All cross country courses are different.
Some have extreme hills and lots of sharp turns and bad footing and others are fairly easy.
So obviously comparing times between courses only means so much.
Still I have put together a list of the fastest times for the standard 3 mile and 5,000 meter courses just for fun.
For a number of years now I have debated what to do about the Woodbridge course.
It is listed at 3 miles.
Some have called it the ‘Norco Speedway’.
I don’t doubt the distance or that there is anything wrong with the course or should ever be changed.
I have just seen over the years that the times produced there are WAY faster than what runners seem to be able to produce on any other course.
The 2023 course was measured at 3.078 miles for Friday’s races and shortended to 3.022 miles for Saturday’s races. That’s a 98 to 99 yard difference.
Here is a video showing the course and telling some of the reasons it is so fast.
Here is how some of our faster runners have done on this course and there best on any other three miler.
You will notice very few can come within 30 seconds of the time they ran at Woodbridge.
Girls
15:48 Hanne Thomsen, Montgomery 2023 Woodbridge, 16:11 2022 Rancho Invit.
16:24 Harper McClain, St. Helena 2019 Woodbridge, 17:04 Hayward
17:16 Aimee Armstrong, Maria Carrillo 2017 Woodbridge, 18:15 Spring Lake
17:22 Sydnie Rivas, Maria Carrillo 2017 Woodbridge, 18:03 Hayward
17:23 Kate Bowen, Sonoma Academy 2017 Woodbridge, 18:34 Hayward
17:30 Kristin Sanzari, Maria Carrillo 2004 Woodbridge, Irvine, 18:05 Spring Lake
17:45 Ashley Busienei, Maria Carrillo 2021 Woodbridge, 18:22 Spring Lake & Hayward
17:50 Nicole Morris, Maria Carrillo 2018 Woodbridge, 18:40 Spring Lake 2019
17:53 Jasmin Hirth, Maria Carrillo 2019 Woodbridge, 18:47 Spring Lake
17:54 Cecilia Avelar, Maria Carrillo 2013 Woodbridge, 18:49 Hayward
Boys
14:41 Jacob Donohue, Maria Carrillo 2021 Woodbridge, 15:19 Hayward
14:48 Colton Swinth, Maria Carrillo 2019 Woodbridge, 15:05 Spring Lake
14:52 Ben Lawson, Maria Carrillo 2017 Woodbridge, 15:40 Spring Lake
14:52 Rory Smail, Maria Carrillo 2018 Woodbridge, 15:20 Hayward 2019
14:58 Pierce Kapustka, Maria Carrillo 2018 Woodbridge, 15:24 Spring Lake
15:04 Noe Vieyra, Maria Carrillo 2021 Woodbridge, 15:42 Hayward & Spring Lake
15:05 Harrison Frankl, Maria Carrillo 2018 Woodbridge, 16:13 Hayward 2017
15:13 Scott Kruetzfeldt, Maria Carrillo 2017 Woodbridge, 15:54 Hayward
15:15 Omar Alverez-Hernandez, Maria Carrillo 2019 Woodbridge, 15:29 Hayward & Spring Lake
15:21 Will McCloud, Maria Carrillo 2017 Woodbridge, 15:52 Spring Lake 2018
So I have decided to try and include Woodbrige in the lists but also have a list that leaves it out as I believe that one is probably a bit more comparison friendly than the one with.
That leaves us with a number of different runners holding the fastest time ever for our area.
3 miles, with 5k conversions
14:36 Brian Schulz, El Molino 2016 Stanford, 5000 meter time converted to 3 miles
15:51 Amber Trotter, Ukiah 2001 Disney World, Florida, 5000 meter time converted to 3 miles
3 miles, with conversions, with Woodbridge
14:36 Brian Schulz, El Molino 2016 Stanford, 5000 meter time converted to 3 miles
15:48 Hanne Thomsen, Montgomery 2023 Woodbridge
5000 meters
15:07 Brian Schulz, El Molino 2016 Stanford
16:25 Amber Trotter Ukiah 2001 Disney World, Florida
3 miles
14:43 Luis Luna, Piner 2011 Spring Lake
15:54 Julia Stamps, Santa Rosa 1995 S.F. Zoo
3 miles, with Woodbridge
14:39 Tiernan Colby, Sonoma Academy 2022 Woodbridge
15:48 Hanne Thomsen, Montgomery 2023 Woodbridge