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Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:49 pm
by 800runner
responding to united front's boys top 10
I see you are pretty much pulling results from last year's state meet and throwing in Pierce Murphy. I would definitely agree with your top 4. Barring injury, with the way Margarito Martinez and Pierce Murphy have allegedly been training (rumor is that they have been doing 70+miles a week) should be top contenders. Jordan (not Jodan) Thibodeau is coming off a great track season (2nd 800) and is still in great shape. His summer track times will attest to that, running as low as 4:24 for the 1500 against minimal competition. I don't have a lot of info on Esaki other than that he is still in good shape. I don't really know much about your others, however I do know Andrew Ellison is coming off a "weak" track season (2:10 800 pr) and unless he ran hard and got himself back to xc shape, he is not going to be at the same level as he was last year.

Also, don't eliminate Ryan Hobson (MPI) and Borys Pleskacz (IOL). Hobson had a great track season and has been training with Thibodeau much of the summer. Pleskacz had a great freshman year and a great sophomore xc campaign until he finished 3rd to last at states due to dehydration. He qualified for track states but didn't do as well as most expected and was certainly not in the form he was in before.

To runningfan
In regards to your "Big 3" comment, it should probably be "Big 2". Punahou should be weak again this year and not a title contender (well, relative to past years). Graduated 4/7 seniors, including 3 of the top 4. Definitely not recruiting, or at least they have a weak recruiting class for a few years for cross country if you honestly believe they recruit (who knows about football). Even Kamehameha probably doesn't recruit for cross country since they have a Hawaiian-only admission policy. Also Thibodeau didn't pick up distance running until last year, he was playing soccer. Or Iolani, since several of theirs are dual-sport, soccer first (initially). And with regards to your mainland comment, why wouldn't a mainland kid, who happens to have a passion for sports not WANT to go to the #1 prep athletic school according to SI, or an affordable, yet quality school, or a high level school, over a public school that is in desperate need of renovations and reform. If they've got the brains then they can get in. Private schools certainly don't recruit for cross country although I would care to bet they did for football and basketball and baseball. If you can name me an outstanding runner from a private school that you believe was recruited, please inform me.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 9:11 am
by xcfan
It's great to have this forum for all of us who enjoy the sport of cross country. I appreciate the input of United Front and his top runners, top teams lists. As far as the girls top ten list goes, I know there are at least two more Mililani runners that belong in the top 10 and a runner from both Radford and Moanaloa that are top 10 threats as well. But, as was mentioned, we won't know who put in the work and is fit until we see the results from the meets that start this Saturday. I agree it will be a very interesting season. Last, God bless coach Al Linsky and all he did for the youth sports community in Hawaii.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:29 pm
by todaresq
Wow! Definitely loving this forum. Just stumbled on it this evening and have been reading up on the post. Great preseason predictions would love to get more input from other coaches out there, since we won't have to luxury of Coach Al's websites. On the boys side, I would put Pierce Murphy ahead Margarito Martinez, once he's learned to throw in those key surges on that very, flat course on Kauai. Martinez is talented and works hard but his best races are on courses with rolling hills although with the talent on his squad, he's going to work hard to make sure they win another team title. On the girls side, Kristin Ali Keith is the number one pick but I wouldn't count out Hailey Grossman and Tia Greenwell. If Keith decides to be complacent then she's just throwing away another title, Grossman just needs to get stronger to hold of any surges, Greenwell is definitely learning the sport quickly but really needs to work on her running style (way to inefficient), but once she does, the course will suit her well. All of this can be debated back and forth and i'm one to sit and wait until the first few races in each league gets underway to make my clear choices. Then there's the course factor... if you don't get out fast enough to fight for all those insane "course flag" turns, you'll be left watching someones rear take the title.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 8:59 pm
by Waipi'o Lookout
Todaresq - I'm genuinely interested to know what you think specifically is inefficient about Greenwell's running style. I know that she's really a soccer player at heart who runs cross-country to get in shape for soccer and hasn't had much help along the way.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:39 am
by asiaobserver
Hi All,

Great, knowledgeable stuff! Glad I found this forum. Can anybody give me a little more information on the summer meets? Does Mt. SAC have a high school run every summer? Thank you.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:15 am
by run4fun
Observed the first ILH race of the year and looks like on the boys side Kamehameha has a deep team team this year and Punahou girls look really good as they normally do. Any OIA races today?

:) :) :)

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:41 am
by runitout
run4fun....
The OIA had their first cross country meet on Saturday, which included two mainland teams. Margarito Martinez (Leilehua) came in 1st for the Boys Varsity race followed by a bunch of California runners. I must say I was very impressed with the Castle team, they finished third in the team standings, with the two mainland teams coming in 1st and 2nd. Castle was first for the local teams and I don't think it was that close between them and the 2nd local team. They look like they will be a very strong contender in the OIA this year and perhaps even in states.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:06 pm
by hzy
Anybody know where the rest of the Leilehua team was?

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:21 pm
by oahuilhxcfan
Just informed that our local boys running on the mainland are doing great and made the scoring team in their first D1 races. Bryce Jenkins placed 4th on the Idaho State team (29th overall) at the BYU Invitational and Matt Nakamoto placed 5th for the Northern Colorado team (39th overall) at the Wyoming Invitational. Nice to see them already contributing as Freshmen!

Keep the posts on the high school races coming. Looks like it's going to be a fun season with some good battles ahead.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:59 pm
by XCfun
Seabury Hall's, Hailey Grossman is the one to beat this year. She is a two time MIL Cross Country Champion and a two time state 3000 meter champion. I saw her first race this weekend and she looked great, taking first place by more than a minute. Jenna Wong and Tia Greenwell will probably be Hailey's top challengers.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 7:42 pm
by xcfan
To XCfun,

I wouldn't count out the top OIA runners this year. At the Campbell Invitational Mililani had three girls in the top ten and a Radford girl was 4th overall. Two top California teams were at the meet and these girls ran very well in higher level competition than anything to be found in Hawaii. The Mililani girls actually beat one of the California teams in the team competition. I'm interested to see if the top ten predictions are revised after this past weekends meets here on Oahu and the neighbor islands.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:48 pm
by 800runner
Anyone know who won the ILH race? I was watching from a different part of the course and I saw Thibodeau leading with about 1/4 mile to go but I missed the finish.

Also, can anyone tell me the difficulty/length of the Campbell course? If it's any difficult then Martinez and Murphy will be in a world of their own this year.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 12:20 am
by todaresq
To XC fan,

Nope we shouldn't count out the OIA girls, but they did have competition so there's really no reason why they didn't run hard that day. Hailey Grossman still ran faster being out in the lead all by herself with no one pushing her. Makes me wonder what she would have ran if she had faster competition to run with. Again, still too early in the season to really know.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:21 am
by xcfan
To 800 runner

As far as I know the Campbell course is a measured 3 miles, but it is very flat. To give you an idea of how impressive the boys times were you have to compare to last years Campbell meet held on the identical course. The winner was from a mainland school and he won in 16:45. Martinez was 3rd overall and 1st Hawaii finisher and his time was 17:15. So I would say that Martinez and Murphy are running very well this year and will be hard to beat.
Still, it is hard to compare times due to the nature of cross country. I was impressed at how well Martinez and Murphy ran and it was very HOT that day as well.

Re: Cross Country 2009

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:02 am
by run4fun
800runner

I think this was how the top six finished:

1. Thibodeau Kamehameha
2. Kaneko Kamehameha
3. Higa Iolani
4. Sato Kamehameha
5. Kahawai Kamehameha
6. Seinz Kamehameha

If anyone saw differently, please correct me.