The NBL finals were run in very poor conditions to run decent times this year.
Because of that when the first draft of the NCS Redwood Area meet heats came out all five of the NBL qualifiers where listed in the slow heat.
Now you can still qualify for the MOC meet from that heat but it’s a heck of a lot tougher than running against the top runners in the faster heat.
Luckily for our crew a number of runners from other leagues started scratching and by the time of the meet 4 of our 5 moved up into the final 4 spots of the fast heat.
This put them with Redwood junior Liam Anderson one of the top distance runners in the nation.
When you watch the race below you will see him go right to the front, control the pace (64, 70, 67), and fairly easily hold everyone of with a 60 second last lap.
His 4:21.16 time was probably well within what he could have done.
This year he has run 4:12.15 4th in the state and 8:52.74 3200m 1st in CA.
But it’s really our guys I want to talk about.
First there was Petaluma’s Jack Dunbar who pressed Anderson all the way to the finish line with his season best of 4:21.58 leading a mass finish that had ten runners all within 2.11 seconds of Anderson. Only the top seven could be assured a trip to MOC.
After Dunbar came two other runners followed by the NBL sophomore Colton Swinth from Maria Carrillo in a PR 4:22.04.
NBL champion Lucas Chung was a whisker behind in 4:22.06 for 6th.
Carrillo sophomore Pierce Kapustka was just out of the money for the free trip to MOC but his 4:22.32 PR was so fast that he and two boys after him get to go on as they all beat the 4:24.16 automatic qualifying time.
Also amazing is the only two of the top nine are seniors. Look out 2019 race.
1 Anderson, Liam 11 Redwood 4:21.16 2 Dunbar, Jack 12 Petaluma 4:21.58 3 Kabbara, Munir 12 San Rafael 4:21.72 4 Rumon, Lyle 10 Marin Catholic 4:21.98 5 Swinth, Colton 10 Maria Carrillo 4:22.04 6 Chung, Lucas 11 Windsor 4:22.06 7 Converse, Ian 12 Marin Catholic 4:22.26 8 Kapustka, Pierce 10 Maria Carrillo 4:22.32 9 McCarthy, Cooper 11 Sir Francis 4:23.22 10 Pole, Ryan 12 Redwood 4:23.27 11 Grace, Hudson 9 Redwood 4:28.31 12 Smail, Rory 10 Maria Carrillo 4:30.40, ran 4:26.97 at the Twilight meet
Did I mention that Swinth and Kapustka are only sophomore’s.
Two of the best we have ever had. Check out the list below.
All-Time Sophomore list 4:14.31 Jordan Kinley, Maria Carrillo 2000 5th at state 4:13.67 2002 4:21.02 Ryan Douglas, Petaluma 2011 4:21.56 Ryan Mack, Ukiah 1997 7th at state 4:17.73 1999 4:21.70 J.K. Withers, Cardinal Newman 2002 8th at state 4:21.39 2004 4:22.02 Dan Aldridge, Petaluma 1973 2nd at state 880 1:51.1 1975 4:22.04 Colton Swinth, Maria Carrillo 2018 4:22.08 Brian Schulz, El Molino 2015 3rd at state Division V XC 2016 4:22.32 Pierce Kapustka, Maria Carrillo 2018 4:22.37 Steve Guerrini, Santa Rosa 1989 3rd at state 4:13.85 1991. 4:22.90 Dawit Tesfasilassie, Piner 2003 Bumped off the list are two well known names 4:23.46 Luis Luna, Piner 2010 5th at state 3200 9:08.82 2012 4:23.46 Benjamin Lawson, Maria Carrillo 2016
Now watch the race as provided by Griffin Epstein from Trojan Live a Petaluma High student-run TV Station.
WATCH RACE NOW
Top 10 seeds at MOC
1 Middleton-Pearson, Christoph 10 Dublin 4:19.95
2 Norris, Preston 11 Las Lomas 4:20.13
3 Anderson, Liam 11 Redwood 4:21.16
4 Dunbar, Jack 12 Petaluma 4:21.58
5 Kabbara, Munir 12 San Rafael 4:21.72
6 Swinth, Colton 10 Maria Carrillo 4:22.04
7 Chung, Lucas 11 Windsor 4:22.06
8 Converse, Ian 12 Marin Cathol 4:22.26
9 Kapustka, Pierce 10 Maria Carrillo 4:22.32
10 Schroeder, Adrian 12 Dublin 4:23.08