Comets End Season at CCS Finals

For the first time since 2007, James Lick had scoring varsity teams on both the boys and girls sides at CCS Finals.

This year’s CCS finals was held later than usual due to the devastating wildfires that have raged in Northern California over the past few weeks. While San Jose was fortunate enough to be many miles from the fires, the smoke from the fire has caused unhealthy conditions throughout the Bay area, and the team was not allowed to practice due to safety concerns for over a week.

The meet was postponed 3 times and finally moved to Toro Park in Salinas where the air quality was better. The lack of practice hurt the team, as the varsity boys had a very poor performance by their standards. The team of Nien Tran, Erik Olsvold, Jerricho Habon, Mark Orpia and Melvin Estrada made up the team. Despite a disappointing showing at CCS, the boys were able to represent the team well in what was a solid season for the team.

The varsity boys before the race

 

The girls team was able to perform fairly well despite the unusual buildup to CCS. Arlet Miranda ended her HS cross country career with a PR of 20:42, a strong end to a great James Lick career. Arlet ends her career firmly entrenched as James Lick’s 2nd greatest female cross country runner ever.

She ends her career as: The school record holder on two courses: (Golden Gate Park and Half Moon Bay).

The 2nd fastest runner in school history on 6 courses: (Stanford, Mt. Sac, Montgomery Hill, Newhall Park, Crystal Springs and Alum Rock Park BVAL version).

The 3rd fastest runner in school history on 3 courses: (Toro Park and Alum Rock Park MHAL version).

Arlet was not able to approach the times of Kayla Matsuda, but was an absolute rock for our team over the past few years, despite often battling injury issues. Coming off of her first healthy XC season since her sophomore year, Arlet will attack the school record in all 3 distance events in track this season. She currently sits at #2 in all 3 to Daniela Camacho (Kayla Matsuda did not run track).

Yeimili Adame ran 23:04 for her first time on the course. Belen Sanchez, Jessica Cervantes and Ashley Preciado combined to form the 3-4-5 as they have all season. Yesenia Martinez rounded out the team. The Comets placed 11th as a team, beating Mercy-Burlingame and Seaside.

The Varsity Girls before the race

 

That’s a wrap on the 2018 season!

I will do a season recap this week if I have time.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves

 

 

Both Varsity Teams Advance to CCS Despite BVAL Finals Setbacks

The James Lick Comets competed in BVAL Finals on Monday October 29th. The race was held, as it always is, at the 2.95 miles long Crystal Springs course. The team went in to the race with several of their key runners missing, but nonetheless managed to qualify two full teams to CCS Finals for the first time 2008.  There were other highlights as well, particularly on the JV girls side.

The meet is always exciting as the final meet for most of the team. I love the fact that all 3 divisions race together, which provides extra incentive to show your best form. The top half of teams (top 12 if all 24 teams compete) advance their varsity squads to CCS finals.

The first race of the day was the reserve girls race, and it saw the first PR of the day for the Comets. Araceli Mejia ran a massive PR of 29:05, smashing her previous best of 30:22 set last year. Francine Estranero also competed in the race for the team.

The JV girls race was next, and the JV girls have been a strength for the team all season. The girls headed into the race 7-0, with aspirations of placing highly within the BVAL. With two varsity girls being absent, Mariana Perez, the team’s top JV girl was called up to varsity. Even without her, the JV girls managed to impress. Mya Hammond spearheaded the group with a time of 25:04, a PR by more than one minute. Estefani Herrera was close behind, running 25:16 to lop 40 seconds of of her PR as well. Erika Camacho and Ruth Rodriguez were next in 26:09 and 26:16. Emely Lope was the all important 5th girl in with a PR of 26:41. Jhesselyn Santos ran a big PR of 27:51 to round out the team. The JV girls ended up being the 5th fastest JV girls team in the entire BVAL, beating half of the teams in the ‘A’ division.

The next race up was the frosh/soph boys. Omar Fimbres lead the group wth a time of 19:15, a PR by over 40 seconds. Jay Austria and Jo-Jo Bradley were the 2nd and 3rd boys in. Alberto Trejo ran 22:34, a 43 second PR. Jordan Laguna ran 23:55 to round out the group. The frosh/soph boys placed 13th as a team, a solid end to the season for a team that struggled all season.

Next up was the varsity girls race. The team was without team # 2 Yeimili Adame, and the normal team #6 in Jenny Villagomez. The team was limited without these two, but still managed their highest team placing since 2014. Arlet Miranda lead the team with a 20:25 clocking, her best time on the course since 2014. Belen Sanchez and Jessica Cervantes were the 2nd and 3rd runners in 22:54 and 22:58. Both girls broke the 23 minute barrier for the first time. Ashley Preciado was next in a PR of 23:35. Yesenia Martinez was the 5th girl in 24:58. Mariana Perez finished in 26:26 to round out the team.  The team ran a team time of 1:54:20, a time good for 12th place in the BVAL. If the team had Yeimili Adame, and she ran her PR from the center meet of 22:12 (not a stretch since every other girl ran faster than they did at the center meet) the team would have placed 8th. The team advances to CCS for the first time since 2014 and will compete in the division 4 race. The girls hope to rebound with all of their team members at full strength.

The varsity girls before the race

 

The varsity boys race followed. Mark Orpia lead the team in a PR of 17:35. Erik Olsvold was not far behind in 17:54. Jerricho Habon, Melvin Estrada and Jared Resendiz made up a closely packed 3-4-5, running PRs of 18:26, 18:27 and 18:35 respectively. Brandon Cruz ran a PR of 18:53 as the 6th boy, and Nien Tran rounded out the team in 19:16. The varsity boys team managed 10th place on the day, just their 2nd top 10 BVAL finals performance in the past decade. The team will advance to CCS alongside the girls.

The varsity boys team

 

 

The final race on the day was the reserve boys. Geo Campos lead the reserve team in a time of 19:55. Gustavo Madrigal went out on by far the best race of his career, running 20:17 for the course. The 6:53 pace was the 2nd best race pace of his career. Daniel Portillo, Rodolf Ocampo and Hugo Marquez formed the team’s 3-4-5. Adrian DeLaRosa and Alexis Sarellano both achieved PRs, as did Rafael Yanez and Kevin Santacruz. Josue Gomez, Huu Thai, and Vincent Giglio also competed for the team. The reserve boys were the 7th fastest team in the BVAL.

Despite being the 2nd smallest school in the 24 team BVAL, James Lick’s lowest team placing on the day was 13th in the frosh/soph boys race. A strong end to the season in terms of competition.

The team will compete again on Saturday November 10th at CCS Finals, once again at Crystal Springs.

 

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves