Comets Scrimmage With Season Hanging In the Balance

We often don’t fully appreciate the bliss and relief from everyday life that sports can bring. They can provide a distraction from our problems during hard times, a way for young people to learn life lessons and skills, and a positive outlet. The past 6 years of coaching track have been exceptionally fun for me as well as my athletes. I’ve enjoyed every bit of the challenge of trying to help the athletes of James Lick compete against larger and more affluent schools. Several former Comets are competing athletically in college right now, and we have several seniors on the team looking to reach the next level as well. As of right now, our entire season is up in the air.

Given the current state of the country following the outbreak of Covid-19 Santa Clara County has given the order to suspend all school related activities till April 13th at the earliest. There is a very real chance that our track season may be over just as it was beginning. Obviously the public health is far more important than any athletic event, but our entire team is hoping the situation will be under control a month ago, and that we can hopefully return to finish our track season.

We were informed around noon on Friday March 13th that our school, along with every school in the county would be closing beginning next week. As a result, we shifted from a normal practice to an inter-squad scrimmage, a chance for our athletes to compete, knowing that it’s possible they would not get another meet this season.

It was uplifting end to the day for an upset track team, and we had a lot of good results and improvements on the day. We began the meet with the 4×100 relay. For the first time this season we ran the ‘A’ team of Jamie Vong, Geovanny Campos, Rodolf Ocamp and Raven Alcantara. They coasted to a time of 46.73. This time puts the Comets ranked #4 in the entire BVAL through 1 week of season, without any competition. Our girls team of Jenny Gomez, Minhy Pham, Emily DeLaRosa and Yeimili Adame ran a 57.1, a seasons best on the girls side as well.

We went straight to the hurdles after that. Emily D had the 1st of several strong performances on the day, running 21.19 for her first try at the full event, a very solid debut. Jenny Gomez also made her debut in the event running 21.93. Neither time may sound remarkable currently, but to me both are strong debuts.

The 4 fastest girls I’ve coached in the 100 hurdles are Valeria Cortez (16.75) Andrea Ortiz (17.10) Kirsten Nguyen (18.22) and Yesenia Martinez (18.43). All 4 girls share two traits with Jenny, Emily and Cecelia Usui who ran 21.59 for us last week at the Willow Glen Invite. They all began hurdling as a freshmen or sophomore, and they all ran slower than 21 seconds in their first try at the 100 hurdles. In short, I think that our 3 frosh/soph hurdlers, Jenny, Emily and Cecelia all have the potential to be BVAL level hurdlers like Kirsten and Yesenia, given the time to work on the event properly.

On the boys side, we had a very strong tail wind blowing, a 4.4 m/s wind, well over the allowable limit so the marks could not stand as official records. That being said, Rodolf lead the group with the best 110 clocking of his life under any conditions, a time of 15.75. This puts him as the #1 ranked BVAL hurdler 1 week into the season and the #2 ranked 110 hurdler in the entire CCS. Jamie Vong and Mark Orpia came in at 18.39 and 18.93, with Luis Escamilla streaming in at 20.55. If the season picks up, the Comets are likely to be one of the best hurdling teams in the BVAL.

Rodolf Ocampo and Jamie Vong clearing the first hurdle together. Mark Orpia and Luis Escamilla approaching. 

The 100 meter dash was next, and it saw several strong performances as well. Raven lead the team in 11.91 in a heat with a 0.0 wind reading. Rodolf ran his fastest ever wind legal time of 12.12, just a tick off his PR under any circumstances of 12.06, which was run with a strong tailwind. Jamie got a PR of 12.14, putting both boys in striking distance of the sub 12 barrier. The next fastest Comet on the day was Eric Dang in 12.29 and then Jordan Lagura in 12.38, a PR. Both sophomores figure to be a huge part of the teams future plans. Angel Guerrero took .16 off his PR to run 12.54. Justin Nguyen (13.27) Mark ( 13.43) and Soreya Thach (13.55) all ran PRS on the boys side.

On the girls side, Emily made another very strong debut, clocking in at 14.35 in her first try at the event, finishing in nearly a dead heat with Yeimili (a PR by .10 for Yeimili) and their heat was wind legal. Azalea Galinato ran a seasons best 14.76 and Cecelia clocked in at 15.01 for her 100m debut. Several other Comets made their 100m debuts as well.

We did not run the 1600 or 800, but put the 3200 in the middle of the meet to give our distance crew the chance to contest it. Melvin Estrada lead the team in a solid season opener of 11:39. Omar Sanchez and Justin Nguyen ran 12:45 and 12:50 for their first try at the event. On the girls side, we went 4 for 4 on PRS. Lizbeth Espana (13:56) Jessica Cervantes (13:59) and Keyla Sifuentes (13:59) all cracked the 14 minute barrier for the first time,  and for Keyla it was her first time running the event at all. Ruth Rodriguez also managed a PR of 14:29. The 14 minuter barrier is significant in our league, a girl who can run under 14 can score points in the vast majority of dual meets.

Back on the track, Rodolf and Luis both ran the 300 hurdles. Rodolf managed a PR of 44.56, nearly a full second PR in his first try this season. Luis also cracked 50 to start the year with a time of 49.91.

We skipped the 200 at the Willow Glen Invite so it was the fist time contesting it for many athletes this year. Geo lead the Comets in a time of 25.38. Eric managed a big PR of 25.49 breaking 26 for the first time. Angel also got a big PR of 25.50 just behind Eric, and at this point they were running into a headwind. On the girls side, Yeimili lead the team, cracking the 30 second barrier for the first time in 29.96. Emily continued her strong debut in 30.78, a strong debut. Azalea and Minhy came in close to her in 30.80 and 30.85. It was a strong headwind at this point, and the Comets look poised to have several  girls under the 30 second barrier in the same season.

Meanwhile, the team had several strong performances in the field events. Adriana Marcelino lead the in 77-10 within a foot of her PR. Sara Hawkes and Jimmie Chircop both ha big PRS of 71-2 and 69-0. Emma Demblewski threw over 60 feet for the first time as well, chucking the discus 61 feet. Sandra Naranjo (58-0) and Kiely Leal (57-2) both managed PRS as well as Yesenia Martinez throwing 48-10. Clarissa Morales made hr discus debut with a solid throw of 56-0.

In Shot Put, Sara lead the team in 24-7 , with Clarissa close behind in a PR of 24-2.5. Kiely threw a PR of 21-8 as did Sandra (18-8) to end days for the lady throwers. Jose Uribe made his debut for the boys, throwing 47 feet in discus and 19 feet in Shot Put.

With all the wind, most of the jumpers had a rough day though Yesenia did clear 4-4, a seasons best in high jump. Rodolf also triple jumped for the first time since his sophomore year and went 36-3, a big PR. Eric in 15-6, and Soreya in 15-1 both managed PRs.

The final event for the team was the pole vault, where many of the vaulters working with coach Raul vaulted beginning at a lower height than usual. As such, Cecelia and Ruth both cleared the bar at 5-0 and Yesenia cleared it at 5-6. Omar cleared 7-0 for the first time, the starting height for a frosh/soph boy, showing good long term promise. Hector Hidalgo and Miguel Saldivar both cleared the varsity starting height of 8-0 and Jordan showeed great potential going 8-6 in his debut in the event. Mark and Rodolf both cleared 11-0 for the first time, strong PRS for both boys and an excellent way to end the scrimmage meet.

A total of 31 PRS make the scrimmage meet a very positive one, but a bittersweet one for many members of the team who now can only hope their season will resume. In any case, best wishes to all during this trying time. With some vigilance and luck, hopefully we as a society can get past the coronavirus and resume life as usual.

Thanks for reading and be safe,

-Benny Reeves

James Lick Track Team Opens 2020 Season Strong at Willow Glen Invitational

The 2020 Track season is oficially underway with the James Lick Comets joining 35 other track teams at the Willow Glen Invitational on Saturday March 7th. As has seemingly become a yearly tradition, the meet dealt with somewhat chilly conditions and bouts of rain throughout, at times making conditions very unsuitable to strong track performances. Nonetheless, the team had some very strong early performances, with a grand total of 27 PRS in the meet, more that at any invitational from the 2019 season.

The meet began with the frosh/soph girls 4×100. The team of Jenny Fimbres, Cecelia Usui, Daniela Huitron and Jenny Gomez combined to run 1:01.60 with some very rough exchanges in what was the first ever track meet for 3 of the 4 members of the team.

Jenny Fimbres handing the baton to Cecelia Usui 

Field events were already ongoing at this time as well and saw a number of solid performances for the Comets. In the frosh/soph girls discus, Sara Hawkes lead the Comets with a PR of 65-8.5, a PR by over 5 feet. Jimmie Chircop cracked the 60 foot barrier for the first time as well throwing 60-5 for a 4 foot PR. Francia Castro PR’d by almost 10 feet, throwing 59-10 and Emma Demblewski got a small PR of 57-10.

At the same time, Frosh/Soph boys high jump was going on. Jordan Lagura, the team’s top frosh/soph athlete, cleared 4-10 in his first try at the event and clearly has a much higher ceiling. Chris Escobar, the starting center on the frosh/soph basketball team went 5-0 in his first ever track meet, and only 3 days of practice so far, showing great potential as well. Lastly in boys Triple Jump, Jamie Vong went 37-4, opening the season just 4 inches off his PR. Geo Campos went a solid 35-10 in the event as well.

Back on the track, Ruth Rodriguez was the only frosh/soph girl for the Comets, and she opened her season with a PR of 6:37. The frosh/soph boys 1600 saw all 3 Comets PR. Omar Sanchez and Justin Nguyen both ran 5:44, 13 second PRS for both boys who broke the 6 minute barrier for the first time at our end of XC time trial. Carlos Nava took 6 seconds off his PR to run 6:22, and he’s only been out at practice for a few weeks since he was wrestling in the winter.

Justin Nguyen (Lane 2) and Omar Sanchez (Lane 1) Storming to PRS in the 1600 

Omar and Justin are following the path of great improvement to varsity levels laid down by Brandon Cruz, Jerricho Habon and others on the team. Both Comets ran with us all summer, yet by late August, Omar could only run 7:03 for the 1600 and Justin only 7:31. The fact that they lowered their PRS to under 6 by the end of XC, and now open track season with big PRS gives us great cause for hope for both boys futures.

The varsity girls 1600 saw multiple PRS as well. Jessica Cervantes lead the team with a 2 second PR of 6:22. Next was Lizbeth Espana in 6:29, ripping 9 seconds off her PR. Keyla Sifuentes, a newcomer to track after an excellent first XC season took 13 seconds off her PR to run 6:33. Ashley Preciado and Emely Lopez came in together at 6:41. This was an 11 second PR for Emely, and while it wasn’t a PR for Ashley, she is more than 20 seconds ahead of her start from last year.

