News and Announcements
The junior girls updated the team time list at the Monte Vista Invitational on Tuesday. The team of Becky Laurence, Surabhi Kumar, Ashley Baudin, Isabelle Smedley, and Rachel Dentler came in at a combined time of 1:14:52. That is the 6th best time that an Amador Valley team has run on the course. No longer qualifying for the list is the 2012 sophomore team of Kim Sannajust, Emma Sage, Stephanie Duret, Cassie Sigua, and Marina Fox, who ran a combined time of 1:17:09.
The document Monte_Vista_Girls__Team.pdf was attached to this post.
After a strong performance at the Monte Vista Invitational on Tuesday, we had several revisions to the individual top 10 lists. On the boys’ side, Aidan Boyle made a dramatic debut, finishing third in the junior race in a time of 11:08. That time vaulted Aidan all the way to #2 on the list, one second in front of Amador Valley legend, Garrett Ward. No longer qualifying for the list is another AV legend, Mike Marlin. Mike is the founder of the Cal Poly Track Club and as an Amador Valley athlete ran times of 4:21, 2:00, and was under 10:00 in the 3200m. Mike also ran 11:28 on hot day at Monte Vista back in 2008.
On the girls’ side, Juliette Fletcher had a breakout race to finish second in the senior race in a time of 13:09. 13:09 matched Melodie Leroudier’s 2015 time for #3 all time. We sat waiting for Juliette to run a race like this for a big part of last year because we knew she was fit enough, but if this is a sign of things to come for this season, there is much to look forward to. Becky Laurence also joined the top 10 list, running a time of 13:47 to finish 5th in the junior race. Her time squeaked onto the list tying Annaka Green at #10. No longer qualifying for the list is Lauren McCarthy, who ran 13:51 in 2006. Lauren was a standout athlete for the Dons who both ran mid-distance and high jumped. She scored points at the league meet in the high jump and the 1600m, but only ran one season of cross country. Some of you may know her sister, Mrs. Heller, who is currently a teacher at Amador Valley. Lauren was a senior the first year that I coached here, but I wasn’t really coaching the girls at that time.
The document Monte_Vista.pdf was attached to this post.
AVHS Wall of Fame – Commemorative Brick Sales in Progress!
Own your own piece of Amador history! The AVHS Booster club is currently taking orders for AVHS Commemorative Bricks. With your name and text of your choice, the purchased bricks will be placed around our future Amador Hall of Fame in the Amador Stadium (rendering shown) where past alumni will be honored for their great achievements. Beautifully placed around the Hall of Fame area, your brick or bricks will literally make your mark on the Amador campus for years to come. Buy yours today! http://www.amadorsports.com/organizations/2708/pages/137461
Minutes Sheet for Week #13
The document Week__13.pdf was attached to this post.
Cross Country Season Underway with Annual Time Trial
The cross country season officially got underway on Friday when the Dons hosted the Granada Matadors at Shadow Cliffs at the annual time trial. Both Granada’s boys and girls are ranked in the top 10 in the state in Division 2 and wasted little time showing why. Granada’s boys took the top 3 spots and 7 of the first 8 and their girls took the top 4 spots and 7 of the top 10. Still, there was plenty for the Dons to be excited about at the conclusion of the event. Of the 22 Dons who had run the time trial in previous years, 18 ran personal bests. Surabhi Kumar led the way for the girls in what was a breakout performance for her. The junior ran a 36 second PR to finish in 12:15 and become the #7 Amador Valley finisher in the history of the course. Just behind her, tying with Kelly Parsons for #8 all time, was Juliette Fletcher who ran 12:17. Her time was a 56 second PR. On the boys’ side, Aidan Boyle made his cross country debut, finishing 9th overall in a time of 10:15. That time ties him with Sean Carrick for #8 all-time. Leading the way though was Jack Gray, who finished 4th overall in 9:56, the #2 time on the course for the Dons. That mark is 1 second in front of Connor McCarthy and 1 second behind Peter Schlachte.
Sara Sanguinetti notched the biggest PR for the girls. After running cross country for the first time last year and then exploding in track to qualify for NCS Tri-Valley in the 400m, Sara dropped 2:15 from her time last year to finish in 15:16. The biggest PR on the boys’ side came from Lucas Pimentel, who clipped 2:23 seconds off of his time from last year to finish in 12:58. As big as that PR was though, Lucas had some competition for that honor. Also setting PRs of over two minutes were Max Jorgenson (2:08) and Ehan Shah (2:02).
We also had 27 athletes who ran the 3k course at Shadow Cliffs for the first time. Those who have been training with us throughout the summer got to show drastic improvements from their first few runs while those who just joined us on Monday received a bit of a trial by fire, learning quickly what cross country is really about. Freshman Euan Houston was the top performing newcomer for the boys (Aidan doesn’t count as he’s run two years of track) with his time of 11:44 and the top female newcomer was sophomore, Derica Su, who just transferred from Homestead High School, but did not run cross country there. The top female freshman was Claudia O’Neill, who ran 15:36. With plenty to look forward to, but also an immediate understanding of what the top teams are capable of (thanks Granada), we’re back to work, getting ready for the Monte Vista Invitational on September 5th and all the races to come after that. Full results of the time trial are available on xcstats at the following links:
boys: https://xcstats.com/event_results.php?school_id=904&event_num=6814&gender=b
girls: https://xcstats.com/event_results.php?school_id=904&event_num=6814&gender=g
Photo Credit to Sasha Green
