Friday's MMC meet

Downey walks into Friday's MMC Championship with perhaps its strongest all-around team in nearly 20 years.

 The F/S girls trail in the race for the championship by a mere one point to Modesto. Their biggest obsticle may be the need to move both Alicia Bargas and Anna Casas up to varsity to compensate for Rory's absence at next week's sub-section meet.

The F/S boys will not field a team. Most likely all the boys will be moved up to varsity for Friday's meet.

The Varsity girls finished third in the MMC last year. They are currently in third; Enochs and Modesto are tied with each other for first. If the girls could win the meet, they potentially could win the league championship. A more likely scenerio is that Modesto wins the meet and the championship and Enochs (who might be missing a key performer) slips, leaving Downey placing second overall. This would be a huge achievement for a team with no seniors.

The varsity boys are in third in the standings. They finished third last year also. They are trailing Modesto (in 1st) and Gregori (in 2nd). It appears that they will finish in third whether they have a good or a bad day.

Beyond team standings, individual titles and all-MMC status is up for grabs. Andrew Osgood has the best chance of the Downey athletes to win a title. He easily won Cluster Meet #1 and finished 2nd in Meet #2.

For All-MMC status, the top 8 finishers will make the first team and the next 7 will be on the second team. Andrew should make the 1st team for the boys. The next best hope for the boys is Guadalupe Torres who was 12th in Cluster #3. A repeat of that performance will land him on the second team. Beyond Guadalupe, Alfonso Urbano is the only other Downey boy to crack the top twenty when he placed 19th in Cluster #2. He would have to have the race of his life to make the top 15.

For the girls Sierra should make the first team as she did last year. She placed in the top 6 in all three of the Cluster meets. Rocio Ramirez Castro placed 8th in the last Cluster Meet, so she still has an outside shot of being on the first team. Rory Jiminez has been in the top 15 in all of the Cluster Meets. She placed as high as 9th in Cluster #2. After finishing 16th in the first meet, Natalie Franco has been in the top 15 in each of the last two meets. All three girls (Rocio, Rory, and Natalie) have an excellant chance of earning all-MMC status. Beyond them, Katie Scheder and Madeleine Souza have placed in the top 20 and have an outside chance of making the second team but it will require an extraordinary effort to reach that goal.

WEEK 7: Runners of the Week

Last week saw the Knights competing against the rest of the MMC at Cluster #3 and at the Bella Vista Bronco Invitational in Folsom. The Cluster meet saw some amazing times and a complete rewriting of the all-time Downey list for the Dry Creek course. At Bronco the varsity girls showed that they do indeed have a chance to qualify for this years section championship.

MADELEINE SOUZA--finished 19th overall and 6th for Downey in the Cluster meet with a time of 21:41which ranks her as #7 on the all-time Downey list for the Dry Creek figure 8 course. Three days later at Bronco she started slowly and then tore through the hilly course to finish 80th overall (4th for Downey). Coach Osgood says, "Girl's XC goes to Madeleine Souza for Bella Vista Invitational, has PR'd in last couple meets and ran the #4 position! Strength in the hills has made Maddi an valuable addition to her Varsity team."

JUSTIN GOERING--Justin moved up to run with the varsity boys this week and made the most of the opportunity. After spend week under achieving in the F/S races he placed 32nd overall at the Cluster meet (6th for Downey). His time of 19:04 places him #9 on the all-time Downey list for this course and as the top frosh ever. Coach Ipp says, "Justin Goering - Ran a Varsity 5000 meter race in 20minutes and 55 seconds . He was our Varisty's #6 finisher and he's only a freshman! The best part about Justin's week in XC is his work ethic during practices. He pushed most of the varsity team during practices by running beyond his normal pace each work out. Great week, Justin."

Bella Vista Bronco Invite

A bus load of Downey XC runners got up very early yesterday morning for the challenge that is the hilly course at Willow Hills Res. in Folsom.

The F/S girls barely had time to use the bathroom and warm up before their race started. Anna Casas again traded with Alicia and anchored the team. She got out well, but the gruelling course took its toll. She crossed the line in 70th place, 16:46 for the 3.4K course. Behind her the trio of Deja Martin, 84th (17:11); Eleni Quick 95th (17:31); and Carolyn Fraze 98th (17:35) all ran strong races. Abby Homan was the last Downey finisher and completed the scoring. She has struuggled this season with fitness and injured knees. I could see in her eyes that the rocky trails were hard on her body, but she finished the race as her team needed her to do. Teamwise they finished 14th out of the 15 competing teams.

