Arcadia kid fails to take down Austin Tamagno's Mt. Sac record. And blabs about how soft it is.

There are always exceptions to the rule, Acali Runner, if that even is one. In 2011 Xavier College Prep, a D5 school, ran in the Div 1&2 Team Sweeps girls race and finished third overall, just ahead of Great Oak.

As for the interview and video; having just watched it, I feel that Flotrack or Milesplit or whoever did the interview should have known better than to post that. It's obviously embarrassing to Rocha, mostly because he doesn't even realize he's embarrassing himself. Any rational adult would have known better than to put that online. He's probably a good kid, but it paints such a poor picture of him.

Another way to view his comments;

The record can be referred to as soft because plenty of guys have run 14:30 or under in recent years. The top Mt Sac times are fairly close together and recent. The record can't be too hard if a bunch of different guys have come close. This is in stark contrast to Webbs 3:53 where the next closest time is 2 seconds and 30+ years behind. Or Fernendez 14:24 at Woodward and the next closest was Mark Davis 20+ years before.

I think your anger comes from the realization that you're uninformed. Mt. SAC runs 5 divisions and any athlete/team can race in a division if the race director approves it. I don't need to look this up because I know this to be true. I did like your use of exclamation points in your post, I feel like it really gets your point across. The best line though has to be where you say that even though Rocha was second in 2014 he still somehow was the "true champion." You're acting as if Mt. SAC is a championship race where teams have to race in their assigned division but then you don't have to look far to see that Mc Farland is a D5 team that is forced to race D1 at State, reinforcing my knowledge that everything is negotiable.

My point holds true: Rocha dodged Tamagno and Tamagno would have taken him down head to head.

The record is soft. Are Tamagno and Rocha the best HS XC runners ever? What time did Ritz run on this course? How about Verzbicas, Webb, King Ches, or any number of other great runners who have never run here?

Either the record is soft or Tamagno and Rocha should rank right up there with the all time greats of HS XC running. Which is it?

My feelings, too. The interweb is going to ruin our world.

Silent Observer; wrote:

As for the interview and video; having just watched it, I feel that Flotrack or Milesplit or whoever did the interview should have known better than to post that. It's obviously embarrassing to Rocha, mostly because he doesn't even realize he's embarrassing himself. Any rational adult would have known better than to put that online. He's probably a good kid, but it paints such a poor picture of him.

Who are you? wrote:

My feelings, too. The interweb is going to ruin our world.

Silent Observer; wrote:

As for the interview and video; having just watched it, I feel that Flotrack or Milesplit or whoever did the interview should have known better than to post that. It's obviously embarrassing to Rocha, mostly because he doesn't even realize he's embarrassing himself. Any rational adult would have known better than to put that online. He's probably a good kid, but it paints such a poor picture of him.

Absolute RUBBISH!!!!!1111111

I'm a rocha fan now! Great interview, kid! Adds some spice to the season. Rocha just inspired everyone to break through boundaries. That course record is going down this year. and there are plenty of college coaches who would take Rocha in a second. He certainly didn't blow any opportunities.

#teamrocha #mtsac #softrecord

jerktown9000 wrote:

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/252393-Brooks-Mt-SAC-XC-Invitational-2015/video/798860-Phillip-Rocha-runs-1424-says-the-course-record-is-soft#.Viv07BCrRWM

What is up with this kid? He needs to get his head straightened. He didn't get the record, so why is he calling it soft.

Gotta Love the 'Cockiness' or 'Confidence'...Whatever you want to call it, it doesn't take away from the fact that this is a very good runner. BUT.......I don't understand how one would say a record is 'Soft' after just finishing the race and not breaking it. Did he have a bad race? or could of run faster? The bottom line is he didn't break it PERIOD!. Philip is now going to feel the pressure of being a HUGE favorite or one of them for Footlocker Nationals. Don't forget he has to WIN the following races in order to legitimize his self anointed greatness:

LEAGUE

SOUTHERN SECTION

FOOTLOCKER WEST REGIONAL

FOOTLOCKER FINALS

League is a no brainer.

Southern section could be tough.

Footlocker West will be tough.

Footlocker Finals will be tough (Drew Hunter is a Beast).

Remember, he MUST WIN these races AND run fast to keep his extremely HIGH confidence in check. It sounds like he has a some personal issues which could turn to be 'Excuses' if he fails for some reason. Either way this guy is good and could challenge any course record.

FYI- I agree with Malmo, many it not all high school course records are SOLO efforts. It is rare to find two high school phenoms running against each other and chasing records.

I don't think that he has a legacy to solidify except his Trumpesk persona. Philip should be ranked #1 in the California right now based on his performances this year. He's exposing his ignorance by saying that the record is soft if he can not break it. I agree with "in the no" that he dodged Tamagno. It would be interesting to know if Phillip knew that he could have raced Tamagno on Friday. Either way Phillip is a fast runner but he's letting his mouth get ahead of him. If they both race the same national championship race Tamagno with out a doubt beat Phillip.

Almost everyone who runs a fast solo effort believes s/he could have run faster.

Tamagno's 14:23 CR isn't "soft" but someone, unofficially, has run much faster.

Here's the backstory, which has been retold and embellished so many times it reads like Greek mythology.

Significant time improvements across all class races were so glaringly obvious at the 2000 Mt. SAC Invite that the Mt. SAC coaches finally had to come clean and admit to the running community a year later that they had made changes for safety's sake to the Valley Loop.

