint Francis, Los Gatos, Willow Glen, San Lorenzo Valley, Serra, King City and Watsonville; San Benito and Santa Cruz entered incomplete teams but had some top individuals in the race as well. With three top seniors taking the day off to attack the SAT's (Wulff, Moore, and Phan) the Bells showed their awesome depth as Kyle Tuttle, Andrew Willis and Deven Carroll stepped up once again to help the Bells to a strong fourth place finish. Los Gatos, without their #2 man, won the race with 87 points, Saint Francis without #'s 2 or 3 finished second with 96, Willow Glen recorded 114 and the Bells totaled 134. Ben Sitler of Saint F hit the mile mark somewhere around 4:35, and was followed by a long string of super fast first-milers. The Bells chose to go out at a more moderate pace, so Matt Bejar was able to race from behind, moving up throughout to PR in a strong 16:12, good for 10th. Andrew Harada continued his steady improvement to PR in 16:30/18th, and Eric Baum PRed by 30 seconds in 16:39/25th. Right behind Eric was super-frosh Benjamin Kelly, who showed no trepidation at all and ran a smooth 16:44/29th, fastest BCP freshman time since Neil Davis ran 16:19 in the CCS finals in 1997 (Wayne Hopp ran 18:05 and Danny Smith ran 17:00 for comparison's sake.) Kyle Tuttle ran brilliantly to PR by 48 seconds in 17:27/65th, and Andrew Willis rebounded from WCAL 1 to run a tough 17:51/82nd, with a big finish, and Deven Carroll fought lack of sleep and the sniffles to run 17:52/85th. It is worth noting that even though Deven was disappointed in his finish, he PRed by 12 seconds! The Varsity is looking forward to WCAL II, and whatever 7 BCP puts out there will be ready to vie for first...Go Bells!

Next up were the Sophomores, who would need big races from #'s 3-7 due to the absence of injured #2 man Kyle Hillebrecht. Kyle was there to cheer on his teammates, and they responded with a strong and very close 4th place. Vanden of the Tracy area won on 6th man tie-breaker over Serra, 124-124. Saint Francis beat the Bells by 1 point for 3rd, 140-141. Andrew Fabian once again decided to go for it and went out with the lead pack. After three races in eight days Andrew's legs might have been a little weary, but he stayed strong to the end to run a superb 17:33/14th, a 33 second PR. Eric Sumner broke 18 minutes (17:59) to end up #2/26th, a great race. Danny Jordan put forth his best race of the year, running hard with Sam Dwyer the whole way and kicking in for a 35 second PR in 18:07/32nd. Running mate Sam finished just behind in 35th/18:11, a 2:34 PR!!! Ryan Pilkington showed his unlimited promise, running a gutsy 18:51/61st. Next came another Bell duo, Sean Adamski recording a fine CR debut of 67/19:03, and Bryan Finney finishing very strongly for 68th/19:04. This Top & should be very proud of their race, and build on their effective pack running as they prepare for WCAL II.

Lastly, bus as usual anything but leastly, the frosh readied themselves for their first battle with Crystal Springs. The winds had died but the air was still cool, a much nicer atmosphere for CC racing. Much had been made by the coaches of the course's importance and mystique, but this group of tough competitors rejected intimidation and awe and chose instead toughness and desire, a lethal combination. Lawrence Smith and Conor Sullivan attacked the first mile together, and came through around 5:35. The early pace did not weaken the dynamic duo as they kept their torrid pace and continued to chase the leading Aptos Varsity pair over the hills and dales of CS. Lawrence eventually finished 4th/17:50! and Conor 9th/18:06. What a debut! But the real story was unfolding behind them, as the frosh copied the sophomores brilliant pack running strategy. First came #3 Brandon Siko, 16th/18:26, and right behind was BCP's Man of the Meet Erik Anderson, who raced brilliantly to stay with Brandon and finished 21st/18:35. #5 was once again the tough Will Pandori, who fought to 36th/19:17. He was followed by Brian Lanier, who ran his best race of the year, 55th/20:00. #7 was Royce Hall in 65th/20:15, and #8 with a huge breakthrough was Miles Orantia #66/20:16, who ran with Royce and pushed himself to a new level; way to go Miles! After the frosh had taken off on their warm-down, the announcement was made: BCP 65, Serra 84! Another championship for a deserving and hard working team; keep it up for WCAL II freshmen!

Thanks to all BCP supporters, for braving the weather and cheering on a great group of athletes. See you all at Baylands in 2 weeks!

WCAL #1: Threes are wild!

Nestled in between the Richmond and Sunset districts, the eight schools of the WCAL gathered at the hallowed Polo Fields on a day that could not have been more beautiful: sun, moderate temperatures, every once in awhile a gentle breeze, barely a cloud in the sky. As always, SI, Saint Francis, Serra and the Bells arrived ready to compete, and despite one very frustrating and unfortunate turn of events, the day was a huge success: Third in every race, one individual champion, some huge PR's, and some of the gutsiest running of the year on a tough 5K course. Hurray Bells!

    The JVs kicked things off at 2:00, and Kyle Wulff ran a perfect race. Taking off with the leaders, he bided his time until just after the 1-mile mark. Then he took off and by the 2 mile mark he had gained a 25 yard lead. Up the one significant hill, through the deep sand at the 2.5 mark, and around the West end of the Fields he maintained his lead and held off Serra's #1 man, 17:50-17:54, a great victory. Kyle has been ill, so his good form is a relief to the Varsity for the big races coming up. Bobby Carroll, in only his second race of the year, showed his great athletic ability, and sartorial splendor, by coming in #2/8/18:22, the best finish of his career. Kyle Tuttle continued his great season to place #3/10/18:24, a 57 second improvement over his 2004 time! Chris Nardi, another soccer player running in his 2nd race, came #4/25/19:05. he was followed by Andrew Willis, #5/34/19:23. Andrew Lim had his best race of the year to make the top seven in 40th place, 19:44, and newcomer Thomas Maltbaek kept contributing with a 44th/19:55. Serra put 5 runners in the top 11 to score a super low 34, followed by a deep SI squad with 52, BCP with 70 and St. F with 80. Realistically, the Bells can and probably should finish 2nd, and that is a goal for the team to strive for over the last few weeks of the season.