The Varsity girls were up next on the 5K double loop. Rory Jiminez fell at the starting line. Amazingly she recovered one step at a time and ended up running a solid race finishing 71st (23:09). The first Knight across the line was Sierra Durham in 46th (21:54). It was a somewhat dissappointing and slower than hoped performance. Behind Sierra and Rory was the trio of Natalie Franco 76th (23:19); Madeleine Souza 80th (23:32); and Rocio Ramirez Castro 86th (23:43). Rocio and Natalie went out very fast and gave back ground as the race progressed. Rory and Maddi started slower and gained. They all seemed to meet in the middle. After the scoring 5, Katie Scheder 111th (24:52) and Alicia Bargas 121st (25:15) struggled. Katie's hip was hurting and Alicia is still adjusting to the move from 2mi to 3mi. The final Downey competitor was Jennifer Hernandez who place 141 (27:56). Overall the team finished 12th out of 19 teams with 305 points. They were only one point and .7 secs behind rival MoHi. They were the 6th DI Sac Joaquin team to finish which still bodes well for their hopes of finishing in the top 10 teams at Sub-sections in 3 weeks.

The Varsity boys took the course after the girls. Andrew was running for the first time since spraining his ankle two weeks ago. He suffered through a subpar performance finishing in 67th place (18:33). Guadalupe was the next Knight across the line in 108th (19:40). Danny Mauricio continues to improve as he gains confidence and experience. He finished in 125th in 20:08. Rounding out the Downey cast was Pierson Devers in 148th (20:40); Kenji Soares 149th (20:41); Justin Goering 155th (20:54) and Emanuel Garibay 178th (22:28). Justin was the 6th frosh to finish in this race and will be a real factor for Downey in the future. Teamwise they finished 20th out of 25 teams.

In the JV girks 5K Yaneli Ortiz was 56th (29:08), Caroline Nuon was 81st (32:44) and Jessica Fraze was 87th (34:19).

 In the JV boys race Tanner Walsh was the first Downey finisher in 59th (21:47). Behind Tanner, Tyler Bingham was 70th (22:08); Gerson Zuniga was 72nd (22:11); and Seiji Soares was 75th (22:15). The rest of the team followed at some distance struggling on the hilly course. Alec Carson was 94th (22:54), Gabe Juarez was 101st (23:12), Francisco Solorzano was 112st (24:28), Alex Thomas was 119th (25:03) and Theron Gunderson was 137th (27:37).

MMC Cluster #3 @East LaLoma/Dry Creek Park

For the first cluster meet of the season with reasonable temperatures and a smokin' fast flat course, the competitors stepped up and rewote the record books. Sierra Durham jumped onto the all-time course list at #9 with her performance and the Downey all-time list for this course was completely rewritten.

The F/S girls were first up on the figure 8 2mi circuit. Ana Casas traded her varsity spot with Alicia Bargas and she tried to demonstrate her varsity prowness by taking the early pace. She would later fade and eventually fall to third place (14:41). Erin Redding was charging hard and had the race been 50m longer she might have caught Anna. Erin finished in 4th (14:44). The supporting cast also stepped up. Deja Martin was 7th (15:23); Eleni Quick was 10th (15:35) and Carolyn Fraze was 11th (15:42). The icing on the cake was that these girls WON the meet and moved to within one point of Modesto High. Whichever team wins in two weeks with the MMC F/S title!

We moved all of our F/S boys up to varsity for this meet.

In the Varsity Girls' race the record book was destroyed. It was a perfect storm of a late season league meet, a cool day, a flat/fast course, and tight pack of very competitive runners. The top six finishers all placed on the top ten all-time list for this course. Sierra led the way for Downey as she has for the past two years. She placed a somewhat disappointing 6th, but her time (19:47) was a minute faster that she ran on the same course last year. Rocio Ramirez-Castro, who is having a mid-season resurgance, had her best league meet finish in a year coming in 8th (20:27). Behind her the Downey pack was tight with our next four runners crossing within 38 seconds of each other. Rory Jiminez was 13th (21:03); Natalie Franco was 14th (21:05); Katie Scheder was 17th (21:23) and Madeleine Souza was 19th (21:41). Overall the girls finished second behing MoHi. There is still a chance they they could move up from the third spot in the standing to the second spot with a strong showing at the MMC championships. Using invitational scoring it would have been MHS 45, TD 58, EHS 69, GRG 80, BYR 101, JHS 168 GD no score

Below is the all-time Downey list for this course:

DRY CREEK FIGURE 8   3MI

Varsity Girls:
1. Sierra Durham 19:47 11th 2011
2. Rocio Ramirez Castro 20:27 11th 2011
3. Hope Davis 20:48 10^th 2009
4. Rory Jimenez 21:03 10th 2011
5. Natalie Franco 21:05 10th 2011
6. Katie Scheder 21:33 10th 2011
7. Madeleine Souza 21:31 9th 2011
8. Ariel Cisneros 22:14 12^th 2009
9. Laura Urena 22:24 12^th 2009
10. Marissa Ontiveros 22:44 11^th 2009

In the Varsity Boy's race Andrew Osgood was sitting out due to a sprained ankle. That left a giant void up front for the Knights. All of the F/S boys were moved up hoping that someone might pull out a great race. Guadalupe Torres went out with the leaders in an effort to step up. As the miles tacked on he faded but still managed a great time and race. His 17:28 (12th) vaults him to the top of the Downey list for this course. Kenji soares was the next Knight across the linein 20th (18:14 with Alfonso Urbano hot on his heels in 21st (18:15). Pierson, who was suffering from a lack of sleep, was next across in 27th (18:31) and Danny Maurico completed the team scoring with the 29th spot (18:51).  Behind the top 5 Justin Goering took advantage of his opportunity and was the 6th Downey finisher in 32nd overall (19:04). The boys finished third as they have all season (even without Andrew).

Below is the all-time Downey list for this course:
DRY CREEK FIGURE 8   3MI
Varsity Boys:
1. Guadalupe Torres 17:28 11th 2011
2. Andrew Osgood 17:50 10^th 2010
3. Kenji Soares 18:14 12th 2011
4. Alfonso Urbano 18:15 10th 2011
5. Kalem Schandler 18:15 11^th 2008
6. Pierson Devers 18:31 11^th 2011
7. Grant Linhares 18:46 12^th 2008
8. Danny Maurico 18:51 10^th 2011
9. Justin Goering 19:04 9th 2011
10. Brice Harmon 19:08 12^th 2008

Link to full Downey Results:
http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=50595#789

Links to picture of the meet:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1828206244073.75424.1807850130&type=1&l=80b5a572dd

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1828360607932.75432.1807850130&type=1&l=909fc4d19c

WEEK 6--Runners of the Week

During week 6 the varsity Knights competed at the ultra tough Clovis Invitational.

ROCIO RAMIREZ-CASTRO--finished 100th and ran 21:46 for the 5K circuit. Coach Osgood says, "Rocio Ramirez-Castro @ the Clovis Invitational, moved up to run as second place on her team, improved time and felt "good" this week! Good job Rocio!!!!"

KENJI SOARES--finished 184th and ran 19:47 for the 5K course. Coach Ipp says, "After a good week of practice, he had a great run at the Clovis Invitational, breaking 20 min for 3.2 miles by running 19:47." 

Clovis Invitational

The Downey varsity boys and girls competed yesterday in the Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The girls were up first competing in the D2, large schools division. This race was stacked with several of the top schools in the state. The course is famous for its gentle rolling hills (okay a few of them are pretty steep). If you don't get a good start it is difficult for most runners to make up ground as the race progresses. Sierra probably got out too slow and paid for that most of the race. She finished in 20:53, 72nd place. Rocio got out well and had one of her best races orf the season. She finished in a strong 21:46 for 100th place. The pack of Downey girls were close bewind. Natalie was the next across the line in 22:15, 122nd; Rory was next in 22:19, 124th; just ahead of a hard charging Katie in 22:21, 125th; and Madeleine follow up the group in 22:32, 132nd. Ana was the final Downey runner. It seemed clear that her legs were hurting, but she still managed to complete the course in 24:31, 167th place. Overall the girls finished with 515 points which placed them 20th out of the 26 teams. That result might not sound spectacular but they have no seniors and none of them had ever raced on this course before.

On the boys side they were simply overmatched. Andrew had a sprained ankle. Only 6 Knights toed the line and all six of them finished in the final 17 runners. It takes a lot of courage to run a race against competition that you know is so much faster than you are. I give the boys props for stepping forward and accepting the challenge when several other Downey runners refused to even come and attept the race. So much of cross-country is about personal commitment, personal sacrifice, and personal gratification. These boys toed the line and ran their hardest against some of the State's toughest competition. Guadalupe hit the line in 19:11. He was followed closely by Pierson in 19:18. Kenji may have had his best race of the year finishing in 19:47. Danny was right behind in 19:57. Alfonso did not have a great day. His 21:31 was over 2 minutes slower than he ran at the last cluster meet. The final Downey runner was Juan Carlos.

After the meet the majority of the team ate lunch together. then we drove through a maze of streets in Fresno trying to get around a stopped train--fun times indeed. Next up for the Knights is Cluster Meet #3 this coming Wednesday @ Dry Creek.

Clovis Invite or Bust!

The Downey varsity harriers are headed to Woodward Park in Fresno this Saturday for the Clovis Invitational. This meet is one of the premier XC races in the state. Since the State XC meet is held on this very course in November, many team from throughout the state use this as a preview race. Making the trip for the boy's team is Andrew, Alfonso, Guadalupe, Pierson, Danny, Kenji, and Conner. On the girl's side will be Sierra, Rory, Natalie, Rocio, Katie, Madeleine, and Anna. The girls run at 12:30 and the boys run at 1:00.

DIRECTIONS TO WOODWARD PARK:

MAP OF THE COURSE: