The 12 NBL/SCL principles have decided on the new league setup for cross country and track starting in 2018/2019.
It still has to be approved by the NCS on February 15 but more than likely we now know what the new landscape will look like.
We already knew that Casa Grande, Petaluma and Sonoma Valley had been moved into the new Vine Valley Athletic League but more on that in a separate story coming soon.
The other 12 had to be rearranged with a number of possiblilties from one big super league of 12 to division by north and south and many other options.
Wait this is all wrong some say, you can’t change the league. Actually it happens more often than you think. The current teams per league has only been this way since the 2012/2013 season.
For more read my History of Redwood Empire track leagues.
For the other sports, like football, the school principles had already divided the group into two leagues with one having the 6 strongest programs and the other 6 in the second league.
When I saw they were leaning that direction back in May I wrote a story New alignment: What might it look like?, that ranked our cross country teams by how they had fared at NCS.
That looked like this.
“A” division boys/girls
Maria Carrillo 1:20:42/1:35:40
Piner 1:23:23/1:41:12
Santa Rosa 1:24:40/1:42:32
Ukiah 1:27:08/1:44:42
Montgomery 1:26:21/1:47:14
Healdsburg 1:25:18/1:48:24
“B” division
Cardinal Newman 1:29:15/1:52:42
Analy 1:35:35/1:47:07
El Molino 1:27:43/no team time
Elsie Allen nt
Rancho Cotate nt
Windsor nt
Just from my own perspective I leaned toward this grouping for our track teams.
“A” division
Maria Carrillo
Montgomery
Santa Rosa
Windsor
El Molino
Piner
“B” division
Cardinal Newman
Healdsburg
Analy
Ukiah
Rancho Cotate
Elsie Allen
On January 22nd the principles decided to name the two leagues NBL-Oak for the top tier schools and NBL-Redwood for the other tier.
For both track and cross country they divided the schools as shown below, which mirrors what I had for the cross country group above. I have listed the XC division each is in for NCS & State plus each schools enrollment figures.
NBL-Oak
2 2024 Santa Rosa
3 1715 Ukiah
3 1603 Montgomery
3 1591 Maria Carrillo
4 1170 Piner
4 607 Healdsburg
NBL-Redwood
3 1750 Windsor
3 1476 Rancho Cotate
4 1200 Analy
4 1082 Elsie Allen
4 621 Cardinal Newman
5 600 El Molino
Now ever two years this will be reevaluated and teams can be moved up or down.
The athletic directors and Commissioner will get input from the coaches. They then will have a discussion, come to consensus and make a recommendation to the principals, who make all decisions. Then the Commissioner will take the principals’ decision to the North Coast Section Alignment and Classification Committee for final approval.
So say after two years of this Windsor has dominated the NBL-Redwood league. It may be decided to move them to the NBL-Oak league and drop one of those schools to the other. And so on ever two years.
Below is the tentative schedule for both sports.
1/26 correction the Commissioner has now fixed the track dates.
I think someone missed a week on the track schedule because the below one shows a two week gap between the league finals and the NCS Area meet so don’t be surprised if all the track tri and dual meets don’t get moved a week later than shown here.
NORTH BAY LEAGUE Cross Country Schedule, 2018 – 2019
(First Year of Rotation)
First day of practice: Monday, August 13
Number of contests: 14 meets
A maximum of two (2) scrimmages are permissible prior to the first interscholastic contest (league or non-league) of the season.
Meet time: JV girls: 3:45; JV boys 4:20 PM; Varsity girls: 5:00; Varsity boys: 5:30 PM
OAK REDWOOD WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10 Montgomery, Carrillo at Santa Rosa Analy, Elsie Allen at Rancho Cotate Ukiah, Piner at Healdsburg Cardinal Newman, Windsor at El Molino WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 Santa Rosa at Healdsburg Rancho Cotate at El Molino Maria Carrillo at Piner Elsie Allen at Windsor Montgomery at Ukiah Analy at Cardinal Newman WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24 Piner at Santa Rosa Windsor at Rancho Cotate Ukiah at Maria Carrillo Cardinal Newman at Elsie Allen Healdsburg at Montgomery El Molino at Analy WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31 Santa Rosa at Ukiah Rancho Cotate at Cardinal Newman Healdsburg at Maria Carrillo El Molino at Elsie Allen Piner at Montgomery Windsor at Analy FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9 NBL Championship Meet NBL Championship Meet Site and host(s) TBD Site and host(s) TBD
NCS/Les Schwab Tires Championships
Final date for competition other than NCS/Les Schwab Tires Championships: November 10
Meet of Champions: November 17
CIF Cross Country Championships: November 24
————————————————————–
NORTH BAY LEAGUE Track Schedule, 2018 – 2019
First day of practice: Monday, January 28, 2019
Number of contests: 14 contests. Two scrimmages are permissible prior to the first interscholastic contest (league or non-league) of the season.