Also, they had been "grooming" the rest of the course to make it a more enjoyable racing experience.

As such, they admitted the course in the early 2000s was 2.91 miles . . . confirmed by a coaching colleague we shall just call "Deep Wheel" . . . thus current course records date from 2000.

Constant tweeks to the Valley Loop have continued, so it may very well be that today's course now measures 2.93 miles as Mt. SAC officially claims.

Now, for the real reason why the current record will be pounded downward in the future.

Jeff Nelson ran a 14:33 CR from 1978 on the "original" 2.95-mile course.

Not only did Nelson and his late-1970s-early 1980s contemporaries run slightly further (starting line was further back than today), but course conditions were much rockier (switchbacks) and sandier (base of Poopout) than now while portions of the Valley Loop were much narrower.

Thus, Nelson's time has been discussed as being equivalent to about 14:16 on today's 2.93 (2.91?)-mile layout.

When someone runs 14:15 or faster, then talk of "soft" records will go away.

Moussa's credentials are impressive as well, especially over xc and 5K track. 2x XC State Champ (14:43 Woodward Park, 4 times sub 15 on that course), 2x 4th place NXN (in stacked fields), 3 sub 14:15 5K's on the track. 20+ second win at Mt. Sac while tying the record but if you watch that race on flotrack he very clearly was more interested in leading his teammates early on instead of focusing only on the individual record

malmo wrote:

Crus wrote:

Malmo, I have seen many of your posts on letsrun and I have to ask: do you have a severe reading comprehension problem? The poster specifically explained what he was talking about when he said soft and solo. Why didn't you understand?

I think you're the one with a reading problem. Solo does not equal soft. Period. Full stop.

Gonna agree with malmo here. Sometimes a solo effort is such because you had everything working great that day and just ran out of your mind and away from everyone else. No guarantees that more competition would have made the time faster...in fact, with someone else there whom you might have to run around or get blocked a bit by, it could make the time slower. AND, even if you think you could have run faster with someone pushing you, it's a good idea to keep that to yourself.

His twitter cover photo says it all https://twitter.com/phillipnrocha

thisphoto wrote:

His twitter cover photo says it all

https://twitter.com/phillipnrocha

Feel bad for this kid. This interview (now forever engraved online) is going to haunt him in the future (college competitors will run him into ground, employers will shun him). I too am surprised it was posted.

This is spot-on. Jeff Nelson is still the Mt. SAC GOAT regardless of what anyone says. The course is *much* faster now than it was even in the late 90's.

Not mad at all dude. Tickle.

Tickled how you know so little..."in the no".

Athletes cannot be jumping every which way they want. Otherwise this whole process of divisional races would be a mess. Yes, the meet manager could make some exceptions but, not at all like you assume. The Team Sweeps are exactly what they are intended for...TEAMS. No individuals at AT ALL can run in these races. Period.

Your comments are not true at all! exclamation. Lol

And the Sweepstakes races, are championship races, divided into divisions just like the CIF State meet would be. Unless, you're assuming that the meet manager there can do that too and allow anyone or team to move up & down into what ever division they ask for? Funny guy.

Why anyways would Rocha be dodging Tamagno when he's running well better than him right now? He has raced everybody up, down, and around California already and has won all the substantially larger Invites. Stanford, Clovis, Mt.Sac. That's if you don't know, the Northern Section, Central Section, and Southern Section.

Rocha went to Mt.Sac to run with his team, just as he did these other races. He did not go there to leave his team and jump all over divisions like Mr. Tamagno. He gets the team concept of cross country maybe others should try that too.

Let me make this clear for you: "His coach had entered the TEAM into the Team Sweepstakes and he is part of the team" if you still do not understand.

Tamagno couldn't even take down Garrett Corocan's time at the OC Champions a week or so go! How in the world would he have taken down Rocha? Come on dude.

Remind me, who holds the record at Mt. SAC??? Your assertion that Philip couldn't move to the division 3 race makes me smile. My guess is that he didn't think of it and thus never asked to move to take on Austin. Given his confidence I would think Philip would jump at the opportunity to have competition in one of his races. You have to remember that Mt. SAC is a invite not bridled by CIF, the better the races the better the meet. From experience, not speculation, if you can bring the heat you can race at any level at the Mt. SAC Invite.

Garrett Corcoran ran 1:52, 4:06, 8:52 in HS. Rocha has run 1:54, 4:11, 8:59. It's not as if Corcoran was a chump. He finished 14th at FL the year he set the OC Champions record.

When is the last time Rocha beat someone of real significance head to head? That's a serious question. He hasn't beat Tamagno since jr. high from what someone said in this thread earlier. He did beat #17 ranked Herrera by 3 seconds at Clovis, which is impressive, but that is 11 seconds less than he beat him by last time they raced at Woodward Park. Rocha won the D1 state meet last year in cross country, which is great, but second place in that race was someone who got 13th at NXN, and Rocha got 11th at NXN.

Based on Mt. Sac, it appears Rocha is 7 seconds faster than last year. He was 25 seconds behind the winner at NXN last year. He didn't make it to the CA state meet in track in anything. Not the 800, 1600 or 3200.

I'm not convinced this kid is as good as he thinks he is, which makes me believe maybe he's right, the record is soft if he was able to get that close to it.

Which college would recruit him?

The BEST Cross Country course in California is CRYSTAL SPRINGS in Nor Cal.

It doesn't change, it won't change, there's no RAIN course and it's always the same distance year in and year out.

Mt. SAC is WAY OVERRATED!!!