The boys 1600 saw Brandon Cruz lead the group in 5:06. Melvin Estrada also had a solid season opener of 5:14. Nien Tran ran 5:29, a long way from his 5:01, but we’ve learned that Nien takes a longer time than most to get in shape. Jerricho was off to a good start in his 1600 but took a fall and suffered minor injury, only running 5:32 despite going through 800 meters under 5:10 pace.

The hurdle races were next. Cecelia Usui made her debut in 21.58 despite a -1.8 m/s headwind. I’ve been fortunate enough to have coached 2 CCS Qualafiers in girls hurdles and 3 division champions between Andrea Ortiz and Valeria Cortez, and neither of them ran as fast as Cecelia did her first try at the event. Yesenia Martinez ran the varsity girls event in 20.25 into a -2.5m/s headwind. A wind this strong makes a big difference, as the wind conversion formula indicates that time would be a 19.53 under neutral conditions, a strong start to the season.

In the boys 110 hurdles, Rodolf Ocampo made his debut as the team’s highest ranked returning athlete within the CCS in the past decade. After some very strong 60 hurdles performances in early February, Rodolf had spent the last 3 weeks in the Philippines with family, only arriving the night before the Willow Glen Invite, hardly ideal for great performance. Even so, he ran 16.60 into a headwind to place 5th in the meet, narrowly losing to fellow CCS qualifiers. Jamie Vong made his debut in the event in 18.31, a very strong time for his first try. Dekota Castro-Lopez ran a big PR of 19.61, a PR by over 2 seconds despite the headwind. I feel very strong about our hurdles group heading into this season.

Ruth managed a small PR in the 400, running 1:22.01 and proving that she is truly a long distance runner. Hektor Olivera and Navbir Kahlon ran 1:04 and 1:05 in their first attempts at the event. Yeimili Adame managed a very strong season opener of 1:05.52 a PR by .13 to start the season. This is an excellent start, even faster than the season opener of Paloma Contreras when she won the WV title for the team in 2015 and qualified for CCS. In the boys varsity 400, Hector Hidalgo ran a 1:01 in his first attempt at the event and Angel Guerrero lowered his PR a full second from 59.40 to 58.28.

Rain began just in time for the 100s but the team still managed some solid early performances. Newcomer Jenny Gomez was the fastest lady Comet of the day, running 15.17, a very strong early performance. Jenny Fimbres was not far behind in 15.32, just .02 off her PR already. The flying Jenny’s will look to spearhead the frosh/soph girls 4×100 all season. The young lady COmet throwers also showed up strong in the 100, Jimmie Chircop ran 16.04 and Sara Hawkes 16.13. This pair looks to help form a formidable throwers 4×100. Franica Castro (17.67) and Daniela Huitron (17.80) rounded out the FS girls 100.

Jordan lead the team in the F/S boys 100 running 12.42, just .06 off of his PR. Justin took .3 off of his PR to run 13.41. Soreya Thach made his debut in 13.58. Jose Garcia took a big chunk off of his PR lowering his 100m best from 14.41 to 13.68 (and on his birthday no less).

Miny Pham and Azalea Galinato ran very similar times of 15.20 and 15.23 as the only varsity girls competing, solid early season times. Despite the bad weather, and the fact that he’s still dealing with a hamstring injury, Raven Alcantara ran 11.69 to open his season. In similar conditions in 2019, Raven ran 12.02 at Willow Glen, and managed to end the season with a best 11.47, so this 11.69 clocking is a very strong performance in my mind. Geo was the next Comet in at 12.09. Rodolf and Jamie ran 12.21 and 12.22, PRS for both boys though Rodolf has run faster with a big tailwind. These 4 figure to be the ‘A’ team for the 4×100 this season, and we’ll be aiming to soon have all 4 under the 12 second barrier.

More field events were being contested at this point. Jordan had a strong day in the frosh/soph long jump, going 18-5 to place 3rd overall. Soreya and Jose also competed with Jose managing a 6 inch PR. Yesenia went 27-2 in triple jump, and 4-2 in high jump to start her season. Minhy and Cecelia also long jumped, though both were short of their PRS.

In the varsity girls discus, Adriana Marcelino threw her 2nd best toss ever, 75-6 to place 13th out of 33 throwers. In the boys Shot Put, Hugo Marquez threw 23-6.5. Sara narrowly missed medaling for the team, placing 5th in the frosh/soph girls shot put with a toss of 24-4, 4 inches shy of 4th place. Clarrisa Morales also had a strong debut of 23-00.50.

Back on the track it was time for the 800. Justin and Omar both netted PRS with Justin running 2:32 and Omar running 2:36 in just their 2nd try at the event. On the varsity girls side, Mya Hammond lead the group with a seasons best 2:54. Emely managed a 2nd big PR on the day, running 3:05 for the event. Brandon barely missed his PR running a high 2:19 in the event. The final event of the day for the Comets was the 300 hurdles. Both Yeimili and Dekota achieved PRS despite some rain. Yeimili ran 55.53, and Dekota 51.32.

Considering the weather, it was a very strong meet for the Comets. The team will continue gearing up for their season with the K-Bell Invitational on Saturday March 14th. The team will have it’s first dual meet of the season at home on Thursday March 19th against the Prospect Panthers.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves

 

James Lick Track Tunes Up with Scrimmage Against Independence

The James Lick Comets hosted a scrimmage against the Independence 76ers on Friday February 28th 2020. Both teams are a few weeks away from actual league meets, so both sides used this as an opportunity to compete and test their fitness.

We decided to run only “untraditional” track events in lieu of standard events. To this effect, the meet began with the 4×200 relay instead of the 4×100. It was a good race with Independence taking a narrow victory in 1:40.09 to James Lick’s 1:40.74. Both teams had sloppy exchanges as they were not used to the event. The James Lick team was composed of Jamie Vong, Jordan Lagura, Geo Campos and Raven Alcantara. The James Lick girls team stopped the clock in 2:03, a ways off of Independence’s 1:55. Jenny Fimbres, Minhy Pham, Emily DeLaRosa and Azalea Galinato made up the team.

 

The next event on the track was the 1000. Jessica Cervantes brought home victory for the Comets in 3:47. Ruth Rodriguez took 4th in 4:03. On the boys side, Jerricho Habon took 2nd for the team in 2:56, with Indy’s top boy running 2:55. Nien Tran, Melvin Estrada, Omar Sanchez and Justin Nguyen all competed in the event as well.

The 60 hurdles saw several lady Comets making their debuts. Yesenia Martinez took 2nd for the team in a seasons best 12.01 despite a headwind. Emily DeLaRosa, Jenny Gomez and Camila Abrego made their debuts in the event, all running in the 13-14 second range. Emily and Jenny are sophomores and Camila a freshmen. All 3 girls are in their first week of track, and I think in time they will make a strong hurdle trio.

Jamie Vong won the boys 60 hurdles in a PR of 10.21. Jamie is new to hurdles after being solely a jumper and sprinter over the past few seasons, but he is quickly becoming a  force in the event. Dekota Castro-Lopez also competed, running a solid 11.5 clocking.

The Indy girls swept the 300 though Mya Hammond ran a solid 50.04 clocking to lead James Lick. Jenny F, Ashley Preciado, Emely Lopez and Mariana Perez all contested the seldom run event as well. Jerricho won the boys 300 in 39.83 and Angel took 3rd in 40.58. This was nearly a 2 second PR for Angel and Jerricho becomes the first boy to crack 40 seconds in the 2 years we’ve contested this event. Alberto Trejo managed a solid 42.25 in his debut as well.

The headwind fluttered between a -0.7 m/s to -2.5 m/s wind throughout the meet, hampering the ability for sprinters to notch fast times. Even so, there were quite a few PRS in the event. Azalea lead the Comets in 9.25, a PR by 2 tenths of a second. Jenny F also lopped 2 tenths off her PR, clocking in at 9.56. Newcomer Kyla Eustaquino showed a lot of potential, running 9.31 despite not having spikes. On the boys side, Angel Guerrero and Jordan Lagura both ran under 8 seconds for the first time (both boys ran 7.95). Dekota took .11 off his PR to run 8.34. Jose Garcia also managed a small PR of 8.81 on what would be a very strong day for him.

Jessica Cervantes won the 600 in 2:10 for her 2nd victory on the day, though no athletes on either side ran particularly fast in this event. The 150s were the final event on the track. Azalea, Minhy and Jenny competed on the girls side, running in the 23-24 second range for the event. Geo and Angel lead the boys in 18.84 and 19.05 respectively, despite a headwind over 2 m/s by this time in the meet. Navbir Kahlon and Jose Garcia also contested the event for the team.

The field events saw a number of strong performances for the team. Jamie Vong won the long jump in 19-6, the 2nd best jump of his career and he is more than a foot better than he was at this time a year ago. Geo Campos had a strong start to his season going 18-7. Jordan PR’d by over 6 inches, going 18-6.25. Miguel Saldivar, a senior new to track managed to jump 18-3.75 in his first try at the event as well.  A pair of freshmen, Soreya Thach and Daniel Torres made their debuts jumping in the 14 foot range. Jose managed a foot PR of 13-1.5. On the girls side, Minhy made her debut jumping 12-1.

Jamie was the only boy to triple jump, but on the girls side the Comets saw the debut of freshmen Janelle So, who went 28-8, a very solid opening mark for a freshmen. Yesenia is already close to her PR as well, jumping 28-2.

Finally in the throwing events, the team had been a tremendous force in girls throws over the past 4 years through Alejandra Ceron, Charli Chircop and Valeria Cortez, all CCS level throwers. While the team doesn’t have any true standouts this year, a new crop of young lady throwers are vying to be a competitive team, spearheaded by team captain Adriana Marcelino. Adriana threw a PR of 78 feet in discus to lead the Comets and take 4th in the meet. A number of sophomore girls made their debuts as well. Sara Hawkes (60 feet) Emma Demblewski (57 feet) Jimmie Chircop, younger sister of Charli (56 feet) and Francia Castro (49 feet). These marks are not far off the beginning marks of Alejandra and Charli and all of these girls have a lot of potential.

Sara showed this potential already, with a massive PR of 26-8 after debuting in the event to the tune of 22-10 at last week’s all comers meet. The other sophomore girls threw in the 21 foot range. On the boys side Hugo Marquez was the only Comet to throw. Boys throws is again shaping up as our most glaring weakness across the board.

The scrimmage allowed the team to get its feet wet, and the season will officially begin on Saturday March 7th when the team heads to the Willow Glen Invitational. It has been a long buildup but Track season is almost here.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves

 

 

James Lick Track and Field: 2020 Season Preview

The Winter season of CCS sports is nearly over which means that the time for Spring Sports is nearly here, brining with it yet another James Lick track season. The 2019 season saw the Comets achieve their first winning season in the ‘B’ division of the BVAl ever, with the varsity boys squad finishing 5-2. This is a particularly exciting year given the string returners on the boys side especially, setting the team up to be competitive against every team they face in the division.

