Regionals Recap

It was an excellent weekend of racing at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco as the Warriors represented Stanislaus well at the 2009 West Regional Meet.

For the Women, Denali Foldager was 25th overall, once again proving that she can run with the best in the West. She was followed by Rubye, Chelsea, Mary, Alyssa, Lindsay and Andrea. The women finished in the 12th spot as a team, scoring 306 points. They were 7 points away from 9th place in an incredibly close finish as follows:

9. BYUH: 300
10. WOU: 303
11: Humboldt: 304
12. Stanislaus: 306

I've certainly never seen a big race finish that close, especially for those coveted top-10 spots. The women fought hard and showed what they were made of though.

For the men, the Warriors placed two in the top 25. Senior Joey Nunes went out with a bang, finishing 23rd overall in a time of 32:23. He was directly followed by Dawson Vorderbruegge in 24th place, 32:26. These two roommates have been training together and beating up on each other for the past two years, and it was finally nice to see them finish together and work off of one another, especially at such a large race.

Shane Brookshire was next for the Warriors, finishing in the 54th spot, a placing pr at his 4th Regional meet. Ivan Bojorquez with Freshman Kanwar Dhaliwal, both of them placing 73rd and 79th. Good races for both of these men as Ivan has suffered from some minor injuries of late, and Kanwar was in high school 6 short months ago. Tyler and Palmer Thiele also ran hard for the Warriors, bringing in the 6th and 7th spots.

Congratulations to the men and women from WWU, Anchorage, and Chico, as well as the Seattle Pacific women on qualifying for Natinals. Good luck in Indiana, rep the Left Coast well.

You can view the Men's Results here:
http://www.sfstategators.com/documents/2009/11/7/Men_s_10K_Results.htm?id=827

Women's Results here:
http://www.sfstategators.com/documents/2009/11/7/Women_s_6K_Results.htm?id=828

West Region Preview

Alright XC fans, it's that time of year, Regionals time! This year the race is held at Golden Gate Park (GGP) and hosted by SF State.

The men's rankings are currently as follows:

1. Chico
2. Western Wash
3. Pomona
4. Anchorage
5. Western Oregon
6. Humboldt
7. NW Nazarene
8. BYU-HI
9. Stanislaus
10. UCSD

The men are shooting for 7th, hoping to knock off BYU and NW Nazarene. If all goes to plan and the pack running is strong, this is definitely achievable. Senior Joey Nunes is looking for an All-Region Performance, hoping to make a statement with his last collegiate XC race. Dawson Vorderbruegge and Shane Brookshire are gunning for big prs and hoping to make up for sub-par performances at CCAA's two weeks ago. Ivan, Palmer, Kanwar, and Tyler are looking ot help the team as much as possible with their placing.

For the women, Denali and Rubye are expecting great performances after their all-CCAA runs last week. The women are currently ranked 10th, and look to maintain or improve that spot this weekend against fierce competition.

CCAA Recap

Sorry for the late update folks, but here's the results of a great weekend up at CCAA Champs in Humboldt.

All-CCAA Performances:

Joey Nunes, 8th overall, 25:32, 2nd consecutive all-conference performance
Denali Foldager, 10th overall, first All-CCAA run
Rubye Foldager, 12th overall, first all-CCAA run

Coach Taylor had the highest finishing teams in her coaching tenure at Stanislaus, with the men placing 4th and the women 5th, each a spot better than last year.

The men edged out UCSD by ONE POINT! Big props to hard finishers Shane Brookshire, Kanwar Dhaliwal, and Dawson Vorderbruegge, who combined to pass 6 UCSD runners in the last 400 meters to help secure the victory. They finished with 118 points, behind 3rd place Humboldt who scored 75 points.

The women ran very well and finished 5th as a team. The beat Humboldt by 4 points, 142-146, an excellent demonstration of strong pack running.

You can see the women's results here:
http://warriorathletics.com/custompages/season_stats/xc/ccaa_wxc.htm

And the men's here:
http://warriorathletics.com/custompages/season_stats/xc/ccaa-mxc.htm

Warriors Set PR's at Golden Gate

This past Friday, October 9, the Warriors ran in the San Francisco State Gator Invite at Golden Gate Park. The course is the site of the 2009 West Regionals in November, so the race served as a preview of the championship course. It was by far the largest and most competitive race the Warriors have been in this season, sporting 118 Men and 164 women. The field included some of the best D2 schools on the West Coast, including:

Alaska Anchorage
Chico State
Humboldt State
Western Oregon
San Francisco State
Sonoma State
Academy of Art University
Notre Dame de Namur
Cal State Monterey Bay

As well as D1 teams from Cal Berkeley, Santa Clara, UOP, and San Jose State. Obviously an impressive field for a mid-season race.

And, as always, the Warriors fared well against strong competition, representing the Greater Turlock Metropolitan Area with dignity and pride. In the Women's 6k, Denali Foldager placed 10th overall in 22:31. She maintained strong positioning in a very strung out race (2 minutes between 1st and 10th place). Her sister Fubye Roldager was next for the Warriors, crossing in 27th place in 23:26, a good finish for Fubye who showed mental toughness in the midst of a large pack. Next was Dreamweaver in a personal pr of 23:53, dipping below the 24 minute barrier for the first time in her career. Mary Courtright and Alyssa Thiele rounded out the top 5, finishing in the mid 24's. The Lady Warriors finished 7th as a team, just 15 points behind conference foe Humboldt State, but totally dominating peak rivals Sonoma and San Francisco State.

The Men's race was a Kenyan affair, with all kinds of Kenyans from Alaska and Academy of Art running in the front of the pack. From the gun, the Speedy Africans formed what was affectionately known as the "Great Wall of Kenya," controlling the race by running 7 wide around the polo field loop. It was beneficial to everyone though, as the top 20-30 runners rolled through the mile in about 5:05 - 5:10, a conservative start for a flat 8k. As the race progressed, the pack strung out and developed into minor packs of 3-4 as well as separated strings of runners. Sophomore Dawson Vorderbruegge consistently moved up throughout the race and finished 11th overall in a 25 second pr of 25:53. Senior Joey Nunes was 36th in 26:44, exhibiting his yearly "Azusa Revisited" race. Captain Shane was next for the Warriors, crossing in 27:17, good enough for 52nd place. Palmer and Kanwar were next, closely finishing in 66th and 71st in respective times of 27:43 and :50. The men finished in 6th place as a team, beating out peak rival San Francisco State.

Overall, some Warriors ran well, some struggled, but it was good for all to get on the Regional course and race in Bay Area conditions.

Men's Results:
http://www.runnercard.com/runner/data/512/2200/Result/Mens_8K.htm

Women's Results:
http://www.runnercard.com/runner/data/512/2200/Result/Womens_6K.htm

2009 XC Media Guide

The 2009 Men's and Women's XC Media Guide has been uploaded onto warriorathletics.com, you can view it here:

http://issuu.com/warriorathletics/docs/09_xc_media_guide

Sweet Brian Sell Interview

A little inspiration for all you runner freaks out there, roadsmillslaps.com has recently posted an interview with Brian Sell, one of my all-time favorite runners. An average high school runner, Sell walked on to a D3 team for college, and several years later qualified for the 2008 Olympics in the Marathon. Incredible story of hard work, here's a teaser:

"But luckily with the marathon, it’s not so much whether you can break 4:00 in the mile or run an 11-second 100m dash, it’s more like going out and pounding the miles, not skipping days, and just getting out there and getting it done."

Check it out at:
http://www.roadsmillslaps.com/RML/Brian_Sell.html

Golden Gate Getaway

This past Saturday, the men and women Warriors took a trip to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and yes, they wore some flowers in their hair. The site of the 2009 D2 West Regional race, Coach Taylor thought it might be a good idea to become familiar with the course that is hosting the pinnacle meet of the season. The day trip, well, morning trip, was quite an experience, to say the least.

We all piled into cars at 6 a.m. on Saturday and made the 2 hour drive into the Windy City. Once inside the City that Never Sleeps, we drove straight to Golden Gate Park, the most famous recreational area in the Twin Cities region. The City of Angels was just stirring from it's Friday night slumber as we rolled in at about 8 am. It was a glorious affair to be running in the Mile High City, or what some might term the Birthplace of the American Revolution.

Once arriving at GGP, Captains Joey Nunes and Shane Brookshire led us on a wild goose chase to try and figure out the course, which is quite tricky when it isn't marked at all. After a few minutes of wandering, the women finally gave up and left out on their own, because women obviously have a superior sense of direction (Cat's words, not mine.) Needless to say, the men figured out the course about 2 minutes later, while the women still searched.

Finally, after all the course was figured out, the workout began. Run an hour. Hard. Continuous 2k loops of the course. However, there was a catch. Block part of the course with giant stages, gates, fences, and mobile golf carts. Fill the rest of the course with dirty hippies and bearded bluegrass enthusiasts who are too stoned out of their minds to coherently get out of the way when a runner comes busting through the sidewalk, and you're getting a good picture of what the tempo looked like.

Yes, it was the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate, a yearly event featuring free live music by some of the best bluegrass bands in America. This year the set list included such greats as the Austin Lounge Lizards, Dr. Magpie, and Poor Man's Whiskey! Nothing pumps up a runner for a hard workout like some blaring banjo and mandolin!

All sarcasm aside, it was nice to get out of Turlock for awhile and get on the Regional course. We got a good view of the course, and I think it will produce some fast times this weekend and again in November. Our next race is this Friday, October 9th, the SF State Gator Invite, on this course in GGP. Stay tuned for a preview of the Gator Invite, and don't forget to put some flowers in your hair!