Boys: This team is going to be my favorite team to watch as the season unfolds. Although there are no stars on this team, Santa Rosa brings back their top 6 runners from last year (3 seniors, 2 juniors, and a sophomore) and their 6th returner has demonstrated more ability than anyone else’s #5. Although De La Salle, Amador Valley, and Granada are potentially deeper, Santa Rosa’s guys have been there and done it and that counts for a lot. To be competitive at the end of the season, they will probably need to improve by about 45 seconds each, but with this mix of veteran leadership and youth, it’s not out of the question. These boys from the North Bay might be the team to upset the balance in this division and even though the teams in their area are not in this division, there is enough talent to keep them battle tested all year long. The biggest concern is that their track times do not look like that of a team cross country champion, but as I have stated before and as evidence has indicated many times, it is not a prerequisite that a very good cross country team have incredible track credentials. The top returner on this team is senior Jonathan Peck, who finished 9th in the NBL last year and 21st at NCS (in Division 2). Peck has also run 4:34.62 in the 1600 and 10:10.37 in the 3200. The man with the best track times is fellow senior Michael Tomasi, who has run 4:33.72 and 9:54.29 on top of finishing 14th at the NBL meet and 23rd at NCS. The #3 runner for Santa Rosa last year was junior Michael Kennedy, who finished 16th at the NBL Meet and 25th at NCS, but only managed a 4:52.76 1600 on the track. Rising sophomore Aden Holmes was next, running finishing his freshman campaign in 20th at NBL’s, 37th at NCS, and a track pr of 4:48.46 for 1600. Last year’s #5 was Jordan Guerrero, who finished 25th at NBL’s and 31st at NCS. Guererro took the next step in the spring putting up marks of 4:39.62 and 10:29.92. Other runners who have a chance to score for Santa Rosa include the following:
Jonathan Ahlberg (Junior)-29th at NBL and 42nd at NCS xc, 4:51.85 1600
Brian Juarez (Sophomore)-4:47.59 1600, 10:46.70 3200
Key to Success: A really good summer. This team has everything it needs to be really good, but without improvement across the board, they won’t go far. If they can prepare themselves to train at a higher level, so that they can then compete at a higher level, they have a chance to beat anyone in this division.
Girls: This spring saw rising junior Sadia Ibrahim lead the section in the 800 almost wire to wire. She was one of just a couple of NCS athletes under 2:20 as she sat at about 2:16 for much of the year. Just as it was coming to a close, she put on an exclamation point and ran 2:12.99 to cement herself as the premier 800 runner in the section and a force to be dealt with at the state level. Although she was not a contender in cross country last year (finishing just 7th in the NBL and 41st at NCS), and tends to race shorter than 800 rather than longer (she has a 400 pr of 57.48) it would be folly to count out a 2:12 800 runner. The top returning runner from the team is senior Eva Herbst who finished 4th in the NBL and 25th at NCS a season ago. Like Monte Vista, Santa Rosa boasts an experienced line-up with a bit of depth. Because of their strength at #5, they have to get the nod over schools like Mission and Logan who have a big question mark at that #5 position and not enough punch in their 1-4 runners to necessarily make up for that. It will take big improvements from all of them to jump from a top 5 team to a potentially top 3 team, but those kinds of jumps are most common with teams built with depth, rather than teams who just need to go out and identify that one more person. Returners for this team and others looking to make a difference are as follows:
Emily Rozga (Senior)-11th at NBL and 44th at NCS xc (D2), 2:28.96 800, 5:44.03 1600
Evvy Archibald (Senior)-13th at NBL and 42nd at NCS xc (D2), 5:53.23 1600, 12:39.54 3200
Marina Lecoeuche (Senior) 16th at NBL and 38th at NCS xc (D2), 5:39.62 1600, 12:47.83 3200
Trixi Scolari (Sophomore)-Transfer from Maria Carillo, 68th at NCS (D3)
Sarah Withers (Sophomore)-6th JV at NBL xc, 6:15.67 1600
Key to Success: This team needs to rely on its seniors to be a steadying influence and get a stronger contribution from 800m standout Sadia Ibrahim. If those things happen, they will quickly climb the division 1 ladder.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C3-cuXLUfROW88uBXBAZBjQd1uCukjXZ8Wn5HurhXl0/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1
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