The division has a slightly new look with Perennial power Pioneer moving up to the ‘A’ division and Branham High School moving down. Pioneer went 7-0 on both the boys and girls sides last season, so their departure opens the door for new champions, although Branham will provide stiff competition in their stead.

Below, you can see lists of the top returning athletes in the division (based on marks in 2019) in each event. Obviously it’s tough to say what new athletes will show up, but this provides a decent idea of where the team stands in different areas.

Top Returning Boys

Top returning Girls

2019 Boys Point Scoring breakdown 

Event Group	Average Points Per Dual Meet	Points Available Per Meet	Average Points as percentage of Available	League Finals Points
Distance	15.85	27	59%	7
Hurdles	12	18	66%	12.5
Jumps	23.25	36	65%	30
Relays	4.28	10	43%	14
Sprints	11.85	27	44%	10
Throws	4.71	18	26%	1

As this chart shows, the boys were an above average team in the division in 3/6 event areas, and were nearly league average in 2 others. Throws was the team’s real weakness in 2019, and it is a weakness the team, and throws coach Raul Lopez are working hard to rectify.

The team’s strongest event was boys hurdles and the event figures to be an even greater strength for the team this season. Rodolf Ocampo made it all the way to CCS trials last year after breaking through for a PR of 15.97 at last year’s BVAL finals. For reference however, he did not even run under 17 seconds until our division finals meet, and he should make a run at being the ‘B’ division champ in the event. Factor in Josh Merin who finished 6th in teh division in only his 3rd attempt at the 110 hurdles and these two seniors should form a very strong 1-2 punch for the team.

Things are looking good as the team comes out of conditioning. We use the early season to work n acceleration, with athletes like Rodolf running the 60 meter hurdles at the Los Gatos All Comers meet. A year ago, his PR in the event was 9.97. In just two all comers meets this year, he’s lowered his PR to 8.87.

The team has to deal with the loss of Salvador Lopez, the team’s #1 jumper from last season who is now at Piedmont Hills HS. Still, a strong jump core of Jamie Vong, Geo Campos and Jordan Lagura will look to keep jumps an event of strength for the team after scoring points at division finals last year. Jamie is another athlete off to a great early start. Last season he ended with a long jump PR of 18-6.5 Defying even his own expectations, this past Saturday at the all comers meet, Jamie managed a massive new PR of 19-7.

The team last top distance runner Erik Olsvold who graduated last year, but the team still has a number of scoring distance runners returning. Jerricho Habon is the #2 ranked 800m runner in the division and Brandon Cruz and Mark Orpia both return as sub 5 minute milers already, meaning distance should still be an area of strength although a very strong Branham distance squad will shake things up as well.

The sprints and relays squad was the team’s most improved last year. The 2019 team was the first 4×100 team from James Lick since 2001 to make CCS and 3 of the 4 members of the team are back. The returning members of the team who are conditioning are all ahead of where they were last year as well. After running the 60 meter dash 3 times last year, Raven Alcantara ended the season with a PR of 7.41, the fastest time we have on record. In only one all comers meet this season, Raven has run 7.28.

A year ago, the team’s top 5 boys in the 60 were Raven: 7.41,  Geo Campos 7.60, Salvador Lopez: 7.83, Josh Merin: 7.83 and Misael Herrera at 7.99. Geo and Josh are still in basketball season, Sal is at piedmont and Misael has graduated, yet the sprint team is poised to be much stronger this year based on early 60 meter times.

The team’s top sprinters so far, with still one all comers meet to go are:

Raven: 7.41

Rodolf: 7.53 (pr of 8.17 in 2019)

Jamie: 7.61 (PR of 8.07 in 2019)

Eric Dang 7.71 (a newcomer Sophmore we’re very excited about)

Jerricho Habon 7.72 (PR of 8.07 in 2019).

These times have been achieved without 3 of our 5 fastest returning sprinters.Our team’s acceleration is well ahead of where it was at this time a year ago.

Boys throws were the team’s biggest weakness last season, but coach Raul is hard at work trying to fix that. Throws in the ‘B’ division are a relatively weak event currently, and several newcomers are looking to make an impact.

From top to bottom, the boys squad should be a force in the division, looking for another winning season, and maybe even a division title.

 

Event Group	Average Points Per Dual Meet	Points Available Per Meet	Average Points as percentage of Available	League Finals Points
Distance	13.55	27	50%	21
Hurdles	13.1	18	73%	24
Jumps	14.86	27	55%	0
Relays	1.73	10	17%	3
Sprints	7.72	27	28%	1
Throws	14.85	18	82%	32

The girls team was very strong last year in throws and in hurdles but both events will take a huge dent with the graduation of Valeria Cortez and Marquise Nelson. Both athletes made CCS in throws, and Valeria in particular scored the most dual meet points of any Comet on record last season, she will not be easily replaced.

The strides made by athletes like Adriana Marcelino who improved her discus by over 10 feet last year, will be key to keeping the Comets competitive in throws. A batch of young throwers is coming out from winter sports, including the younger sister of Charli Chircop. Charli threw 118-2 in discus in 2018 to set the school record, and her sister Jimmie is a Sophmore now, we can only hope she is a chip off the old block.

In hurdles, the loss of Valeria hurts, but Yesenia Martinez remains as a strong athlete in the event, a former BVAL qualafier. Natalie Rem will also have an impact as will freshmen Ceclia who is looking like a future star so far.

With a healthy season, Natalie can take the team far in jumps. She is still one of the top jumpers in the league with her triple jump PR of 33-4 being particularly strong in the division. Much of the girls season hinges upon her performance, as the team’s projected top sprinter as well. Lisbeth Galdamez has been a very reliable sprinter for the team, and if she can have one more breakthrough she could go from consistent 2nd and 3rds for the team in the 100 to achieving event wins. She and Yesenia also form the team’s solid 1-2 punch in long jump. Yeimili Adame has been the team’s top 400 runner and will look to end her senior year strong, coming off of a strong soccer season.

In distance, the team will also have to overcome the loss of Arlet Miranda. This is not an easy task but the younger distance girls stepped up huge in cross country to go 4-3 without Arlet. Jessica Cervantes and Lizbeth Espana are both in shape to PR already based on the al comers meet where Jessica ran 6:27 for the full mile (current PR of 6:24) and Lizbeth ran 6:38 (same as her PR for 1600). These two will be relied upon heavily, alongside young talents like Daisy Flores to help the team score points in distance.

The girls squad is looking to rebound from a 2-5 season, and add a couple more wins to the ledger this year. The team is determined to make our 3rd year in the ‘B’ division our most successful so far.

The team will compete at the Los Gatos all comers meet on Saturday February 22nd. The following week the team will face Independence in a scrimmage meet. Finally the season will truly begin on Saturday March 7th when the team competes at the Willow Glen Invitational.

James Lick Track 2010-2019: All Decade Team

This blog will be an attempt to name the James Lick all Decade Team. The main criteria for this list will simply be the best marks achieved in this decade, under the hypothetical of a championship meet where the team can only enter 3 athletes in each event. The main complication to this simple procedure is in the case of athletes who excelled in a variety of events when athletes are limited to a 4 event maximum.

I will explain my logic in who I’d pick and why, and I will include 2 alternates in each event in the case of extenuating circumstances, these athletes would step in.

For the sake of context, I’ll go through each event and explain how well the Comets would do in each event by using the 2019 BVAL Finals meet for comparison, where the best athletes from all 3 divisions compete together.

4×100: 

4×100
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	2019: 45.06	2018: 53.85
2.	2018: 45.50	2016: 54.14
3.	2017: 46.88	2015: 55.04

As you can see, the best 4×100 teams of the decade for the Comets were the 2019 boys squad and the 2018 girls squad. The 2019 boys team had the following competitors along with their best 100m times.
1. Raven Alcantara: 11.47   2. Salvador Lopez: 11.84  3. Geovanny Campos 11.87 Rodolf Ocampo: 12.06.   They are the #2, #4, #5 and #7 Comet sprinters of the decade. For the purpose of the all decade team, I’d substitute Sal and Rodolf Out as both boys excel in other events, and substitute in Davion Thomas (11.42) and Ace Medina (11.68). Assuming similar handoffs, this team would run approximately 44.2. which would have been good for 4th at BVAL finals last year.

The 2018 girls squad consisted of: 1. Natalie Rem: (13.49), 2. Lisbeth Galdamez (13.90) 3. Yeimili Adame (14.44) and Justine Austria (14.54). Despite the 53.85 time of the team being tops in the decade, On paper this team could be improved alot. Natalie and Lis are the top 2 Comet sprinters of the decade, but the addition of Maria Mendoza (13.94) and Andrea Ortiz (14.04) would likely bring this team down to a high 52, maybe 52.9. This would only be 9th at BVAL finals last year, as girls sprints have been a weak spot this decade.

 

4×100 all decade teams: 

 

1. Raven Alcantara: 11.47                                          1. Maria Mendoza: 13.94
2. Ace Medina 11.68                                                    2. Andra Ortiz: 14.04
3. Goevanny Campos 11.87                                        3. Lisbeth Galdamez 13.90
4. Davion Thomas: 11.42                                            4. Natalie Rem: 13.49

(Alternates):  Jose Limon 11.97                                          Karen Montes (14.19)

 

1600 All Decade Team 

1600
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Azael Zamora: 4:33.64   Class of 2018	Daniela Camacho: 5:27.54 Class of 2015
2.	Erik Olsvold: 4:37.19  Class of 2019	Arlet Miranda: 5:31.27 Class of 2019
3.	Karan Singh: 4:39.91 Class of 2015	Belen Sanchez: 6:01.67 Class of 2019

This team is pretty straight forward. Azael, Erik and Karan are the 3 fastest milers of the decade, and all have great experience in running it. On the girls side, Belen is actually the 5th fastest lady Comet of the decade in the 1600. That being said, there is a big gap from Daniela and Arlet down to #3 (Maria Mendoza at 5:52). Even more so to Paloma Contreras (6:01.00). Both Maria and Paloma are more useful to the team in other events however, yielding the 3rd spot on the all-decade team to Belen.

Both dual meet squads will be dominant in the ‘C’ division, Strong in the ‘B’ division and decent in the ‘A’ division.

