Got some sub 4:10 performances at west coast relays today at Buchanan high school. Happy to see noel huato of del oro Bakersfield represent my hometown
The fight for those final 12 spots for the state 1600 are going to be extremely competitive with all of these sub 4:10s at this point in the season (this is not even including Noonan, Dalliak, and Fitchen-Young since they’re usually 3200 runners)
I remember someone in this thread said that Eli Fitchen Young running 4:05 is too much to ask for… well he just ran 4:05.15 at Stanford invite for 2nd. Evan Noonan won in 4:04.88. Stefanopolous in 4:06. Arrin Sagiraju in in 4:08.
Absolutely insane performances from all of them. SF Bay Area running truly is at its peak right now.
Idk why y’all down voting- I’m lowk speaking facts. Keep in mind this, you got CCS milers (Cook, Aydon, Ben, and there is some potential for Aptos Sophomore Sam Hansen to get an at large qualifier if he can hit the auto qualifying time). NCS has Arrin Sagiraju, Javin Schmitt, Nate Griffin-Yeh, Will Mulliken (and maybe Callum McBride if he comes back and has some fitness on him). SJS has Drake Hoferer (if he can recover fitness by post season), Rowan Henry, Cooper Stream, and possibly Oscar Angel. Central Section has Luke Sanders, Marcus Salinas, Noel Huato, and maybe potentially Hunter Hannah if he can get some fitness before post season. And don’t even get me started on Southern Section milers. Just saying, it’s going to be an even bigger slaughterhouse for those 12 state finalists spots.
This too lol- I’m lowk spittin here. Keep in mind, there is only like two big dawgs in SJS 3200 that seem like will go to state (Abbott and Broen)- that third spot is up for grabs for literally anyone- just saying that Burr and Anderson are looking solid and should be on the look out for that final 3200 qualifying spot.
REALLY impressive, especially for early season. Could be looking at 4:05 or faster when the season gets into gear.
If you downvoted me here you are an idiot
The 1:53/4:05 combo by fitchen young really caught me off guard. I always saw him as a xc/3200 guy so that will really help his case. Hes good at the long distance stuff and decent at the short stuff
Did Aydon commit to UCLA? According to the description of Youth Runner Mag’s interview with him, it’s “Aydon Stefanopoulos (@aydon.runs), a UCLA-bound senior at Los Gatos High in California…”
I think what held Eli back last season was because of a lack of a kick. He has insane endurance, but (at least last season), he never had that kick. You have guys like Evan, who have the insane endurance and the kick. I think Eli developing his kick is what’s really bringing him far. I look forward to see how far goes this season. Plus, this is a Santa Cruz County Record (Jeremy Kain- Scotts Valley ‘22, ironically enough runs for Duke, was the previous holder in 4:07)
Also SJS has showed up once again in the 800. Hugh Heyer (McClatchy) and Lucas Alberts go 1, 2- both only sophomores and running 1:52. Honestly, I can see Alberts beating someone like Josiah Bowman or Alden Morales or at least being on their level. Really want see how these two do against some SoCal talent.
The fight for those final 12 spots for the state 1600 are going to be extremely competitive with all of these sub 4:10s at this point in the season (this is not even including Noonan, Dalliak, and Fitchen-Young since they’re usually 3200 runners)
Here's whats gonna happen (it happens every year)
All the Southern section guys are gonna blast 4:03s-4:06s to qualify from divisionals to masters (stupid system)
Masters will be won in a tactical 4:08 with a 55-56 last lap with everyone else going to the state meet off of the at-large
State prelim heats will be won with 4:10s and the final will be a tactical 4:08-4:10 with a 61 first lap, followed by a 68 second lap after no one wants to take the lead, a faster third lap after all the coaches shout at them to speed up, and then a 55ish last lap for the winner.
Part of the issue with the state meet is the crowded fields and the difficult 2 day prelim/final system. Its not easy to run a 4:10 and then come back the next day to run 4:02-4:04.