    Next up was the much anticipated Varsity, as 4 of the sections top 10 teams would face off head-to-head for the first time (St. F #1, BCP #4, SI #6, Serra #10.) SI took off in the first mile on their home course and got the jump on race favorites Ben Sitler of St. F and Matt Bejar of BCP. By the mile mark, SI was winning the race, with St. F in a tight bunch and BCP a bit strung out through the pack. Bejar was just off the first 4, and Colby Moore was setting the pace for the BCP 2-7 men. The second mile of the Polo Fields is narrow and sandy, with tight turns and windy trails. Eric Baum, Andrew Harada and Benjamin Kelly overcame the tough terrain to move up as a group, and by the 2-mile mark it was a 3 team race between front running SI, deep St. F and tough BCP. The Wildcats turned it in on their home course over the last mile to kick in at 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, behind the ultra strong Ben Sitler of Francis. Next up were Bejar (5th/16:47) and the fast closing Baum (6th/17:01; 1:12 second improvement over 2004), who held of Mitty and SHC's number one men. The Lancer pack of three came next, but then Harada and Kelly finished with very strong kicks to come in 12th/17:13 and 13th/17:14, respectively. Serra's top two came next, and then BCP's #5 Colby Moore in 16th/17:24. Justin Phan (18th/17:30) did an outstanding job as sixth man, and Junior Deven Carroll made his Varsity debut, running a fine 18:15, which was 1:15 seconds faster than his sophomore year time! The crowd knew it had been close, but few other than Bill Chambers predicted the amazing finish: Saint Francis 48 points, Saint Ignatius 48 points, BCP 52. In Cross Country, ties are broken by the best sixth man finish, and that was easily St F, 23rd to SI's 32nd. Only once before (WCAL #2, 2000) had three teams even been within 10 points, so October 5, 2005, was a red letter day for the League. The Varsity can win the League by winning the next two races, and with the return of a healthy Kyle Wulff anything is possible...seriously!

    The sophomores came into the race with high expectations, but very tough competition, as SI and Serra have two of the toughest and deepest sophomore squads in the whole Bay Area. Before the race, super sophs Kyle Hillebrecht and Andrew Fabian decided to "go for it", and that is exactly what they did. After taking off with the leaders for the flat, fast first mile, Kyle and Andrew fought through the tough second mile and emerged back on to the Polo Fields upper track in a tight bunch of 8 front runners from 4 different schools. They raced all the way to the end with all they had, and ended up Andrew 5th/18:16 ( a whopping 48 second improvement over his freshman time) and Kyle 7th/18:22. The experience of racing from the front will be invaluable as these two continue their already stellar careers. Behind them, Eric Sumner was doing his part in a super #3/12th!/19:01, and Bryan Finney put in another determined effort, showing that he is a true #4 man with his 17th/19:17/exactly 2:00 minute improvement! Sean Adamski showed great form as #5 in 20th/19:25, Sam Dwyer continued his campaign for "Most Improved Sophomore" with a 2:03 second improvement in 23rd/19:29, and Danny Jordan maintained his contributions with 25th/19:35. Sam Alexander ran superbly to improve by 2:16 seconds over freshman year...awesome! SI slammed the field with 4 runners in the top 8 to collect 29 points, and Serra just nosed out the Bells, 57-60. Once again, in two weeks a second place finish is very reachable, and I challenge all sophomores to work hard to do it. Great job, wise fools!

    Lastly came the freshmen, which saw the high and the low of the day. The race official disqualified two Bells before the race for wearing bracelets, a gross miscarriage of justice, but within his rights as a member of the pedantic, officious law and order party. Unfortunately, Conor Sullivan, in the midst of a tremendous season, was one of the two, along with Brian Lanier, who was coming back from sickness. Nonetheless, the rest of the Baby Bells had to carry on, and that brings us to the highs. Justin Koh went out like he thought it was an 880 race, but he kept going hard to the very end and had by far his best race of the year, finishing 10th in 19:38 and showing that with more hard work he can be a key factor in the improvement of the freshman team. Lawrence Smith looked a bit lost at first without his running mate Conor, but he ran the race like a pro, working his way through the field and ending up 3rd in 19:05; well done Lawrence, you ran an awesome race. But, the BCP Runner of the Day award goes to Brandon Siko. He raced with the leaders from the opening gun, running a little bit like Prefontaine (giving it all he had on every stride), and with a quarter mile to go he was still in 4th place! Ultimately he finished 7th in 19:13, but he showed the heart of a champion. As the team begins to do speed work and then taper for the League Finals, Brandon will have the juice in his legs to go with the fire in his heart and I predict a different finish at Crystal Springs. After Justin Koh's #3, Will Pandori came in with another of the typical freshmen "tough-as-nails" performances. With an achy ankle he still ran his best race of the year, never letting up and coming in 19th in 20:01. Erik Anderson (#5/26th/20:25), Nick Lazarakis (30th/20:59) and Royce Hall (32nd/21:02) rounded out a valiant top 7. Once again SI owned their home course and put 4 runners in the top 8, and 5 in the top 11, to score a super low 28. Next was Serra with 60, and BCP with 63. Without jewelry, BCP is clearly 2nd and closing in on 1st. It is not out of the question that this group could catch SI; let's work hard and see what happens! Go Bells, and congrats to every runner.

Half Moon Bay Artichoke Invitational: Championship Day for the Bells!

Not even the famed Central Coast fog could dampen the spirits of the Bells and their fans last Saturday as BCP took home two team firsts, a second and a fourth and even earned an individual race victory! From top to bottom, freshmen to seniors, every Bell competed with valor and effort, and for that the coaches could not be more grateful nor proud! Well done Bell runners!!!!

The freshmen started the day under high fog and cool conditions. They had heard quite a bit about 'the Hill', Half Moon Bay's infamous Cougar Hill, the steepest hill in any of this season's races. But after Rancho and Alum Rock, it seemed more like a speed bump to the mountain-tested Bells, and their experience showed as they raced to a team victory, 73-104, over a strong but not-as-deep Modesto team. BCP was once again led by the 1-2 punch of Lawrence Smith and Conor Sullivan. The dynamic duo were side-by-side at the mile in 5:41, and again right together at the 2-mile in 12:17. Lawrence just out kicked Conor by 2 seconds to place 5th in 13:34. Brandon Siko turned in his best race of a superb season, finishing a gutsy 16th/#3/14:06 over the 2.25 mile course. Erik Anderson continued his tremendous progress at 19th#4/14:18, and Royce Hall showed his hard work in practice was no fluke as he kicked in hard as #5/35th/15:04. Bobby Allen and Bobby Goodley-Espinosa had their finest performances of the year to finish 6th and 7th, and it should be noted that #8 man Miles Orantia made a big jump this week as well, as did Greg Edwards and really all the Bells. In all 163 runners ran in the race, including 19 Bells. Make sure to see the Championship plaque, which is probably on the chalk rail in Room 412. Fantastic job in earning a great victory, frosh! Keep up the momentum going into Wednesday's WCAL #1! (Complete results are available at the Lynbrook High site.)

A soccer-weakened Sophomore Top 7 toed the line against some of the finest young runners in the section, especially teams from Aptos and Granada of Livermore. In the end, our sophs battled hard, ran well, improved a great deal over last year's times and finished an excellent 4th, with 148 points to Aptos' 60, Granada's 86, and James Logan's (Union City) 134. Kyle Hillebrecht and Andrew Fabian went out hard with the lead group, racing Aptos' normally-Varsity top 3 trio for the first mile. They cam through at 5:30, climbed the big Hill near the front and kicked to the finish line to both earn top 20 spots. Andrew closed hard to run 17th/13:22, a 38 second improvement from his frosh time. Kyle hung on valiantly for 20th/13:29, a 33 second improvement. Next up was Eric Sumner, whose hard work showed in his #3/31st/13:42, a whopping 1:20 improvement over last year! Danny Jordan had his best race of the year, showing the promise of his big kick to finish #4/37th/13:59. Sam Dwyer continued his superb season with a #5/49th/14:13, a crazy 1:37 improvement from freshman year...summer running, dedication, and toughness are a killer combination! Andrew Datu and Sean Adamski ran great on their first trip around the Artichoke and helped the Soph Top 7 to the strong fourth place. Well done, and Wednesday's race will be a real battle against our WCAL rivals.

Next up for the Bells was the Varsity, who were running in the first of two Varsity races (139 runners in race 1, 112 in race 2.) Kyle Wulff woke up sick on Saturday morning, but super Senior Justin Phan, just back from being a Kairos leader, stepped in to the void to help buoy the Bells. Justin, who is running his first cross country season, had said all summer that all he wanted to do was give the Bells depth, and that he has done superbly. The race began with a damp fog shrouding Cougar Hill in swirling mist, but the Bells found the cool weather to their liking. #1 man Matt Bejar, who was racing against his cousin from San Luis Obispo for the first time in their cross country careers, took it out hard, keeping contact with the lead pack and hitting the mile in 5:07. The Bells were tightly bunched, with Justin Phan coming through the mile as #7 in a speedy 5:20. The Hill proved to be tough to take at that pace, and by the 2-mile mark Bejar was still with the leaders in a blazing 10:58, though the rest of the Bells had slowed. While Matt kicked to hold off fast-charging rivals and place 5th in 12:12, Colby Moore was having the break-out race of his career, showing his blazing 440 speed at the finish to come in #2/16th/12:35. Just behind Colby was Eric Baum, shaking off some Kairos rust of his own but running strong to come in #3/22nd/12:40. Andrew Harada continued his steady rise, finishing #4/24th/12:41, and super-frosh Benjamin Kelly pulled off another outstanding race, #5/26th/12:43. Louis Balocca, in 38th/13:07, and Justin Phan in 44th/13:11 helped the Bells displace many rival runners, though in the end BCP was just outpaced 76-84 by Steele Canyon out of the San Diego Section. In team scoring, BCP went 4,14,20,22,24=86, while Steele Canyon was just a bit better in the middle runners to go 7,11,13,18, 27=76. Some notes: Saint Francis won the Varsity Race #2, 62-86 over Skyline of Oakland. If the two races are combined, the scores would be Saint Francis (without Ben Sitler) 142, Steele Canyon 148, BCP 152...very tight. Baum, Harada and Balocca all improved tremendously over last year's times. In last year's Varsity race, BCP's #1 man was Matt Bejar, though his 12:56 time would have been BCP's #6 man this year! The hard work, teamwork, dedication, and joyful participation of this year's varsity is paying off with great races and good times. Keep it up Varsity on Wednesday!

By the time the JV's headed to the start line, the temps had dropped and the fog was collecting on eyeglasses, hair and papers. The field was huge (305 runners), but that did not intimidate the veteran Bells JV. After 14 minutes of glory, the JV Top 7 had won the race handily, 45-78 over Monta Vista (Saint Francis finished 4th with 149), but the real story was how hard the Bells competed. Deven Carroll, Andrew Willis, and Kyle Tuttle got out very fast and distanced themselves from the massive pack. Willis hit the mile in 5:33, followed closely by Carroll (5:36) and Tuttle (5:39), all three within a stone's throw of 1st place. As the lead pack disappeared into the fog at the bottom of the Hill, Deven had moved up to third. 2 minutes later he came bursting out of the eucalyptus trees with a full 30 yard lead. He kept his pace all the way to the finish to give the Bells their first race victory of the season, ending up in a blazing 13:08! He ran one of BCP's fastest second miles of the day, torching the hill as if it were a gopher mound. Congratulations Deven! Behind him, Willis and Tuttle were battling it out for top 10 places, and with great kicks they both did just that, coming in 7th and 8th, respectively, 13:35 and 13:39. After Deven Carroll's performance, though, the man of the race was Bryan Finney. Upset at not having earned a Top 7 Soph spot, he geared up to compete and ran the best race of his Bellarmine career, finishing #4/13th/13:51, a full 2 minutes and 25 seconds faster than his freshman time! He was followed by another Bell who also had his best race of the year, Vince Sokhanvari (#5/20th/14:05.) Great job Bryan and Vince. The top 7 was rounded out by Junior Sean Semeniuk and Senior Chris Davis, both of whom ran excellent races. All in all, 32 Bells conquered the Hill in the JV race, and they are all to be commended. A great team victory, and with the return of soccer players for Wednesday's WCAL, we will battle SI and Serra for the win. Go Bells!

Westmoor Ram Invite: news to come!

Intrepid reporter Mr. Bill Chambers will file his report as soon as possible...stay tuned! And here it is:

It must have been the most beautiful morning in Daly City’s history . . . bright sunshine, nary a cloud or a patch of fog. What a day for Westmoor High School’s Ram Invitational!

The Bellarmine freshman runners, as if buoyed by the unexpected good weather, had a terrific race. The Bells finished 2^nd to St. Ignatius in the Freshman #2 race and would have easily won the Freshman #1 race. Lawrence Smith had another exemplary performance—14:44 for the 2.4 mile course, tops for the freshman Bells, and 4^th overall. Conor Sullivan followed closely at 14:56. A pleasant surprise was the continuing improvement of Erik Anderson at 15:08. Other top Bellarmine freshmen included Brandon Siko (15:18), Justin Koh (15:21), Will Pandori (15:51), and Nick Lazarikis (16:28). Bellarmine had seven runners in the top 36!

Bellamine’s sophomores did not do as well in the team competition, partially because several team members were competing at the Stanford Invitational. However, fine runs were turned in Dan Houck (14:49) and Danny Jordan (14:58).

In the junior varsity race, Bellarmine was led by senior Bobby Carroll, who finished 4^th overall and whose 14:19 was Bellarmine’s low time of the day. Other good runs were turned in by senior Chris Nardi (14:48) and junior Ryan Ruiz (15:05).

All in all, it was a great day for running. Bellarmine’s day was highlighted by the promise shown by so many hard-working freshmen. Congratulations to everyone that competed!

Stanford Invitational: an amazing day of cross country

This year's Stanford Invitational drew an enormous field of national class teams from around the United States, Canada, and once again New Zealand. Bellarmine ran very well in two deep and competitive races to acquit themselves well on "the big stage." The size and intensity of the races at Stanford provide invaluable experience for all runners who hope to compete well at section and state levels, and so even performances that don't live up to expectations prove to be important lessons.

The JV team was entered in the Division 1&2 race, an enormous 47-team field which was scheduled to go off at 1:15. The Bells toed the line with great expectations, and when the gun went off Justin Phan and Deven Carroll got off to great starts, but 100 yards down the 2nd fairway of the Stanford golf course, the race was called back because of massive pileups, one of which included Kyle Tuttle. The race was started a second time and again Justin Phan was out with the leaders---but because of another massive pileup, including Andrew Fabian and Eric Sumner, the race was called back a second time. Eventually, the field was split into DI and DII, with DII going first. The Bells were forced to cool their heels until after the DII race, and by the time their race started they were fairly spent, mentally and physically. The team still ran well, and though they finished 11th in the DI race, they posted the second fastest CCS JV team time of the day in all divisions, 53:05 for the top 5 runners over the 3K (1.8 mile) course. Los Gatos ran 51:43 in the DII race, though it should be noted that SI did not run a JV team. Deven Carroll closed well to finish 10:30/51st/#1 man. He was followed by Sophomore Kyle Hillebrecht 10:35/62nd/#2, Jr. Kyle Tuttle 10:39/69th, Sr. Justin Phan 10:39/70th, Soph Andrew Fabian 10:42/80, Sr Andrew Willis 10:47/90th, and Soph Eric Sumner 10:52/98th. This represents one of the smallest 1st to 7th man splits ever, as all 7 Bells finished within 22 seconds of one another. With continued dedication to training, this depth should mean great things for the Bells in the WCAL JV Title race. The DII race had 100 runners, and the DI race had 227. Overall, an excellent experience for the JVers.