Boys Alternates: Ricardo Flores: 4:42.18   Nathan Bernardo: 4:47.52

Girls Alternates: Ashley Preciado: 6:09.84  Daisy Nava: 6:11.20

100/ 110 Hurdles All Decade Team 

 

110/110H
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Rodolf Ocampo: 15.97 Class of 2020	Valeria Cortez: 16.75 Class of 2019
2.	Cody Huoch: 16.59  Class of 2018	Andrea Ortiz: 17.10 Class of 2016
3.	Hadji Yono-Cruz: 17.83 Class of 2018	Kirsten Yutuc: 18.22 Class of 2020

This list is again quite straight forward, these are the top 3 hurdlers of the decade for the Comets. This would be quite a formidable team as all 6 of these hurdlers made BVALS in this event at least once in their careers and Rodolf and Valeria both made CCS. Valeria was a 2 time ‘B’ division champ in this event, and this squad would score points in a dual against every BVAL team.

Boys Alternates: Josh Merin: 18.07  Mark Orpia: 18.47

Girls Alternates: Yesenia Martinez: 18.43  Susie Peterson: 18.85

400m All Decade Team 

 

400
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Misael Herrera: 54.51 Class of 2019	Paloma Contreras: 1:02.54 Class of 2015
2.	Gustavo Aguilera: 54.70 Class of 2017	Yeimili Adame: 1:05.65  Class of 2020
3.	Salvador Lopez: 54.97 Class of 2020	Cierra Gutierrez: 1:07.59 Class of 2018

3 Comets managed to break 55 for the 400 this season, so unsurprisingly they make the cut here. Gustavo Aguilera won a ‘C’ divsion 400m title as did Paloma Contreras, the #4 girl in school history the event and also a CCS qualifier. Yeimili is a clear #2 before a list of 5 comets between 1:06 and 1:07. From Andrea Ortiz, Maria Mendoza and Arlet Miranda, the team has 3 girls at 1:06 who are better at other events. This continues with Daniela Camacho at 1:07.54. This leads us to a freshmen who had a lot of ability who did not stick with the sort in Cierra Gutierrez. Cierra was not the most reliable runner, but her talent make her a high risk high reward option in the 3rd slot.

The boys 400 squad would only be moderately strong in the ‘B’ division. The 1-2 punch of Paloma and Yeimili would be solid even in the ‘A’ division (mainly because of Paloma) though this is not one of the team’s stronger events this decade.

Boys Alterantes: Jose Limon (55.28)  Cesar Azevedo (55.28)

Girls Alternates: Gabriela Aguilar: 1:09.39  Justine Austria: 1:10.11

100m All Decade Team 

 

100m
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Raven Alcantara: 11.47 Class of 2020	Natalie Rem: 13.49 Class of 2021
2.	Davion Thomas: 11.43 Class of 2016	Lisbeth Galdamez: 13.90 Class of 2020
3.	Ace Medina: 11.68  Class of 2018	Maria Mendoza: 13.94  Class of 2017

The boys list is very clear here as only 3 boys in this decade ran under 11.8, let alone 11.7. Raven and Davion as a 1-2 punch would do well in even the ‘A’ division as both are near CCS caliber runners. Ace would be a strong 3rd. On the girls side, this is one of our weaker events. Natalie is the only lady Comet in the entire decade to score points at division finals for the team, but the 3 girls on this list are the only sub 14 second girls of the decade.

Boys Alternates: Geo Campos: 11.87      Jose Limon: 11.97

Girls Alternates:  Karen Montes: 14.19   Marquise Nelson: 14.19

800m All Decade team 

800
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Erik Olsvold: 2:05.90 Class of 2019	Daniela Camacho: 2:27.64 Class of 2015
2.	Jerricho Habon: 2:06.52 Class of 2020	Arlet Miranda: 2:28.08 Class of 2019
3.	Nathan Bernardo: 2:07.85 Class of 2017	Daisy Nava: 2:41.58 Class of 2017

 

The 800 is the strongest running event of the decade for the girls, the only running event with two different CCS qualifiers. Those two would do well in any division. The 3rd spot in terms of time would be Paloma at 2:37, but it’s difficult to come back after the 400 wit a fast 800 so I would sub her out for Daisy Nava at 2:41.58. Maria went a tick faster at 2:40, but could do more in the 300 hurdles which would be the event next up, which makes Daisy the best option in the 3rd spot. That trio could sweep half of the teams in the BVAL.

On the boys side, the top 2 are clear, though this has been the weakest distance event for the boys this decade. The team has produced 5 BVAL qualifiers but no one close to CCS level. Azael and Karan are the 3rd and 4th fastest boys of the decade, but both are better at the 3200. It makes more sense to go with Nathan as a result, considering he was only marginally slower than Azy and Karan. This boys squad would not be competitive in the ‘A’ division but would do well against many BVAL teams.

Boys Alternates: Ricardo Flores: 2:08.xx  Hector Ramirez: 2:12.57

Girls Alternates: Ana Tapia: 2:46.00  Brianna Flores: 2:46.56

300 Hurdles All Decade Team 

300h
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Cody Huoch: 42.62 Class of 2018	Andrea Ortiz: 50.19  Class of 2016
2.	Gustavo Aguilera: 44.67 Class of 2017	Maria Mendoza: 51.28 Class of 2017
3.	Rodolf Ocampo: 45.46 Class of 2020	Kirsten Yutuc: 51.80  Class of 2020

 

 

The girls list is very straightforward, the top of the decade. Andrea was a CCS qualafier in the event and near ‘C’ division champ. Even in the ‘A’ division this squad would do fairly well. In the ‘B’ division the trio would be dominant.

On the boys side, Cody was a CCS qualifier in the event, Gustavo and Rodolf both BVAL level qualifiers. Sal was a bit faster than Rodolf in the 3rd spot but his versatility makes him more useful in other events.

Boys Alternates: Mark Orpia: 45.50  Jonathan Rodriguez: 46.87

Girls Alternates: Valeria Cortez: 52.12  Yesenia Martinez: 54.72

200m All Decade Team 

200m
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Davion Thomas 23.19  Class of 2016	Paloma Contreras: 28.81 Class of 2015
2.	Raven Alcantara: 23.97  Class of 2020	Mya Hammond: 29.89 Class of 2021
3.	Ace Medina: 24.17  Class of 2018	Justine Austria: 29.91  Class of 2020

The boys list would stay within the top 3. Davion made CCS in the 200 making him formidable in even the ‘A’ division and that trio would do very well in the ‘B’ division as well. The girls 200 is arguably the team’s weakest event of the decade on the girls side. The team’s top 3 is Maria, Paloma and Andrea, and both Maria and Andrea were better at the 300 hurdles which is right before the 200, basically eliminating both from the squad.

Knowing that this event isn’t one of the team’s best, I’d skip the 300 hurdlers to let them focus on their main events, which brings us to Mya and Justine as the 2-3. This team would scrape some ‘B’ division points but not do too much more than that.

Boys Alternates: Jose Limon: 24.22 Misael Herrera: 24.56

Girls Alternates: Karen Montes 30.09 Yeimili Adame: 30.10

3200 All Decade Team 

 

3200
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Azael Zamora: 9:55.14 Class of 2018	Daniela Camacho:12:18.13 Class of 2015
2.	Erik Olsvold: 10:20.72 Class of 2019	Arlet Miranda: 12:28.59 Class of 2019
3.	Karan Singh: 10:23.00  Class of 2015	Belen Sanchez: 13:15.40  Class of 2019

I wouldn’t change this list from the natural top 3.  Both squads would be successful ‘A’ division squads, and very strong ‘B’ division squads. I’d skip Nathan as an alternate to let him focus on other events.

Boys Alternates: Hector Ramirez: 10:42.15  Inteus Castro-Lopez: 10:51.01

Girls Alternates: Elizabeth Guevara: 13:23.07 Ashley Preciado: 13:41.31

4×400 All Decade Team 

 

4×400
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	2019: 3:36.78	2015: 4:31.12
2.	2018: 3:39.83	2016: 4:33.15
3.	2015: 3:40.13	2018: 4:34.35

The 2019 4×400 team was tops in the decade with the #1, #3, #4 and #7 boys of the decades. Misael at #1, Sal at #3 and Jerricho at #4 can all stay. We would sub out Erik (55.4) for Gustavo at 54.7 to get a little faster. 3:36 is a CCS level time.

On the girls, the squad of 2015 had Paloma at #1, Daniela at #6 and then Daisy and Gabby (#11 and #8 of the decade). The addition of Maria Mendoza at 1:06 along with Andrea at 1:06 could help this team run as fast as 4:22 which would be a school record and borderline CCS level time. Subbing out Daniela for Yeimili would make it a borderline 4:20 team.

1. 1. Misael Herrera (54.51)                                   1. Paloma Contreras (1:02.54)
   2. Gustavo Aguilera (54.70)                                2. Yeimili Adame (1:05.65)
   3. Salvador Lopez (54.97)                                   3. Andrea Ortiz (1:06.35)
   4. Jerricho Habon (55.28)                                   4. Maria Mendoza (1:06.50)

Boys Alternates:  Jose Limon: 55.28,  Cesar Azevedo: 55.36

Girls Alternates: Arlet Miranda: 1:06.80  Daniela Camacho: 1:07.54

Shot Put All Decade Team 

 

Shot Put
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Robert Rios: 43-2 Class of 2015	Alejandra Ceron: 35-8.50 Class of 2018
2.	Josh Garcia: 42-9 Class of 2018	Marquise Nelson: 33-8 Class of 2019
3.	Kevin Baltazar 39-5 Class of 2014	Valeria Cortez: 33-7  Class of 2019

Both Shot Put Squads would do very well throughout the BVAL and even in the ‘A’ division. Of the 6 Comets on this team, 5 made CCS in the event Alejandra is the school record holder in the event and even finished top 8 at the CCS top 8 meet in 2017. Robert Rios was a 2 time ‘C’ division champ and Alejandra even won a ‘B’ division title in the event.

Boys Alternates: Daniel Medina: 38-6.5   Alejandro Alonzo: 36-3

Girls Alternates: Charli Chircop: 32-10  Leysmi Saldana: 24-7

Discus All Decade Team 

 

Discus
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Alex Alonzo: 111-8 Class of 2017	Charlie Chircop: 118-2 Class of 2018
2.	Daniel Medina: 108-6 Class of 2018	Valeria Cortez: 116-10  Class of 2019
3.	Josh Garcia: 107-6  Class of 2018	Alejandra Ceron: 106-8 Class of 2018

Girls discus was the EVENT of the decade for the Comets. A streak of 5 straight individual division champs in the event to end the decade, with 6 total CCS qualifications and two different school record holders, the team would dominate most leagues in the event. The boys squad would be competitive in the ‘B’ division as well.