Meet time: 3:45 PM
OAK REDWOOD WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 Montgomery, Carrillo at Santa Rosa Analy, Elsie Allen at Rancho Cotate Ukiah and Piner at Healdsburg Cardinal Newman, Windsor at El Molino WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 Santa Rosa at Healdsburg Rancho Cotate at El Molino Maria Carrillo at Piner Elsie Allen at Windsor Montgomery at Ukiak Analy at Cardinal Newman WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 Piner at Santa Rosa Windsor at Rancho Cotate Ukiah at Maria Carrillo Cardinal Newman at Elsie Allen Healdsburg at Montgomery El Molino at Analy WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 Santa Rosa at Ukiah Rancho Cotate at Cardinal Newman Healdsburg at Maria Carrillo El Molino at Elsie Allen Piner at Montgomery Windsor at Analy
NBL Meet: Wednesday, May 1 and Friday, May 3; sites and hosts TBD
Deadline for leagues to determine qualifiers: May 4
Final date for competition other than NCS/Les Schwab Tires or CIF Championships: May 4
Class A Classification Championships: May 11
Area Meets–Redwood Empire Meet: May 11
NCS Meet of Champions: May 17, 18
CIF State Track Championships: May 24-25
So is this a good thing?
Time will tell but here is how it could be a good thing.
The Oak division is going to be a power house league with almost all the top kids. These kids will be sharping each other every week with everyone pushing each other to the max.
The Redwood division could improve all these schools by the chance to shine, where they could not before. For these schools many meets were hard to stomach in the past as their top kids could not even beat Carrillo’s number seven JV runner in cross country. Now they will be on a more level playing field with an opportunity to win more dual meets and rise to the top.
Last season in cross country of the teams now in the NBL-Redwood group only Newman and Analy fielded complete teams in both races at NCS. Now those other four schools may have more reason to gather the troops and field teams in the regular season because they will be in the hunt.
One thing I have learned in life is that without hope things will spiral out of control very fast. This league gives them that hope and eventually their programs may start taking down some of the current Oak division schools.
On the down side if they do not rise up with this opportunity and meet after meet ends in double forfeits it would be a bad thing for the sport.
Some team and individual is going to be crowned the 2018 NBL-Redwood Cross Country Champion.
Look at the opportunity this does for these schools as four will get these honors.
Analy has not won a boys pennant since 2004 and girls since 2005 and their boys have not won a individual title since 2002.
Cardinal Newman only boys pennant was back in 1982 and their girls have not won an individual title since 1992.
El Molino has not won boys pennant since 1982 or a girls one since 1995.
Elsie Allen boys have never placed higher than 4th and their girls are yet to field a complete team in the finals. Individually no girl has placed higher than 12th and no boy has ever won.
Rancho Cotate boys have never won a pennant and their girls have not won since 1988 and individual the last boy to win was in 1973.
Windsor boys and girls have never placed higher than 3rd, and individually they have had only one league champ back in 2003.
So someone is going to do something that has not been done in a long time at their school and bring that honor home.
Here is a look at who some of the fastest cross country runners should be next year in their new leagues based on their times from the fastest 28 times from the 2017 finals.
Last year Windsor’s Lucas Chung battled Carrillo’s Ben Lawson in the NBL but next season Chung will be practically alone with only a teammate, who is over a minute behind him, in the Redwood division. While in the Oak division 12 boys are back faster than number three runner from the Redwood division.
In the girls Gabrielle Peterson was never challenged in the SCL winning the finals by over 2 minutes but now she will have much more challenging time in the NBL Oak as 16 of the top 28 returners will all be in that league, leaving Windsor’s Erin O’Mara and Analy’s Grace Moussa as the only top 28 runners returning in the NBL Redwood division, both slower than #16 in the Oak division.
Boys
NBL Oak
3 Smail, Rory Maria Carrillo 15:55 SO
2 Hayes, Nathan 11 Piner 15:58
4 McCloud, Will Maria Carrillo 16:03 JR
5 Swinth, Colton Maria Carrillo 16:04 SO
8 Frankl, Harrison Maria Carrillo 16:27 JR
1 JV Kapustka, Pierce Maria Carrillo 16:33 SO
4 Godinez, Dante 11 Healdsburg 16:39
5 Delgado, Emmanuel 11 Piner 16:40
7 Villeda, Rene 10 Piner 16:51
8 Vanden Heuvel, Jack 9 Healdsburg 16:52
2 JV Philip, Patrick Maria Carrillo 16:52 SO
4 JV Pugh, Owen Maria Carrillo 17:07 SO
NBL Redwood
2 Chung, Lucas Windsor 15:41 JR
14 Larson, Hunter Windsor 16:59 SO
Vine Valley Athletic
3 Cox, Justin 11 Sonoma Valley 16:18
10 Hosbein, Nolan Casa Grande 16:56 FR
11 Hite, Owen Casa Grande 16:57 FR
13 Moon, Logan Casa Grande 16:59 SO
15 Esponda, Garrett Casa Grande 15 17:09 JR
Girls
NBL Oak
1 Peterson, Gabrielle 11 Healdsburg 17:53
2 Armstrong, Aimee Maria Carrillo 18:52 JR
3 Morris, Nicole Maria Carrillo 19:08 FR
4 Haley, Leah Montgomery 19:21 JR
5 Hirth, Jasmin Maria Carrillo 19:24 SO
8 Briceno, Mariah Montgomery 19:48 SO
9 Duffy, Caroline Santa Rosa 19:58 JR
10 Leano, Talia Maria Carrillo 20:10 JR
11 Field, Meghan Maria Carrillo 20:13 JR
3 Rosales, Cynthia 11 Piner 20:14
13 Swoboda, Alexis Ukiah 20:24 JR
1 JV Damron, Avery Maria Carrillo 1 20:28 SO
15 Howell, Moreya Santa Rosa 20:29 FR
5 Rodriguez, Veronica 10 Piner 20:34
6 Olivares, Fatima 11 Piner 20:37
18 Holmes, Isabel Montgomery 20:46 FR
NBL Redwood
19 O’Mara, Erin Windsor 20:48 SO
8 Moussa, Grace 11 Analy 20:49
Vine Valley Athletic
12 Baswell, Emma Casa Grande 20:22 SO
16 Chavez, Celeste Casa Grande 20:42 JR
Now track still has some huge questions to be answered.
First which NCS track Area meet will the new Vine Valley Athletic League will be in in 2019?
Will they be in the NCS Redwood?
Just found out 1/25 The Vine Valley Athletic league will be in the NCS Redwood Area Meet 2019.
Qualifying from the NBL and SCL has had the same number of top places, 4, from both leagues moving on to the NCS Redwood meet. With about ?90% of the best track kids being in the NBL-Oak compared to the NBL-Redwood how will the those numbers change?
Some major questions have been answered but many like these are still to come.
Here is how the principles divided the other sports.
Football Boys' Soccer NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy El Molino Elsie Allen Analy Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Healdsburg Cardinal Newman Rancho Cotate Healdsburg Montgomery El Molino Windsor Montgomery Rancho Cotate Maria Carrillo Maria Carrillo Piner Santa Rosa Piner Ukiah Santa Rosa Windsor Ukiah Volleyball Girls' Soccer NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy El Molino Analy El Molino Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Maria Carrillo Healdsburg Maria Carrillo Healdsburg Montgomery Piner Montgomery Piner Santa Rosa Rancho Cotate Ukiah Rancho Cotate Windsor Ukiah Windsor Santa Rosa Boys' Basketball Baseball NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy El Molino Analy El Molino Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Montgomery Healdsburg Maria Carrillo Healdsburg Piner Maria Carrillo Montgomery Piner Santa Rosa Rancho Cotate Rancho Cotate Santa Rosa Windsor Ukiah Ukiah Windsor Girls' Basketball Softball NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy El Molino Analy Cardinal Newman Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Maria Carrillo El Molino Montgomery Healdsburg Montgomery Elsie Allen Santa Rosa Maria Carrillo Rancho Cotate Healdsburg Ukiah Piner Ukiah Piner Windsor Rancho Cotate Windsor Santa Rosa Girls' Tennis Boys' Tennis NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy El Molino Analy El Molino Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Cardinal Newman Elsie Allen Maria Carrillo Healdsburg Maria Carrillo Healdsburg Montgomery Piner Montgomery Piner Santa Rosa Rancho Cotate Santa Rosa Rancho Cotate Windsor Ukiah Windsor Ukiah Cross Country Track & Field NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Healdsburg Analy Healdsburg Analy Maria Carrillo Cardinal Newman Maria Carrillo Cardinal Newman Montgomery El Molino Montgomery El Molino Piner Elsie Allen Piner Elsie Allen Santa Rosa Rancho Cotate Santa Rosa Rancho Cotate Ukiah Windsor Ukiah Windsor Girls' Golf Boys' Golf NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy Cardinal Newman Analy El Molino Maria Carrillo El Molino Cardinal Newman Healdsburg Rancho Cotate Healdsburg Maria Carrillo Piner Santa Rosa Montgomery Molntgomery Ranco Cotate Ukiah Piner Ukiah Santa Rosa Windsor Windsor Wrestling Swim and Dive NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Cardinal Newman Analy Analy Cardinal Newman Healdsburg El Molino Maria Carrillo El Molino Maria Carrillo Elsie Allen Montgomery Healdsburg Santa Rosa Montgomery Santa Rosa Piner Ukiah Piner Ukiah Rancho Cotate Windsor Rancho Cotate Windsor Badminton NBL-OAK NBL-REDWOOD Analy Elsie Allen Casa Grande* Healdsburg Maria Carrillo Petaluma* Montgomery Piner Santa Rosa Roseland Collegiate Windsor Roseland University
*Supplemental placement by NCS
This is how many Oak-Redwood divisions each school was placed in.
14-3 Montgomery, Redwood in Football, Wrestling, Girls’ Golf
14-3 Maria Carrillo, Redwood in Boys’ & Girls’ Basketball, Boys’ Soccer
13-4 Analy
13-4 Windsor
12-5 Santa Rosa
11-5 Ukiah
10-6 Cardinal Newman
5-11 Rancho Cotate
4-13 Healdsburg
3-14 Piner, Oak in Track, Cross Country, Boys’ Basketball
1-13 Elsie Allen, Oak in Boys’ Soccer
0-16 El Molino