The Varsity were placed in the unseeded race by the meet directors, and though the 'big name' teams were in the seeded race, the unseeded race still included ranked teams from Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Southern California, and all points north of the Grapevine. The seven Varsity runners went out hard in a strong pack, hitting the mile between 4:55 (Matt Bejar) and 5:09 (Colby Moore, Louis Balocca, and Benjamin Kelly.) At the 1.5 mile mark the team was in first, with a strong group running behind Bejar, who was tailing San Benito #1 Rigo Vasquez. But the long hill, both up and down, took its toll on the Bells, though they rallied at the end to finish a strong third behind Judge Memorial of Salt Lake City and Buchanan of Fresno (if all DI teams had run the same race, BCP would have finished 18th out of 64 teams, one place in front of San Benito.) Senior Matt Bejar continued his outstanding season with a fast 16:35/12th place on the grassy 5K course, which was the second fastest WCAL time of the day. Jr Eric Baum stayed strong to the end to finish 17:01/25th/#2 man. He was followed by Sr Andrew Harada 17:21/38th, strong-closing Fr Benjamin Kelly 17:24/42nd, Sr Colby Moore 17:53/71st, Sr Kyle Wulff 17:54/72nd, and Jr Louis Balocca 18:01/80th. BCP's team time, 86:14, placed them 5th among CCS teams, and first among DI, beating San Benito, Serra, Alisal, and Watsonville. In fact, of the top 15 CCS schools, only DI Carlmont was absent. The WCAL season will be quite a battle, as St Francis finished with the #1 CCS team time of the day (without their #2 man), and SI recorded the 4th fastest. In a scored dual meet between all WCAL teams in the Invitational, SI and BCP would have tied for second, 53-53, though SI would have won on better 5th man (the 5th Wildcat placed one spot in front of Colby Moore, though the SI runner was racing in a pack in the DII race and Colby and Kyle Wulff were in the clear at the end of DI and may have been able to beat both SI #4 and #5.) A very exciting day, capped off with an excellent team finish, and a promise of exciting races to come.

Lowell Invite: Bellarmine's best day in years

On a cold and foggy San Francisco summer day, on the Feast day of St. Robert Bellarmine, the BCP cross-country team made a statement that the 2005 season marks their return to the upper echelons of CCS programs. All four BCP teams competed their hearts out in a deep and fast Lowell Invite meet that saw WCAL and CCS schools mix it up with teams from the East Bay, North Bay, Central Valley and even Orange County! The most telling mark of the day for the Bells was that all four teams--frosh,sophs, JV, and Varsity--finished in the top three in their respective races. Depth, heart and teamwork were on display from start to finish.

In the 2 mile frosh race, the Bells competed hard without the help from their #1 man Benjamin Kelly...because he was running with the Varsity later on! Still, the remaining Bells dug down and ran to a wonderful 3rd place finish. The team was paced by Lawrence Smith, who punctuated his great race by diving head first at the finish line to nip a rival runner. Conor Sullivan continued a fine start to his season with a #2 placing, and Brandon Siko took a big jump up with a fine 12:25 2-mile time and a #3 man spot, as did Will Pandori with his 12:54/5th man mark. The biggest improvement on the frosh level came from #4 man Erik Anderson, who posted a 12:46. Nick Lazarikis and Justin Koh rounded out the Top 7. The race was won by Saint Ignatius with 41 points, followed by Palo Alto with 65 and the Bells with 88. Congrats to all freshmen who competed; every race is both a chance to test how hard you've worked as well as a chance to gain invaluable experience at racing and competing.

The Sophomore team surprised many by finishing 2nd in a deep field. WCAL rivals Saint Ignatius won the race with 54 points, but the Bells had good depth despite sickness, injury and soccer, and held off Palo Alto for second, 93-121. Kyle Hillebrecht and Andrew Fabian paced their team, both running sub-12 minute two miles, which is quite an accomplishment given the sandy, mushy, bumpy, narrow nature of the Lowell Course (don't get me wrong; I love the course, but it isn't a quick 2-mile track!) Eric Sumner had the race of the day for the sophs, bouncing back from some sickness to record a great 12:00/#3 man. Bryan Finney, Sean Adamski, Andrew Datu and Ryan O'Connor rounded out the Top 7 medal winners. Congrats to all sophomore runners, and we look forward to continued hard work and improvement as WCAL season approaches.

The JV team was loaded and ready, but Villa Park (Orange County) brought a powerful Sophomore-laden team and they had just a bit more depth than the Bells. Senior Justin Phan followed the game plan perfectly, getting out early and keeping ahead of the pack and in touch with the leaders going into the narrow sand paths at the halfway point. Had he not stumbled on the final downhill, he may have finished even higher than his fantastic 4th place/16:14 #1 man showing. Justin's kick was especially impressive. Andrew WIllis, Deven Carroll, and Kyle Tuttle all medaled by finishing within 10 seconds of each other at 11th, 12th, and 14th places, respectively. Ryan Ruiz showed his great promise to finish in 25th place as our #5 man, and Thomas Maltbaek and Alan Cameron rounded finished out a great Top 7 group. Wonderful running by all, with special mention of Vince Leung's finest race of his career.

The Varsity had quite an act to follow, but in fact saved the best for last, finishing second in a massive and intense varsity race. Matt Bejar went out hard and held on to the finish for a fantastic 14:57/6th place/#1 man day. Matt showed the heart and competitive drive that make him one of the top runners in the WCAL by kicking down the finish to beat top runners from Carlmont and Westmoor. Equally impressive was the sublime and seemingly effortless 13th place/15:13/#2 man effort of super-Junior Eric Baum. #3 man Kyle Wulff ran his heart out to hold off the Alvarado twins and put three Bells in front of the #1 Wildcat. Andrew Harada returned from sickness and allergic reactions to post a great #4 man, and uber-frosh Benjamin Kelly woke up from an early race daydream to run a blistering last mile and a half and kick it in at 39th/15:55/#5 man in his first Varsity race. That gave the Bells 5 runners under 16 minutes, and 16 minutes at Lowell is equivalent to a 17:21 at Crystal...not bad for September 17th. Colby Moore just missed at 40th/16:02/#6, and Louie Balocca ran a great 16:13 in his Varsity debut. Overall, the team finished 2nd to El Modena, who had been ranked #7 D II in Southern California, 79-110. Third place went to another Orange County team, Villa Park, with 132. WCAL rival Saint Ignatius finished fourth with 154 points. Northwood of Orange County used superior depth to beat Watsonville 210-212 for 4th/5th, despite the fact that Watsonville's team time was faster. What a race! Thanks to all team members and BCP fans for their great support, and for sticking around for the awards ceremony. All medalists who could not stay to pick up the loot can see Coach McCrystle this week.

All in all 65 Bells ran, and nearly 800 high school student athletes competed. See you next week at either Westmoor or Stanford.

Earlybird Invitational: BCP begins season super successfully!

Bellarmine began its 2005 season in spectacular style, running to two 3rd place team finishes and finishing every race with outstanding efforts. Castroville and North Monterey Country High School were once again the wonderful hosts for the cross country season kick-off, though this year seemed bigger than ever before: 1373 High School student-athletes completed the hilly three mile course through the artichoke capital of the world; 83 Bellarmine runners competed. In the senior race, Andrew Harada's absence and Colby Moore's sickness 150 meters from the finish kept the team in third...though a victory over powerful Madera would have been a distinct possibility if those two events had been reversed! Highlights included the smashing debut of freshman Benjamin Kelly, who finished 14th despite a wrong turn. Had he stayed on course he would have finished 3rd in around 16:55!; Sophomore Sam Dwyer's almost 3 minute improvement over last year; the junior boys finishing third, paced by Louis Balocca's 1:49 second improvement over last year, plus impressive top 7 debuts by newcomers Sean Semeniuk, Ryan Ruiz, and Thomas Maltbaek; and senior Matt Bejar running Bellarmine's fastest time ever on the course, 16:27, good for a fourth place finish and 17th best time of the day, and #1 WCAL time of the day. Note the overall team time is #1 BCP all-time! Congrats to all!

Frosh team place 5th, 125 points (SI 2nd, 88, Serra 7th 165, Mitty 12th 314) Top 7: Kelly 18:17 14th place, Koh 19:19 32, Smith 19:21 34, Sullivan 19:22 35, Siko 19:43 46, Bodapatil 19:45 48, Anderson 20:08 58.

Soph team place 8th, 257 points (Serra 3rd 104, SI 6th 229, Mitty 15th 399) Top 7: Fabian 18:08 40, Hillebrecht 18:11 43, Dwyer 18:51 65, Sumner 19:11 72, Jordan 19:21 80, Adamski 19:23 82, Finney 19:50 105

Junior team place 3rd, 207 points (Serra 4th 209, SI 8271, Mitty 12 315) Top 7: Baum 12 16:43, Balocca 17:29 31, Carroll 18:05 51, Tuttle 18:43 63, Semeniuk 19:08 77, Ruiz 19:23 84, Maltbaek 19:29 89

Senior team place 3rd, 127 points (SI 2 91, Serra 5 138, Mitty 10 244) Top 7: Bejar 16:27 4, Wulff 16:51 9, Phan 17:57 43, Moore 18:17 61, Willis 18:27 65, Corpuz 19:18 95, Davis 19:55 110

BCP Overall finish: team time 85:27 7th place (Bejar, Baum, Wulff, Balocca, Phan) (SI 6th 84:57, Serra 10th 86:43, Mitty 16th 88:28); 2004 team time: 86:38 9th place; 2003 team time: 89:21 14th place; 2002 team time: 86:24 5th place

2004 Archive

The 2004 Bellarmine College Prep cross country season came to a very successful end on Saturday, November 13^th, at Toro Park in Salinas, site of the CCS Championship Meet. The top 7 runners—Seniors Danny Smith, Brian Bensch, and Tyler Clayton, and Juniors Matt Bejar, Colby Moore, Andrew Harada, and Kyle Wulff--overcame early season predictions to finish 5^th in the highly competitive Div. I race. Ten days earlier, the rest of the squad finished their seasons at the WCAL Championships, as always held at Crystal Springs in Belmont. The day, November 3, turned out to be as dramatic as the competition itself, as lightening, hail, and driving rain mixed with breathtaking cloud-and-sun streaked skies. The JVs were first to run for the Bells, and finished third with their most competitive team in several years. Juniors Andrew Willis and Bobby Carroll and senior Brett Donnelly led the way, as the Bells finished behind Serra and SI. The Varsity ran next, and finished fourth in Northern California’s most competitive cross country league, as evidenced by the fact that Saint Francis, Serra and Saint Ignatius went on from their 1-2-3 league finish, respectively, to qualify at CCS for the California Cross Country State Championships. The Bell Varsity was led by Danny Smith’s personal best 16:08 on the hilly 2.95 mile course. Next up came the sophomores, who turned in their top performance of the year. Eric Baum finished second in the race, Bellarmine’s top individual finish in any race this year, and set a personal best of 17:02. Deven Carroll and Kyle Tuttle also ran quite well. Lastly, the frosh ran during a dramatic lightening and hail storm, and turned in one of the most spirited performances in recent years. They finished a close third, narrowly missing out to SI for second despite Blake Winzeler’s serious calf injury near the finish of the race. As was the pattern all year, the freshmen were led by Kyle Hillebrecht and Andrew Fabian, with Andrew O’Dwyer having his best race of the year at the championships. This year’s freshman league talent was the deepest in years, and promises to deliver intense cross country competition for years to come.

Overall, the year was an enormous success. Senior leadership was fantastic, and set the tone for dedicated training throughout the entire year. Many new runners were attracted to the sport, and a sense of fun and camaraderie seemed to pervade all the team did this year. The coaching staff--Patrick McCrystle, Bill Chambers, David Myers, and Terry Ward—appreciated the effort and enthusiasm of all the 93 student athletes who completed the year, and we look forward to another exciting year in 2005.