Boys Alternates: Pablo Segovia: 105-5   Brando Meclhor: 105-3

Girls Alternates: Marquise Nelson: 94-5   Mariah Santos: 86-3

Long Jump All Decade Team

 

Long Jump
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Salvador Lopez: 20-2  Class of 2020	Lyndel Ventura: 16-7 Class of 2018
2.	Davion Thomas: 19-10 Class of 2016	Natalie Rem: 15-1 Class of 2021
3.	Geo Campos: 19-2  Class of 2020	Elyse Elder: 15-0  Class of 2018

This is another straight forward team. 3 Girls broke 15 feet in the decade. On the boys side 4 boys cracked 19 feet, and the top 3 are our jumpers. Both teams would be competitive in the ‘A’ division but do very well in the lower ones.

Boys Alternates: Nathan Bernardo: 19-1.5  Raven Alcantara: 18-7.5

Girls Alternates: Kirsten Yutuc: 14-9        Marquie Nelson: 14-9

Triple Jump All Decade Team 

Triple Jump
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Cody Huoch: 40-3 Class of 2018	Natalie Rem: 33-4.25 Class of 2021
2.	Nathan Bernardo: 39-5 Class of 2017	Lyndel Ventura: 31-0 Class of 2018
3.	Hadji Yono-Cruz: 38-10.5 Class of 2017	Kirtsen Yutuc: 30-10  Class of 2020

Natalie’s triple jump puts her at a CCS level, and the girls trio in general would be a solid ‘A’ division group. The boys squad would struggle in ‘A’ but do very well in the ‘B’division.

Boys Alternates: Salvador Lopez: 38-2.5 , Jordan Lagura: 37-9.5

Girls Alternates: La-Ree Tea: 30-0        Yesenia Martinez: 28-8

 

High Jump
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Karan Singh: 5-8 Class of 2015	Elyse Elder: 4-8 Class of 2018
2.	Ace Medina: 5-8 Class of 2018	Yesenia Martinez: 4-6 Class of 2020
3.	Salvador Lopez: 5-8  class of 2020	Lisbeth Galdamez: 4-4 Class of 2020

Elyse is the clear top jumper of the decade at 4-8 and was a near CCS level high jumper. Paloma and Lis both went 4-4 but Paloma already has a heavy load on this list so Lis at 3rd spot makes more sense. That team is a solid ‘B’ division level team. On the boys side, 3 different Comets went 5-8 this decade, making the squad a solid ‘A’ level team and a strong ‘B’ division squad.

Boys Alternates: Jonathan Rodriguez: 5-6  Erik Olsvold: 5-5

Girls Alternates: Marquise Nelson: 4-4  Brecia Dagio: 4-3

Pole Vault All Decade Team 

 

Pole Vault
Place	Boy	Girl
1.	Mark Orpia: 10-8	Yesenia Martinez: 6-0
2.	Rodolf Ocampo: 10-2
3.	Adrian DeLaRosa: 8-6

We only just brought back pole vault in 2018 and the boys squad is quickly coming up with Mark in particular nearing a CCS caliber level. Since many teams do not even have vaulters, we would do quite well in this event overall.

Decade Summation:

This will hopefully go down as a historic decade of turnaround. The decade began with 4 straight winless seasons. 0-14 Records from 2010-2013 got team off to a 0-56 start to the decade.

In 2014 we got a win on each side for a combined record of 2-12, and then 2015 was our big jump, going 10-4 with a 6-1 record on the girls side.

We won two league championships in girls track, the first 2 in school history in 2016 and 2017 before moving into the ‘B’ division. Even in the ‘B’ division we’ve fought hard going 6-8 and then 7-7 last year. From 0-48 in ‘C’ to 13-15 in ‘B’ to end the decade is quite a significant turnaround, especially considering the back to back titles and 25-3 record of the 16-17 teams along the way.

I’d like to thank every member of the team who participated and helped make this turn around possible, as well as the fantastic coaches of James Lick over the past decade. From the birth of a throws dynasty under coach Jon Vela, to the revival of Pole Vault under coach Raul Lopez, this has been a decade of great growth for James Lick Track, and the members of the 2020 squad will look to keep the momentum going in the next decade.

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

JLXC All Decade Team 2010-2019

As we wind down the year of 2019, I thought we could take a look back at the decade and determine the James Lick Cross Country All Decade Team. Ultimately this a subjective list, based on the times of the runners of this decade with particular emphasis on Crystal Springs (our league finals course) and our league race course of Montgomery Hill and Alum Rock Park.

I was a senior on the 2010 XC team, and have been a coach on the team since 2013. As a result, I was either a teammate or coach of every member of this all decade list. This list will be my best attempt to give James Lick it’s best top 7 boys and girls of the decade with a few honorable mentions.

Boys Honorable Mention:

1. Ricardo Flores Class of 2011

Ricardo really emerged as a senior running 16:22 at Montgomery Hill, the 6th fastest league race time of the decade. His struggles at Crystal Springs  (18:08) PR keep him off the list. Every other member of the all decade team managed a sub 18 3 mile, a feet Ricardo never quite managed.

2. Gustavo Aguilera Class of 2017

Gustavo really built himself into being a great runner through hardwork. As late as his sophomore year his PRS were 17:50 at Montgomery Hill and 18:47 at Crystal Springs. Over the next two years he took these decent but unspectacular times down to 16:53 at Montgomery and 17:39 at Crystal Springs. He was the 5th boy on the 2016 league championship team, the best team of the decade by far, but his PRS fall just short of some other members of the list.

The Boys list

7. Benny Reeves Class of 2011 

It’s always a weird thing to include yourself on a list like this but frankly I think it would be dishonest not to. At my best league meet at Alum Rock, I ran 16:28, the 7th best league race time of the decade for a James Lick boy. My Crystal Springs mark of 17:30 ties Inteus Castro-Lopez for 5th of the decade. The next few boys on the list I put above myself despite the fact that I was faster than them at Half Moon Bay HS, Newhall Park and Mt. Sac, all courses we had in common.

6. Karan Singh Class of 2015

Karan only makes this list because of his final month as a senior. He was a quality runner as a senior but really went off at the end of the season. With one month left in his career, he just barely managed to crack 17 minutes for a league meet, running 16:50 at Montgomery Hill, only the 12th best league race time of the decade for a Comet. At BVAL finals however, he ran 17:17 at Crystal Springs, the 4th fastest Comet of the decade at our most important course. He did even better at Toro Park, running 17:27 at CCS.

His lack of early performances keep him low on the list, but if this list was based on single most impressive performance he’d be #4 on this list.

5. Mark Orpia Class of 2020 

Mark may have gotten higher on this list if not for an injury plagued Senior year. He ran 16:19 at Montgomery Hill (the 5th best league race time of the decade by a Comet) and he did it as a junior. He also ran 17:34 at Crystal Springs, 7th best of the decade. Across the board he had quality invitational times as well. The fact that he didn’t get to run a single league meet hurts his case but the fact of the matter is he was our team’s #1 runner for two seasons in a row.

4. Inteus Castro-Lopez Class of 2018

Inteus was a runner who surpassed all expectations we had of him. He ran with a limp as a result of a metal plate in his leg, but still managed to run 16:17 at Montgomery Hill, the 4th best Comet league meet time of the decade. His 17:30 at Crystal Springs ties him for 5th best their as well. He didn’t have the high ceiling of the rest of the boys on this list but he was a reliable runner, exactly the kind of runner you want for a 4th or 5th boy. He was the #4 boy on the 2016 league championship team.

3. Erik Olsvold Class of 2019 

There is a very good case to be made that Erik should be #1 on this list. In an ideal world he definitely would be. As a sophomore he was the #1 boy on the 2016 league championship team. He was the individual champion for the ‘B’ division with a time of 16:22. He was also the only Comet to win a league meet with an outstanding 15:27 time at Montgomery Hill. That race is the #2 Montgomery time in school history, the best time of the decade and arguably the single most impressive performance of the decade by any Comet.

What hurts Erik’s case were injuries his junior and senior year that never allowed him to come close to this form again. This coupled with the fact that he was never able to compete in invitationals meant he was never as reliable as the next to boys on the list. In a single race where you needed any of these boys at their peak to try to win a race, Erik would be the best choice, but the reliability and consistency of the next two boys place him 3rd in my humble estimation.

2. Nathan Bernardo class of 2017 

Nathan’s leadership was essential to the championship of 2016. He had very strong times at every course he ran. 15:52 at Montgomery Hill, 16:45 at Crystal Springs and the best Mt. Sac time of the decade. He is #2 in the decade at De La Salle, Lowell, and Half Moon Bay all because of the #1 boy on this list, but Nathan was as consistent  a competitor as a coach could ask for.

1. Azael Zamora class of 2018 

Azy as a senior was the most impressive male James Lick runner of the last 15 years. His 16:37 clocking at Toro Park was perhaps the most impressive Comet performance of the decade. His 16:17 at Crystal Springs was not only the best of the decade, but it put him on the top 20 list in school history at our area’s most historic course.

His best league race time was 15:41 at Alum Rock Park, and he is the only boy on the list to crack the 13 minute barrier at half Moon Bay, as well as the only boy this decade to run under 17 at Crystal Springs for 2 seasons in a row.  He also came the closest to making the State meet of any boy in the decade. For all of these reasons I feel confident in stating that Azael Zamora is the cross country runner of the decade.

 

Girls 

 

Honorable mention: 

1. Jessica Cervantes 

Jessica is only a junior now so she has one more season ahead of her. This year she established herself as a strong varsity girl, running 21:32 at Montgomery Hill  (7th best of the decade) although injuries stopped her from running at Crystal Springs, she is close to making this list for her reliability over the past two years, including being the #4 girl on the school record Montgomery team of 2018.

 

The Girls list

 

7. Milka Perez Class of 2018 :Milka was maybe the most talented girl runner I’ve ever coached, but she didn’t stick with it. As a freshmen she practiced only 1-2 days a week and still ran 21:12 at Montgomery Hill (7th best time of the decade and #1 freshmen time) and 21:38 at Crystal Springs ( 4th best time of the decade and #1 freshmen time). At Toro Park for CCS she ran 21:30 far more impressive as the #3 time of the decade. She didn’t run sophomore or senior year, and her junior year (after suffering an ACL tear in soccer) she was a quality runner but simply not at this level. So again, while her times indicate she is higher than 7th, the fact that she only competed for 2 years keeps her off this list in my opinion.

6. Yeimili Adame Class of 2020: Similar problems hold Yeimili down on this list. Her Montgomery Hill time of 20:13 is 4th best of the decade, and it was as a junior. She only ran a bit as a senior, and her Crystal Springs time of 22:12 is strong, (7th best of the decade) but she was capable of more, as she didn’t run league finals during her best season. This keeps Yeimili in the #6 spot.

5. Paloma Contreras Class of 2015: On the other side of the spectrum we have Paloma. She didn’t have a performance as impressive as Yeimili’s Montgomery or Milka’s Toro Park but she was very consistent and reliable, the #3 girl on the 2014 league title team. Her 21:02 at Montgomery is still the 6th best league meet time of the decade as is her 21:43 at Cyrstal Springs. Paloma’s reliability is exactly what you want out of a #5 runner.

