X-COUNTRY AWARDS

Last Thursday was the Downey Cross-Country Award Ceremony in the Downey Cafeteria. All of the members of the team were recognized for their improvements and achievements.

 

Earning "Academic All-MMC" status were Kenji, Seiji, Andrew O, Nick, Pierson, and Bryce for the boys. On the girls team Mai, Karena, Araceli, Rory, Abby, Sierra, Natalie, and Ana were recognized.

Six Downey runners were "All-MMC" and earned the first ever awarded light blue D's for this honor. 1st team all-league runners were Sierra and Andrew O. Represented on the second team were Natalie and Pierson. Honorable Mention were Guadalupe and Rocio.

Plaques were awarded to the four boys and four girls who the team and the coaches believed deserved the greatest recognition for their improvements, efforts, and achievements this season.

MOST IMPROVED F/S BOY: ALFONSO URBANO  

COACHES AWARD: KENJI SOARES
BLUE KNIGHT AWARD: ERNESTO LIMON

MOST VALUABLE RUNNER: ANDREW OSGOOD

 

MOST IMPROVED VARSITY GIRL: ABBY HOMAN
COACHES AWARD: ROCIO RAMIREZ-CASTRO
MOST INSPIRATIONAL: NATALIE FRANCO
MOST VALUABLE RUNNER: SIERRA DURHAM



The evening was a nice culmination to a tough but successful season.


LINK TO PICTS OF THE NIGHT'S FESTIVITIES:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44138&id=1807850130&l=7f9c7ec4d1

 

SJS SECTION RESULTS

Sierra ran in her first SJS championship today and experienced some awesome competition. The plan was for her to get out stronger and faster than she did in last week's sub-section meet and then hang on. She did get out faster, but everyone else must have had the same plan, because she was in about 50th after 800 meters. She moved up a few spots and then seemed to settle in. She would eventually move up to about 40th but was passed by several runners in the final stretch. She finished a tough 43rd place. Her time of 21:02 (5K) cut 24 seconds off of her Bronco time from 3 weeks ago over the same course. To give you a better idea of the level of this year's competition level--her time would have placed her 22nd in last year's SJS meet.

Much thanks to Coach Garrett, Rocio and Katie for making the trip to Folsom to cheer her on.  

Here is a link to the full results:
http://home.surewest.net/zenrider/Web/SJS_Section_XC_2010.htm
Here is a link to some pictures of the D1 races:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43742&id=1807850130&l=5ce6aaa892

 

SAC-JOAQUIN SECTION MEET

And then there was one. Sierra is the last Downey Knight still competing. Her 30th place finish at last Saturday's Sub-section meet qualified her for this week's section championships at Willow Hills in Folsom. She has been steadily improving all season but will need to put aside her fears and really go for it in order to earn a medal in the section meet. GOOD LUCK NUGGET!

CROSS-COUNTRY AWARDS

The awards ceromony for the 2010 Downey Cross-country team will be Thursday, November 18th at 6 pm in the Downey cafeteria. Pizza will be provided. Boys are to bring drinks and girls are to bring desserts. Please contact Mr. Ippolito for more information.

If you have not done so already, please turn in your uniform to Mr. Ippolito or Mr. Garrett ASAP.

WEEK 10--RUNNERS OF THE WEEK

This week the varsity runners competed at the sub-sections at Frogtown. The competition was at the highest level we have seen all season, and there were some Knights who rose to the occasion.

DAVID O'BRYAN--moved up to the varsity team for the Sub-Section meet. He took the opportunity very seriously and finished as Downey #3 runner on the day. He had a huge PR and really set the foundation to come back next year as one of the team's leaders.

KATIE SCHEDER--has been nursing a serious injury and has not been able to race for about two months. She knew that we needed her for the sub-section meet, and boy did she deliver. She hung tough the whole race and finished as Downey's #4 runner.

SAC-JOAQUIN SUB-SECTION MEET@FROGTOWN

We took 5 girls and 9 boys to the sub-section meet at Frogtown today. Although the chance of earning a team qualification into the section championships may have been slim, the theme of the day was "building for the future," since every runner we brought should return next year.