SERRA INVITE: Frosh 3rd 119 points, team time 95:21 150 runners total Underlined runners made significant jumps this week: 17. Houck 18:30 (13 in JV race Fabian 18:35) 23. Hillebrecht 18:46 28. Finney 19:01 32. Jordan 19:17 42. O'Dwyer 19:44 49. Sigrist 20:06 50. Mitchell 20:06 59. J. Lee 20:35 61. Bailey 20:38 66. Moncrief 20:50 79. Bentajado 21:11 80. Dwyer 21:11 105. Troung 22:09 116. Alexander 22:41 125. Lillig 23:51 126. Menard 23:56 128. D. Le 24:08 138. Maan 25:23

Sophs 8th 187 points, team time 93:34, 134 runners total red numbers represent time by which runner PR'd 14. Baum 17:42 24. Carroll 18:06 -47 sec 58. Tuttle 19:00 -1:35 63. Leto 19:21 -:38 64. Johnson 19:22 -2:25 67. Moriconi 19:31 -1:28 75. Balocca 19:45 77. Steinbach 19:49 -:45 87. Williams 20:06 -:37 89. Duke 20:09 -2:29 98. Fillmore 20:35 102. McCafferty 20:50 -1:20 122. Chung 22:39 129. Chavez 23:44 130. Casterman 23:50 132. Leung 25:58

JVs 3rd 72 points, team time 93:17, 135 runners total 6. Willis 17:56 -:55 13. Fabian (frosh) 18:35 14. B. Carroll 18:42 -:40 25. Dickerson 18:59 -1:09 26. A. Lim 19:01 27. Davis 19:04 -:46 39. Palacios 19:35 -:47 40. Hornung 19:36 -:46 46. Corpuz 19:43 54. Tuntasood 19:58 -1:19 78. Martinez 20:56 -:10 94. Grandsaert 21:53 100. Liang 22:13 -:56 101. Haas 22:14 -:40 117. Callait 23:28

Varsity 2nd 60 points, team time 83:33 42 total runners 6. Smith 16:26 -:24 8. Bejar 16:29 -1:28 16. Clayton 16:48 -:39 17. Harada 16:48 -:56 18. Moore 17:02 -:39 19. Bensch 17:03 - :17 26. Wulff 17:20 -:30

ARTICHOKE INVITATIONAL: SUPER DAY FOR THE FROSH!! Sunny skies and cool temperatures greeted the Bells as we made our annual trip to the San Mateo County Coast for Half Moon Bay High School's popular Artichoke Invitational. In the first race of the day, the Freshman team got BCP off to a smashing start, finishing second in the team race to league rivals Serra, 55-57. Andrew O'Dwyer went out hard and set the early pace, hitting the mile mark in a group of the top 5 runners at 5:40. The big hill proved a tough go for Andrew, whose health and injuries have limited his training consistency, but Andrew Fabian and Kyle Hillebrecht picked up the slack and raced one another to the finish line to finish in 7th and 8th place, respectively, in 14:00 and 14:02. Of special note wer the huge improvements by Sam Dwyer, Sam Alexander, and Vinton Omaleki, who finished as number 7 man for the day. Frosh top seven: 7. Fabian 14:00; 8. Hillebrecht 14:02; 13. Jordan 14:29; 14. Andrew O'Dwyer 14:30; 26. Sigrist 14:49; 34. Sumner 15:02; 37. Omaleki 15:08. The Soph race was very competitive, and the team ran well to finish 9th. Serra, St. Francis, Mitty, and Riordan all finished ahead of the Bells, and SI wasn't there, so we know we have our work cut out for us. Eric baum ran a great race, though his injuries and sickness have also cut into his consistency, and the big hill cut into him too. Eric finished 14th in 13:12, Bellarmine's fifth fastest time of the day. Of special note was Jared Duke's excellent race, as he finished 5th for the Bells. Soph top 7: 14. Baum 13:12; 46. D. Carroll 13:57; 50. Balocca 14:00; 56. Tuttle 14:08; 96. Duke 14:42; 105. Steinbach 14:50; 112. Cameron 14:57. The Varsity ran hard, with only 6 Bells starting due to soccer attrition, but the field was deep and tough. In the first DI Varsity race, BCP finished 5th. In combining the two DI races, BCP would finish 8th. Danny Smith came back from tonsillitis to run well, fading a little bit over the last half mile but competing hard as he looks to lead the Bells into WCAL. Varsity Top 6: 19. Bejar 12:54 26. Harada 13:02 27. Smith 13:04 32. Clayton 13:09 40. Donnelly 13:20 66. Willis 13:46

STANFORD INVITE A REAL EYE OPENER: Saturday September 25th the BCP top 14 runners, minus a few for soccer and health issues, traveled to Stanford University for the ultra-competitive Stanford Invite. 259 runners completed the JV race, a fast 3,000 meter course on the front nine of the Stanford Golf Course. Sophomore Eric Baum opened with a 5:20 mile and finished strong to come in 32nd in 10:18. Andrew Lim had his best race in some time as the Bells' 2nd man, and Bobby Carroll and Joe Dickerson also competed well for the Bells. Overall, the team finished 17th out of 34 complete teams.

The Varsity was placed in the seeded meet, and frankly the unseeded race would have been a more competitive fit. But, our 7 toed the line with the big boys from across the Western US, and ran respectably, finishing 20th out of 23 complete teams. Junior Matt Bejar ran Bellarmine's best time of the day, 17:26 on the beautiful 5K course. Tyler Clayton, Andrew Harada, Kyle Wulff and Colby Moore rounded out the top 5 for the Bells. All results can be found at the following URL:

http://gostanford.collegesports.com/sports/c-xc/stats/092604aac.html

WESTMOOR RAM INVITE: Still waiting on results! The Ram is an Old School race...it's all done on paper, so we haven't received the results yet; I'll post them when they come in. Congratulations to the freshmen for beating league rival St. Francis, without #2 man Andrew Fabian. Go Bells!