4. Maria Mendoza Class of 2017: Maria, like Yeimili and Milka were not as strong as senior as they were earlier in their career. Maria was the 4th girl on the 2014 title team and was a strong runner but as a junior she blossomed. She ran 20:31 at Montgomery Hill, (5th best of the decade) but her Crystal Springs time of 20:35 is what really stands out. It’s the 3rd best of the decade and only 2 seconds from #2. It also puts her 6th in school history on our most historic course. Her struggles as a seniro hold her back from moving up even higher on this list.

3. Ana Tapia Class of 2010: Ana was always very strong at our league meets, winning several race in the ‘C’ division in 2009. As a senior, her best time of 20:03 was very strong, the 3rd best time of the decade behind only the two girls ahead of her on the list. Her best Crystal Springs time was only 21:52, 6th best of the decade, but her reliability and great league meet time make her deserving of the #3 spot on the list.

2. Daniela Camacho class of 2015: These top 2 spots were very easy to decide on. Daniela ran the 2nd best time of the decade at Montgomery Hill, Alum Rock Park, Half Moon Bay, Stanford, De La Salle, Mt. Sac, and Toro Park. Her highlights include a 19:33 clocking at Montgomery Hill in leading the team to a league title. She also held the Artichoke invite school record for 2 years at 15:38 until it was beaten.  She is undoubtedly the #2 James Lick girl of the decade behind the one girl who beat her on every one of those courses ^.

1. Arlet Miranda class of 2019: This was not a difficult call. Arlet was a varsity runner from her freshmen year on, and while she had an injury plagued career, she STILL managed to be very reliable. She was the fastest lady Comet of the decade on every course she ran and even set a school record at the Artichoke Invitational. On other courses she is #2 all time behind Kayla Matsuda. No James Lick girl has ever made the State Meet in cross country but Arlet came the closest, she ran 20:02 at CCS as a sophomore to miss making State by 1 place and 7 seconds (it still kinda haunts me).

 

As stated in the beginning, this list does involve a lot of subjectivity. One could debate several other runners as being on these lists, but this was my personal take on who should be considered the top 7 cross country runners of the decade.

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown, I’ll try to do an “All-Decade track Team” before the year ends as well.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves

 

 

 

 

James Lick Cross Country Season Preview 2019

The 2019 school year is under way and with it, another cross country season for the James Lick Comets. This marks a significant milestone, as the 2019 iteration of the team will mark the 70th year of James Lick’s existence.

In the nearly 70 years of James Lick cross country, the school has managed 15 league/ division championships, (13 boys, 2 girls) more than any other James Lick sport. It is also the only James Lick sport I know of that has achieved a CIF section title, winning a CCS boys title in 1970.

As we head into the school year, James Lick stands as the smallest school in the entire 24 team BVAL. Despite this fact, in 2018 the team managed a combined 9-5 record in the ‘B’ division, placing 10th of the 24 teams at league finals on the boys side, and 12th on the girls.

By any measure we were a middle of the pack team, despite being at a huge disadvantage in terms of sheer enrollment to draft talent from. The 2019 team is aiming to build on this status, and take steps towards an even better year this season.

With these goals in mind, we completed our annual time trial of the 3.03 mile north rim course from the park entrance. We’ve used this course to track our athletes fitness since 2009, and I am personally a big fan of the course for the sheer fact that it is a slower course than any the team will run this year. Typically, a varsity boy will run 2 minutes faster at our league races at Montgomery hill, and 1 minute faster at Crystal Springs (our league finals and CCS course) than they can run for our north rim time trial course.

Obviously our team is not in their peak shape with 11 weeks until league finals, but we go in with the hope that our returning runners will be ahead of where they were a year ago at this time of year.

Our top boy runner immediately achieved more than this. Last year, Mark Orpia ran 20:10 to lead the team at our pre-season time trial. He would go on to run 16:19 at Montgomery Hill (8th all time in the 18 year school-history of the course) and spearhead a top 10 BVAL team at Crystal Springs with a time of 17:36.

Mark opened the season with a time of 18:14, the 3rd best time any Comet has recorded on the course, and the 2nd fastest early season time next to only the 17:53 clocking of Azael Zamora in 2017, a year that would see Azael get on the school’s all time-list at Crystal springs with a time of 16:17. This goes to show that Mark is in phenomenal shape, and he should be one of the best James Lick runners of the BVAL era if he can continue to improve on his current form.

As stated, Mark had a very strong 2018 after starting off at 20:10 for this time trial.This makes us very pleased with the 19:31 time by Nien Tran and the 19:43 time of Brandon Cruz as the 2nd and 3rd boys. Both boys are more than a minute ahead of their times from last year. It was even a 5 second PR for Brandon. Jerricho Habon had an off race but was still near his time from last year, stopping the clock at 20:45. The 5th boy on the team was a close race between Omar Fimbres, 23:17 Melvin Estrada, 23:25, and Hugo Marquez 23:31.  Hugo is working his way back to health after an injury plagued 2018, while Omar and Melvin are coming in off of a summer where they were not training with the team. These boys will need to narrow the gap between themselves and the top 4 to help the team reach it’s potential, which I see as a top 8 BVAL team.

The first girl across was Jessica Cervantes who has looked like a breakout runner all summer long. Jessica finished in 24:51, 3 seconds off of her PR but way ahead of where she was at to start last season. With the graduation of Arlet Miranda (2nd best female  XC runner in school history) just months ago, the team will need athletes like Jessica to step up.

Josh Merin ran 25:42 compared to a 31 minute clocking a year ago, and Rodolf Ocampo was more than a minute up on last year’s time as well. The next boys in were Luis Escamilla in 27:14, Jay Austria 27:16, Abraham Benitez in 27:40 and Josue Gomez in 27:43. These boys were sandwiched between a stream of rapidly improving lady Comets.

Mya Hammond ran 27:07, Ashley Preciado ran 27:32. Ruth Rodriguez (27:45) Emely Lopez (27:48) Estefani Herrera (27:50) and Alexa Rodriguez (28:14) came in close together, displaying the team’s formidable depth on the girls side. Depth will absolutely be the strength of a team full of girls who have transformed themselves into varsity caliber runners through sheer hard work and dedication.

When they began their careers, Mya, Emely and Estefani ran North Rim in 39:05, 41:04 and 44:06 respectively. I can’t say enough about these 3 who helped form the core of an undefeated JV girls team last year. None of them broke the 30 minute barrier to start least season’s trial, nor did Ruth. The addition of Ruth’s sister Alexa only makes this group stronger. The same goes for the knowledge that Yeimili Adame, Mariana Perez, and Erika Camacho all had very rough days by their standards. Even with those girls struggling, (The #1, #4 and #5 returning girls on the team based on last year’s times) the team has never produced more girls under the 30 minute barrier to start the year than the 9 the team managed this year. Yesenia Martinez (28:54) and Lizbeth Espana (29:10) both accomplished the feet as well.

Some of the younger boys on the team came across the line around this time as well. Navbir Kahlon, Ronaldo, and Justin Nguyen came across in 28:41, 28:52 and 29:00 as the 2nd 3rd and 4th  frosh/soph boys. Huu Thai ran 29: 14 not far behind. Two more freshmen, Carlos Nava and Omar Sanchez finished in 30:06 to give the team 6 frosh/soph boys at or under 30 minutes.

These times might not be particularly fast yet, but we have a great recent track record of rapidly improving frosh/soph boys around those times. Gustavo Aguilera for example, ran 31:50 in his first try on the course as freshmen. As a senior, he would run 19:10 and was the 5th boy on the school’s 2016 ‘B’ division championship team.

The team can look at similar examples like Nien Tran and Omar Fimbres. Both boys failed to run under 27 minutes at their first time as freshmen, but both boys were CCS caliber runners by the end of their sophomore years. In short, if these boys are dedicated, we have great confidence that they will improve by leaps and bounds.

Melanny Sanchez and Caylena Gil finished in 30:51 and 31:00 adding yet more depth to the girls team. It’s crazy to think that just 2 years ago only 1 girl on the entire team ran under 33 minutes at this time trial to start the season.

Emily De Dios and Jayson Garcia finished in 36:47 and 37:45. Alex Rios and Marisol Carlos rounded out the group in the 47 minute range.

As the team looks ahead at the season, the depth of the girls team should give the team a good shot at a 2nd consecutive winning season in the ‘B’ division. It should also produce an absolutely lethal JV girls team. Last year at the final division race our JV girls achieved a perfect score against every team except Sobrato, as our girls finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th overall. This year’s JV girls team should be even better as no girl on the JV squad has aged out of it.

On the boys side, the focus will be on having a strong top 5, and on developing the freshmen boys to be ready to replace our senior heavy group next season. Especially if Melvin Estrada can find his form, the boys team will be a force to be reckoned with.

The team will contest the Alumni Race on August 30th  in Alum Rock Park at 6:00 P.M. Any alumni, fans of James Lick, or runners in the area are welcome.

After that the team will have it’s first league meet of the season on the early date of September 4th at Montgomery Hill.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves

The team after the time trial. 

 

2019 Track Season Recap/ Ryan Oyama Awards

This blog is in two parts. The first part is a summary of the 2019 track team. The 2nd part is located at the end of that post, and is a summary of the Ryan/Oyama Awards ceremony. 

A I write this there are only 6 school days left at James Lick High School. Graduation for the class of 2019 is a week away, and all of the sports teams have finished their competition. It is a good time to look back on the track season briefly, and to recap the school year in terms of sports.

We went into the 2019 track season with the goal of achieving a winning record in the ‘B’ division in what was only our 2nd year in the division in the entire BVAL era (since 1996).  The boys managed to achieve this goal, going 5-2. The girls had a myriad of issues and only went 2-5. Nonetheless, the combined 7-7 record was an improvement on the 6-8 record the year before.

The team looked very strong at our first meet against Live Oak. The Comets took dominant wins against a quality Acorn team. At that moment, hopes were very high that both teams could be a force in the division.

As the season went on, the boys team showed more depth than any James Lick track team in nearly 20 years. For example, this season the Comets had 11 different boys run under 13 seconds for the 100 (they were all under 12.8 in fact). Since the year 2000, the most Comet boys to break that barrier in a single season had been the 8 boys who managed it last year. Of the 11 who managed it this year, only two were seniors.

Only one Comet in the last years had run under 55 seconds for the 400, Gustavo Aguilera in 2017. This year two Comets accomplished the feet, with Misael Herrera leading the way at 54.51, the best time since I’ve been coaching. We had 9 different boys run under 60 seconds in the 400, also a best of the last decade.