The girls were the first up today. And well, they began their race about 20 min early ...they ran the first 800m in the race before theirs--really. Fortunately we saw them and made them stop. They were able to regroup, catch their breath, and run decent races. Sierra would lead the way, placing 30th and earning a spot in next week's section championship. Natalie and Rocio would see-saw back and forth through the entire race and finish within seconds of each other near the middle of the pack. Katie, who hasn't raced in months, would tough out a very solid race. Abby completed the scoring with another great race. As a team they finished 13th out of the 20 full teams. Their combine time of 1:55:55 soundly beat last year's team's time of 2:05:00 by about 9 minutes. GREAT JOB LADIES!
30-Durham 20:24
98-Franco 23:17
100-Ramirez-Castro  23:27 (improved her time on this course by 1:57)
109-Scheder 24:00
127-Homan 24:50

The boys hit the course next. Andrew ran near the back of the lead pack in about 20-30th for the first two miles, and then he seemed to run out of gas. He would still be Downey's first finisher and improve his time on this course by a lot. Pierson ran a strong race, finishing in the middle of the pack. David had a huge effort edging out Guadalupe and Kenji. The rest of the boys all had solid races to build on for next season. As a team they improved 5:16 over their combined time on the same course earlier in the year, and they beat the time of last year's team by 9:20!
60?-Osgood 17:43 (1:11 improvement)
109-Devers 19:24 (0:59 improvement)
134-O'Bryan 20:11 (4:27 improvement)
136-Torres 20:14 (0:02 improvement)
137-K. Soares 20:14 (1:01 improvement)
157-Limon 20:48 (0:26 improvement)
158-Holloway 20:49 (3:48 improvement)
169-Urbano 21:11
172-Bingham 21:16

LINK TO PHOTOS:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43205&id=1807850130&l=d578ff22e9
LINK TO FULL RESULTS:
http://home.surewest.net/zenrider/Web/SJS_Sub-Section_XC_2010.htm

STANISLAUS COUNTY RANKINGS

The new county rankings are out. Sierra moved up slightly on the strength of her strong showing at the MMC championship meet. She hits the list at #5 (up from #7).

On the boys' side Andrew O. is back on the list after sliding off for a couple of weeks. His very solid 17:03 time landed him in the 9th spot in the rankings.

The Downey Boys dropped from the top 5 team list (since they lost to Beyer). Guadalupe will be back on Saturday and the "running knights" will have the opportunity to earn their spot back while going head to head against the rest of the county.

WEEK 9--RUNNERS OF THE WEEK

Week nine was the MMC League Championships. The runners leading the way on both the boys' and girls' sides have led the way all year. They both had exceptional races and are the first repeat Runners of the Week this year.

ANDREW OSGOOD--has been Downey's lead runner all year. In the MMC championships his emotions and his fitness finally came together producing his best individual race of the year. He placed 5th, earning 1st team all-MMC status. His time also moved him to the top of the all-time Downey/MMC list.

SIERRA DURHAM--has been the top girl and the leader of the team all year. She is one of only two team members to run in every race this year. In the MMC championships she placed 4th and was with the leaders with only 800m left. She earned 1st team all-MMC recognition. Her time paces her 17th for MMC girls all-time on this course.

We look forward to what these fine young runners are able to do in next week's sub-section meet.

MMC HONORS (updated)

Last year Downey walked away from the MMC championship with only one individual earning any type of league honors. This year was destined to be different.

MMC Varsity Girls 1st team

On the girls' side Sierra's 4th place finish scored her first team all-MMC status. Natalie's 15th place grabbed her the last spot on the MMC second team. I also believe that she was the second freshman to cross the line. Although in the past place 16-22 would be considered as honorable mention, the MMC is no longer doing it in this manner (sorry Karina, Rory and Kenji). Now each team names one individual to the honorable mention list. The Downey coaches chose Rocio for this honor. Prior to being injured she was consistently our #2 runner and surely would have made the 1st or 2nd all-league teams.

 Additionally Sierra's time moved her into 17th place on the all-time MMC girls list for the Legion Park course. Natalie's time moved her into 4th place on the all-time MMC/Legion Park Downey list.



MMC Varsity Boys 1st team

 For the boys' Andrew's 5th place puts him on the MMC first team. His time also moved him to the top of the Downey all-time MMC/Legion Park list. Pierson's 15th place sneaks him in as the last person on the MMC second team. The coaches' selection for honorable mention recognition was Guadalupe. He was consistently our #2 runner and would have likely place on the second all-league team.

Great job to all to TDHS Knights!