Also, it's been discussed too much already but the fact that we use waterfall for the 800 is insane. I don't care if we have to take less people from each division or have make the at-large 1:51 - bring back lane starts for the 800. #makethe800greatagain
Similar issues are observed in the 1600, especially in prelims. The announcer says it every year on day 1, but the first day is often more difficult than the second day. Making sure you qualify without expending too much energy is really difficult.
Also SJS has showed up once again in the 800. Hugh Heyer (McClatchy) and Lucas Alberts go 1, 2- both only sophomores and running 1:52. Honestly, I can see Alberts beating someone like Josiah Bowman or Alden Morales or at least being on their level. Really want see how these two do against some SoCal talent.
SJSGlaze, you sure live up to your name, and I'm all for it. Norcal is looking STRONG this year. Stanford invite results were brilliant.
On the sprints side, Will Greene of Vista Del Lago in Folsom dropped a massive 47.42 PB in the 400m.
Heyer, Alberts, and Hein all dropping 1:52 this point of the season is also an impressive sign.
All the Southern section guys are gonna blast 4:03s-4:06s to qualify from divisionals to masters (stupid system)
Masters will be won in a tactical 4:08 with a 55-56 last lap with everyone else going to the state meet off of the at-large
State prelim heats will be won with 4:10s and the final will be a tactical 4:08-4:10 with a 61 first lap, followed by a 68 second lap after no one wants to take the lead, a faster third lap after all the coaches shout at them to speed up, and then a 55ish last lap for the winner.
Part of the issue with the state meet is the crowded fields and the difficult 2 day prelim/final system. Its not easy to run a 4:10 and then come back the next day to run 4:02-4:04.
Also, it's been discussed too much already but the fact that we use waterfall for the 800 is insane. I don't care if we have to take less people from each division or have make the at-large 1:51 - bring back lane starts for the 800. #makethe800greatagain
Similar issues are observed in the 1600, especially in prelims. The announcer says it every year on day 1, but the first day is often more difficult than the second day. Making sure you qualify without expending too much energy is really difficult.
Sad but super true. Strongly agree with all your points here. SS needs to at least replicate what SJS does for their post season. That way kids don't need to run state-winning times a week before the actual state meet.
It's hard to figure out what else to do that's not the 2 day prelim/final system. My only other thought is have the prelims on Thursday instead of Friday so that athletes have a day break between each round. But that's far from ideal especially for athletes who need to travel far.
And yes. Please. No more waterfall 800s. It's disastrous almost EVERY time. You have kids trip, get shoved, fall and scrape their knees all the time. Who's bright idea was that anyway? CA wasn't always like that. They used to do waterfalls since the early 2010s. Can we go back?
Qualifying is so hard at the CA state meet and I wish it wasn't. It shouldn't take 1:52-1:53/4:10-4:12 to qualify for a HIGH SCHOOL state final. There is a big time need for section realignment and a postseason qualifying revamp
Heyer was never in my radar up until Dublin. CKM isn’t very well known for producing a lot of top talent (besides the McNatt Sisters, Julia Hickey, Joe Wiley (had a lot of potential but gave on xc/tf somewhere between jr and sr year), and Alec Redmond). Their is definitely something brewing with Anderson, L Warriner, and Heyer.
Did Aydon commit to UCLA? According to the description of Youth Runner Mag’s interview with him, it’s “Aydon Stefanopoulos (@aydon.runs), a UCLA-bound senior at Los Gatos High in California…”
I asked Aydon himself about this. This is NOT TRUE lol. Once I told him, he actually had to contact Youth Runner Mag about this because he didn't want the colleges he was talking to to get the wrong idea lol.
I’m always curious about why Campolindo never enters themeselves into Arcadia or even Clovis. If they ever want to make NxN or even perform decently at a national meet, they should go to highly competitive meets to get a taste of their competition besides just the State Meet. Ik the girls have made it in 2022 but with teams getting faster and standards for national caliber teams getting higher, I don’t know why they don’t ever do it. Ik it’s not the right thread to mention this, but this isn’t just a bigger thing than just NxN. Campo should at least try to put themeselves out there besides just states.