In my first 3 years of coaching, we had only 3 different boys who managed to long jump farther than 18 feet. This year alone we had 6 (None of them had done it before this year) and none of them are seniors. We also had our first 20 foot long jumper in over a decade in Salvador Lopez, who missed making CCS by only one place this year.

Perhaps the biggest leap forward for the boys was in pole vault however. Coach Raul Lopez worked hard last year to produce two vaulters for the first time in decades. Mark Orpia went 9-0 and Rodolf Ocampo 8-6. The two are the top returning vaulters in the division for next year, with PRS of 10-8 and 10-2. Rodolf also became the first Comet in 11 years to run under 16 seconds in the 110 hurdles. The 4×100 team ran 45.06, the best time by a James Lick team since 2002. The 4×400 achieved the same distinction running 3:36.78.

The team’s most valuable athletes based on league meet points scored were as follows:

1. Rodolf Ocampo: 106.75

2.Mark Orpia: 83 

3. Salvador Lopez: 77.50 

4. Raven Alcantara: 53.50 

5. Erik Olsvold: 39.50 

The top 4 point scorers on the boys side were all juniors, as were the 6th and 7th (Jerricho Habon with 38 and Geovanny Campos with 34). For reference, Rodolf is only the 2nd Comet boy to score over 100 points in a season since I’ve been coaching, and the first to do so in the ‘B’ division.

 

The team’s only real weakness was the throwing events, as demonstrated by the chart below.

Event Group	Average Points Per Dual Meet	Points Available Per Meet	Average Points as percentage of Available	League Finals Points
Distance	15.85	27	59%	7
Hurdles	12	18	66%	12.5
Jumps	23.25	36	65%	30
Relays	4.28	10	43%	14
Sprints	11.85	27	44%	10
Throws	4.71	18	26%	1

The large amount of juniors on the team puts us in a great place for next year on the boys side, especially if we can find some strong throwers.

What started off as a season full of hope on the girls side, became a season of struggle unfortunately. We had a number of injuries, and some issues with academic ineligibility that really held the girls team back.

While the team had some standout athletes, team depth was simply not there. Valeria Cortez won league titles in the discus and the 100 hurdles to cement her already impressive legacy. Marquise Nelson finished 2nd in the girls shot put and discus at division finals, along with a 2nd place finish for Arlet Miranda in the girls 800.

Event Group	Average Points Per Dual Meet	Points Available Per Meet	Average Points as percentage of Available	League Finals Points
Distance	13.55	27	50%	21
Hurdles	13.1	18	73%	24
Jumps	14.86	27	55%	0
Relays	1.73	10	17%	3
Sprints	7.72	27	28%	1
Throws	14.85	18	82%	32

As you can see from the girls event scoring breakdown, the girls sprint team due to injuries and grade issues, was not where it needed to be for the team to be competitive. This lead to a deficiency in jumps as well, by division finals the team was not able to score a point in jumps.

This will be an area of emphasis for next season. With the team’s top 3 point scorers all graduating on the girls side, the team will need to re-load quickly.

The girls top point scorers were as follows:

1. Valeria Cotez: 155
2. Arlet Miranda: 71.25 
3. Marquise Nelson: 61
4. Natalie Rem: 53.25
5. Yesenia Martinez: 49 

Valeria’s point total is an unofficial team record (I only have records of points since I’ve been coaching) but it is a mark I do not see falling anytime soon.

Below are the top 3 marks in each events by the Comets this season:

 

Boys

Event	#1 Comet	Mark	# 2 Comet	Mark	# 3 Comet	Mark
100m	Raven Alcantara	11.47	Salvador Lopez	11.84	Geovanny Campos	11.87
200m	Raven Alcantara	23.94	Salvador Lopez	24.26	Misael Herrera	24.56
400m	Misael Herrera	54.51	Salvador Lopez	54.97	Jerricho Habon	55.28
800m	Erik Olsvold	2:05.90	Jerricho Habon	2:06.52	Mark Orpia	2:12.88
1600m	Erik Olsvold	4:51.05	Mark Orpia	4:55.67	Brandon Cruz	4:55.81
3200m	Mark Orpia	10:55.36	Jerricho Habon	11:02.14	Melvin Estrada	11:03.48
110H	Rodolf Ocampo	15.97	Josh Merin	18.07	Mark Orpia	18.47
300h	Rodolf Ocampo	45.59	Salvador Lopez	45.74	Mark Orpia	46.02
Shot Put	Rodolf Ocampo	34-2	Nathan Rios	34-0	Adrian DeLaRosa	27-9
Dicsus	Josh Merin	92-1	Nathan Rios	83-1	Alexis Sarellano	71-9
Long Jump	Salvador Lopez	20-4	Geovanny Campos	19-2	Raven Alcantara	18-7.5
Triple Jump	Salvador Lopez	38-2.50	Jordan Laguna	37-9.5	Raven Alcantara	37-9
High Jump	Salvador Lopez	5-8	Josh Merin	5–4	Erik Olsvold	5-3
Pole Vault	Mark Orpia	10-8	Rodolf Ocampo	10-2	Adrian DeLaRosa	8-6
4×100	Alcantara, Ocampo, Lopez, Campos	45.06	Alcantara, Merin, Lopez, Campos	45.72	Alcantara, Merin, Herrera, Campos	46.01
4×400	Lopez, Olsvold, Habon, Herrera	3:36.78	Herrera, Campos, Habon, Lopez	3:40.45	Herrera, Lopez, Merin, Habon	3:45.44

 

Girls 

 

Event	#1 Comet	Mark	# 2 Comet	Mark	# 3 Comet	Mark
100m	Natalie Rem	13.73	Lisbeth Galdamez	13.90	Marquise Nelson	14.19
200m	Mya Hammond	29.89	Yeimili Adame	30.10	Natalie Rem	30.18
400m	Yeimili Adame	1:05.65	Arlet Miranda	1:09.21	Mya Hammond	1:14.43
800m	Arlet Miranda	2:28.08	Mya Hammond	2:48.81	Ashley Preciado	2:51.62
1600m	Arlet Miranda	5:42.11	Belen Sanchez	6:24.50	Jessica Cervantes	6:24.56
3200m	Arlet Miranda	12:28.59	Yeimili Adame	13:27.25	Lizbeth Espana	14:14.08
100H	Valeria Cortez	16.84	Yesenia Martinez	18.57	Natalie Rem	20.10
300h	Valeria Cortez	52.08	Arlet Miranda	55.82	Yeimili Adame	56.24
Shot Put	Marquise Nelson	33-8	Valeria Cortez	33-3	Natalie Rem	25-8.5
Dicsus	Valeria Cortez	116-10	Marquise Nelson	94-4.5	Adriana Marcelino	75-0
Long Jump	Marquise Nelson	14-9	Natalie Rem	14-4	Arlet Miranda	14-2
Triple Jump	Natalie Rem	33-4.25	Yesenia Martinez	28-8	Marquise Nelson	28-6
High Jump	Yesenia Martinez	4-6	Lisbeth Galdamez	4-4	Marquise Nelson	4-4
Pole Vault	Yesenia Martinez	6-0
4×100	Galdamez, Cervantes, Hammond, Rem	56.02	Galdamez, Nelson, Adame, Gonzalez	56.28	Thach, Nelson, Hammond, Adame	56.32
4×400	Espana, Sanchez, Adame, Miranda	4:53.24	Hammond, Sanchez, Adame, Miranda	4:57.49	Hammond, Cervantes, Nelson, Adame	4:59.33

The track season is over and the team is now finishing up their schoolwork. The distance- underclassmen will begin training for cross country in June, and a few of the Comets will be competing in summer track meets as members of a few clubs, such as the Eastside Running club.

Thanks for reading!

 

Ryan/Oyama Summary 

It was a down year for the school overall. The 2017/2018 school year saw James Lick finish with a combined record of 101-85-4, the first combined winning record for the school in many years.  This year the school went 67-85-4. It should be acknowledged however that the James Lick girls basketball team moved up to the ‘B’ division, which made it more difficult to obtain a great win/loss record.

We had the 2019 addition of the Ryan/ Oyama Awards on Tuesday May 21st in the James Lick gym. This ceremony is our signature end of the year award ceremony for all sports, and the Ryan award is the award for our best senior student-athlete as determined by their four years of athletics for the school. The Oyama award is the female equivalent.

The award ceremony begins with the coaches awards. Every team is allowed to give out two awards for each group on their team. For example, in cross country we are able to give two varsity and two JV awards for both boys and girls.

The JV girls awards went to Jessica Cervantes as the JV girls MVP and Estefani Herrera for the girls most improved runner. On the boys side, Gustavo Madrigal was our most improved JV runner and Omar Fimbres was our team MVP.

Arlet Miranda was our varsity girls MVP and Belen Sanchez was our most improved athlete. On the boys side, MVP went to Mark Orpia and Most Improved went to jared Resendiz.

In track, we gave our JV awards to Lizbeth Espana and Mya Hammond on the girls side, and Jordan Laguna and Dekota Castro-Lopez on the boys side. Valeria won the team MVP for girls and Adriana Marcelino was most improved. On the boys side, Adrian DeLaRosa won an award for leadership, and Rodolf Ocampo was our MVP.

Next up were the class awards. Jhesselyn Santos won freshmen girl of the year. She participated in cross country, wrestling, and track. She was a strong young athlete in the sports I coach, and she won the most improved award for JV wrestling.

Jordan Laguna won the boys freshmen of the year. He excelled as a jumper in track and besides our award, he won an award for wrestling as well. Sophomore of the year went to a couple more XC runners. Omar Fimbres won the boys award, he played basketball and baseball in addition to being a strong cross country runner. Esetfani Herrera won the girls award, she played soccer besides running cross country and track.

Dulce Jacobo, one of the stars of the school’s championship volleyball team, and the school’s ‘B’ division basketball team, won junior of the year. I’ve been trying to get Dulce to join track for several years now to no avail. Rodolf won the boys junior of the year in something of an upset victory considering there were several 3 sport junior athletes of comparable caliber, whereas Rodolf only ran cross country and track.

Finally the moment everyone was waiting for, the Ryan/Oyama Awards themselves. The Ryan Award went to Misael Herrera, the 3rd straight track athlete to win it following Nathan Bernardo and Azael Zamora. Misael competed in football and track all four years of his HS career, and also competed in wrestling his junior and senior year. He is a dedicated and very hard working teammate. His victory was not shocking considering he had won freshmen of the year, sophomore of the year, and junior of the year throughout his career.

The girls competition however was very tight. It’s difficult to compare across eras, but I think there is a legitimate case to be made that the 2019 girls class is the best athletic class in James Lick history.

The girls class of 2019 produced 6 division titles for the school. Of those 6, 4 came in sports that James Lick had never won a championship in. During Arlet and Valeria’s freshmen year, they both scored a ton of points towards helping us win our first ever championship in girls track. This duo were the 1-2 punch that helped us repeat this feat in 2017, and saw us move up to the ‘B’ division for the first time.