CHIEFTAN CLASSIC: PERFECT DAY FOR RUNNING...except for the dust!

The BCP Cross Country traveled a little further afield this week, heading down 101 to Salinas' Toro Park for the Palma High School Chieftan Classic. The frosh/soph race begin under sunny skies but with unseasonably cool temperatures; in fact, Saturday was the coolest September race day in at least 5 years. Deven Carroll ran a great race and finished 15th in 18:18, equivalent to an 18:01 at Crystal, and excellent early season time. Many other freshmen and sophomores ran well, but special mention must be made of freshmen Kyle Hillebrecht, who ran a great first race despite knee pain, and sophomore Alan Cameron, who improved tremendously over the first week by racing very hard throughout the whole race. The frosh/sophs finished fourth overall, a fine finish without #1 sophomore Eric Baum, who was out with flu. F/S Top Seven: 4th, 190 pts.: 16 D Carroll (10) 18:18; 42 Tuttle (10) 19:07; 45 Fabian (9) 19:12; 53 Sigrist (9) 19:28; 58 Hillebrecht (9) 19:33; 64 O'Dwyer (9) 19:43; 65 Finney (9) 19:50 The JV's got out well in the first mile and used that position to race well on the hills and all the way to the finish line. #1 Joe Corpuz ran a great last mile, catching St. Francis' #1 man and finishing in 18:52. Robby Gorini ran a great first race, and the team finished fourth overall, an excellent finish especially given all the soccer runners who were not able to run this weekend. JV Top Seven: 4th, 115 pts.: 12 Corpuz 18:52; 23 A Lim 19:26; 28 Davis 19:40; 32 Gorini 19:50; 44 Hornung 20:17; 56 Palacios 20:47; 57 Tuntasood 20:51. The Varsity race began under cloudy skies, with a slight breeze and even cooler temperatures. Without Danny Smith--whose tonsils were removed on Thursday--the team knew it would be a tough race. All seven runners competed very well on tired legs, and ran a respectable 8th place in a tough field. Tyler Clayton finished in a fine 17:01 for #1 honors, and Andrew Willis PR'ed in the mile (5:38) at the one-mile mark! He finished in a tremendous 18:11, which converts to a 17:54 at Crystal Springs (Andrew's best Crystal mark last year=18:51!) Overall, a successful day of competition for the BELLS. Varsity Top Seven: 8th, 227 pts.: 26 Clayton 17:01; 29 Bejar 17:03; 59 Wulff 17:42; 66 Bensch 17:51; 74 Harada 17:56; 81 Donnelly 18:00; 91 Willis 18:11.

CONDOR EARLYBIRD INVITATIONAL A BIG SUCCESS!

The BCP Cross Country team traveled to Castroville on Saturday Sept. 11 for its first meet of the year, The North Monterey County High School Earlybird Invitational. By all accounts, the day was a huge success for the Bells. The first three races were run in near perfect conditions under foggy skies with cool temperatures. By the time the senior race was ready to start, the fog had cleared and the temperature risen, though luckily not to the extremes we all experienced during the week. The hilly three mile course provided a great initial track, especially challenging for all the first-time freshmen, who acquitted themselves very well. Last year, Bellarmine had three freshmen break 21 minutes on the course; this year, seven Bellarmine freshmen broke 21, led by Andrew O'Dwyer's excellent 18:42, which was the 12th fastest Bell time of the day. Congratulations Andrew and all the freshmen. See below for more stats on Bellarmine's day, or visit the results link on this page to see full race results at Lynbrook's website.

EARLYBIRD TEAM RESULTS: Frosh: (183 runners, 15 complete teams): 5th place, team time 1:38.22 Andrew O'Dwyer 17th place, 11 for scoring: 18:42.30, Andrew Fabian 30, 21: 19:41.51, Ben Sigrist 45, 33: 19:35.12, Juan Gonzalez 61, 44: 20:11.22, Danny Jordan 72, 50 20:38.85, Ryan O'Connor 73, 51: 20:45.09, Bryan Finney 78, 54 20:51.07 Sophs: (186 runners, 17 complete teams): 6th place, 1:33:13.43 team time Eric Baum 14, 10: 17:34.36, Deven Carroll 26, 20 17:53.04, Kyle Tuttle 51, 40 18:46.87, Louis Balocca 67, 49: 19:18.40, Chad Leto 75, 56: 19:40.76, Andrew Johnson 84, 61: 19:55.49, Alex Moriconi 85, 62 19:55.80 Juniors: (158 runners, 13 complete times) Matt Bejar 14, 10: 16:58.62, Kyle Wulff 25, 18: 17:41.81, Colby Moore 38, 27: 18:03.07, Andrew Harada 43, 31: 18:07.04, Andrew Willis 55, 39: 18:35.95, Joe Corpuz 70, 47: 19:15.74, Chris Davis 72, 49: 19:20.04 Seniors: (136 runners, 14 complete teams) Danny Smith 21, 17: 17:11.15, Tyler Clayton 28, 24: 17:25.43, Brian Bensch 31, 26: 17:28.50, Brett Donnelly 53,43: 18:10.03, Matt Lynch 99,71: 20:33.83, Chris Binder 112, 77: 21:46.05, Patrick Grandsaert 128, 85: 24:36.12

Contact Info: --please insert contact info-- 2004 Bellarmine College Prep

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