In the fall of 2017, Valeria was the setter for the school’s first ever championship in girls volleyball. The star of the team was the middle hitter, Marquise. Marquise used her height to excel at spiking, and this duo was the driving force behind their back-back titles in girls volleyball.

In winter of 2018, the girls basketball team won their first title since 1997, lead by the efforts of Marquise, and other key contributors from the class of 2019 like Corina Gutierrez and Serena Salas (both also played for the championship volleyball team). The girls softball team was lead by star pitcher Corina, and twice finished with a record of 17-4 during this four year span, missing a title by one game twice.

In addition to her prowess in volleyball and track, Valeria made it to the State meet in wrestling with a 3rd place finish at CCS finals. This to say nothing of the accomplishments of 3 sport athletes like Belen Sanchez, who was also a key to several team records in cross country this season, a team captain on the soccer team and a member of both track championship teams.

In most years, I think Arlet would have been a shoe in for the Oyama award. She is a 4 time CCS qualifier (3 in cross, one in track) who has won individual league championships and lead a team to two league titles, all while maintaining a 4.0. The high number of string 3 sport athletes made it so that she was not even in the top 3 candidates considered.

In the end, Valeria won the Oyama award against a very deserving runner up in Marquise. To me, this was the toughest call between any  Oyama or Ryan award duo that I’ve ever seen. I think either lady could have taken home the honors.

Misael Herrera (Left) Myself (Center) and Valeria Cortez (Right) with their awards

That puts a wrap on another year of James Lick sports. James Lick graduation is on Wednesday May 29th at the football field beginning at 7 PM. The final day of school is on May 30th.

We are nearly at the end of another school year!

Thanks for reading,

-Benny Reeves

 

 

 

 

Comets To Be Represented at CCS Finals For 3rd Consecutive Year

The Comets took to Gilroy High School on Saturday May 11th 2019 for CCS trials. A total of 6 Comets competed in the meet, the most for James Lick in over a decade. The meet saw a few strong results for the team, and for the 3rd consecutive season, James Lick will have an athlete competing at CCS Finals in the girls discus.

The meet began with the boys 4×100. Geovanny Campos, Raven Alcantara, Rodolf Ocampo and Salvador Lopez combined to run 46.04, an off race due to a poor first exchange. This saw them place 28th in the meet. They are nonetheless the first 4×100 team for James Lick to compete at CCS since 2002. With an all junior quartet, the Comets will hope to be back at the event next season.

Marquise Nelson ended her track career with a PR in the Shot Put. She threw 33-8, a PR by 8 inches and moved up to #3 on the schools all-time list in the event. Marquise didn’t join track until this, her senior season. She showed great talent to finish 16th at CCS trials, despite her inexperience in the event.

Rodolf became the first Comet to contest the 110 hurdles at CCS in over a decade as well. Rodolf had alot go wrong with his race. He took 9 steps to the first hudle (All season we’ve used an 8 step takeoff) and this forced him to hurdle on his right leg for the race instead of his left. Rodolf can use both legs effectively because he spent most of the season “four-stepping” (alternating legs) but his left leg is his stronger lead led. He lost momentum and almost crashed into the final hurdle narrowly avoiding it. Despite all this, he ran 16.57, the 2nd best time of his career. He placed 19th and I am very excited about his chances to produce even greater results next season.

The final Comet to compete on the day has been our ringer for the past four seasons, Valeria Cortez. As detailed in past posts, Valeria has been our MVP for 3 straight seasons, and has represented James Lick to a very high caliber both on and off the track.  Because she has been such a strong athlete for such a long time, PRS have not been easy to come by for Valeria.

She entered the meet with a PR of 112-8, 2nd in school history, a mark that had not been improved upon since April of 2018. Both she, and throws coach Raul Lopez have worked hard all season with the goal of making CCS Finals, and finally achieving a PR in the girls discus. This involved weeks of fine-tuning and minor tweaks to her form, all with the hope of squeezing a last few inches out of Valeria’s arm before the end of her High School career.

Only the top 12 athletes advance to CCS Finals in field events, and Valeria was ranked to do so. That being said, the field was very strong.

Valeria’s first throw was a 95 foot mark. Well off her best. Her 2nd was a 108 foot toss with a very high release. The mark put her safely into the top 12, but it looked as if she had more in her on the day. Throw number three looked to be very strong, but Valeria was not able to maintain controlling, she stepped outside the ring for a foul.

On her final throw, Valeria had the same strong rotation, but the release still seemed a little too high. The discus wobbled in the air due to this, but the momentum was there. The throw measured at 116-10, a PR by over 2 feet to send her to CCS Finals as the #6 seed. This is the highest ranking for any James Lick athlete at CCS finals since Ruth Lebeau in 2007.

Valeria Cortez taking a warmup throw before the meet

Valeria will represent the Comets next Friday at the Gilroy venue. Charli Chircop made CCS finals two years in a row in this event, and now Valeria will take her turn at representing the team at the CCS’ most hallowed event. According to my records, she will be the 26th Comet to compete at CCS Finals.

She and the other 11 ladies in the event will receive 3 throws. The top 8 at that point will be re-seeded and receive an additional 3 throws. The top 8 athletes will score points for their teams. The top 6 athletes make the CCS podium (and I think they get medals) and the top 3 athletes will advance to the State Meet.

Based on the standings, 3rd place is a difficult proposition (124-1 is the 3rd seed). That being said, Valeria is ranked to make the CCS podium. For an athlete who has racked up more medals than any other Comet in recent years, it would be a great one to end on. The competition will be fierce. the #4 seed is less than a foot ahead of Valeria. The #7 seed has a PR over 120′.

It is sure to be an exciting day on Friday May 17th, when Valeria Cortez will represent James Lick for what is likely the final time in a marvelous career that has defined what I affectionately think of as our attempt at a James Lick Track renaissance.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves

 

Both Boys Relays Teams, 3 More Individuals Advance to CCS Trials

Counting the relay athletes, the Comets had 9 CCS qualifiers from the BVAL Finals meet on Thursday May 2nd at Westmont High School. This is the most athletes the team has seen qualify for CCS in the entire BVAL era (since 1996). That being said, the team only produced 3 individual qualifiers, compared to 4 the year before.

The meet features the top 7 athletes from the ‘A’ division finals, the top 5 athletes from the ‘B’ division finals and the top 4 from the ‘C’ division finals. In some events, additional athletes competed in the case that the “At-large” mark was reached. For example if the 5th place time in the ‘C’ division final was high quality enough, they would also advance to BVAL finals.

For the most part, every event has 16 entries and the top 8 in each event advance to CCS Trials.

The meet began with the pole vault. Last year at BVAL finals, both Mark Orpia and Rodolf Ocampo competed, representing the Comets at the meet in Pole Vault for the first time in school history. They went 9-0 and 8-6 respectively, both PRs at the time. The duo has come a long way, with the pair achieving PRS of 10-8 and 10-2 respectively at this years addition. They placed 10th and 12th.

Next up was the girls discus. Valeria Cortez took 2nd overall with a toss of 111-1, sealing her 4th consecutive CCS appearance in the girls discus. Joe Amendt and Ruth Lebeau are the only other Comets (on record) to make CCS four times in a single event. Marquise Nelson managed a PR in the event though she came in 10th, ending her career with a best of 94- 4.5, the 5th best mark in school history in the discus.

The running events began at 5:00 PM with the 4×100. This years squad has established themselves as the best 4×100 team from James Lick in many years and they backed it up, becoming the first 4×100 team from James Lick to make CCS trials in the BVAL era. The squad of Raven Alcantara, Rodolf Ocampo, Salvador Lopez and Geovanny Campos combined to run a seasons best 45.06 to place 7th, clinching their spot at CCS.

The next event with Comet competitors was the hurdles. Valeria ended her career in the event with a 17.28, finishing 10th place. Valeria’s PR of 16.75 in the event is currently the #3 all-time mark in school history (on record).It was an off race for her, where many times were hampered by a headwind. Yesenia Martinez was racing well until she clipped a hurdle and stumbled, losing her balance. She recovered but it was a poor time by her standards.

The performance of the day in my opinion, and perhaps the performance of my entire coaching tenure was Rodolf in the 110 hurdles. Last year, Rodolf began hurdling late in the season and ended the year with a PR of 19.01, not advancing to BVAL finals. This year, he improved dramatically, lowering his PR all the way down to 16.85 at ‘B’ division finals to place 3rd and qualify for BVALS. He went into BVAL finals ranked 11th, meaning he would need a big day to make CCS. Rodolf had more than a big day, he had an absolute breakthrough. He placed 5th in a massive PR of 15.97, making CCS by a wide margin. After “four-stepping” all year, it was Rodolf’s first time “Three-stepping” a race and it lead to the huge PR. Rodolf is the first boy to make CCS in the 110 hurdles in the BVAL era.

The Comets did not have any more competitors in the meet until the boys 100. Raven ran 11.63, the 2nd best time of his career in the event, placing 14th. Next up was the girls 800. After years of ups and downs, Arlet Miranda went out with the best time of her career, 2:28.08. This PR was not enough to get her to CCS however, as she finished 9th, one spot out of qualification. Arlet nonetheless ends her career #2 in school history in all 3 distance events.

Jerricho Habon competed in the boys 800 but had a poor race, gaining experience for next years addition. The final field events were going on at this time. Marquise Nelson threw 32-4.5 for 7th place in the girls Shot Put, punching her ticket to CCS trials. In the long jump, Sal barely missed his PR, going 20-3.5 but sadly finishing in 9th place. Even so, Sal had a great season as last year his best long jump was 17-10. Yeimili Adame contested the girls 3200 for the Comets, running 13:27, a PR by more than 30 seconds, moving her to #7 on the schools all time list in the event.

Arlet Miranda in the final (and fastest) 800m of her HS career

The final event of the day was the boys 4×400. The Comets went in ranked 11th, needing a great performance and some good luck to make it through to CCS. The team of Sal, Erik Olsvold, Jerricho and Misael Herrera combined to run 3:36.78, the best time by any JL 4×400 team since the 3:35 clocking of 2002. Initially, it looked like the Comets were 10th, but disqualifications to Willow Glen and Pioneer moved the Comets up to 8th place.

Left to right: Salvador Lopez, Jerricho Habon, Misael Herrera and Erik Olsvold after the 4×400 

The Comets who advanced to CCS trials will be competing on Saturday May 11th at Westmont High School with the chance to end the season with some good marks, and to potentially make CCS finals. The 9 total qualifiers is the highest number the Comets have ever produced at BVAL finals.

CCS Trials begins at 10 AM at Gilroy High School.

Thanks for reading!

-Benny Reeves