Blog

November 22, 2019

CIF Central Section Championships

At the CIF Central Section Championships on November 21, the Pirates wrapped up their season on a gorgeous day for racing at Woodward Park in Fresno. The girls started the day ranked 13th in Division 3 but raced to a 7th place team finish (18 teams). The boys finished 11th out of 23 teams in Division 4, also improving on their ranking. Carbajal again stood out, finishing as the third best freshman in the division.


Boys Division 4

Place/grade/name/time

22. 9 Michael Carbajal 17:36.68 *

43. 12 Eric Cruz 18:17.98

77. 10 Diego Martinez 19:00.61 R

78. 11 Jacob Rocha 19:01.51

81. 11 Brendan Costa 19:04.19

95. 10 Noah Howard 19:21.35 *

115. 12 Zachary Moore 20:04.39


Girls Division 3

27. 12 Maia Burton 21:19.03

29. 11 Adrienne Frere 21:22.97

43. 10 Peyton Schemmer 21:55.70

58. 9 Maya Gellerman 22:31.07

81. 11 Taylor Costa 23:15.12 R

115. 11 Olivia Fernflores 24:56.96

120. 11 Sierra Kocina 25:13.66 R

* Woodward PR

R = Rookie effort at Woodward


The Girls faced a particular challenge this season after losing five of their top seven varsity runners to graduation last year. We are happy with how the newcomers (juniors Taylor Costa and Sierra Kocina, and freshmen Maya Gellerman and Kate Avila) blended in, and how the team became a hard-charging unit. The guys had many new faces as well - in fact, four of the top five were new to the program this year (Carbajal, Cruz, Costa and Martinez). The newcomers helped the team take a huge step up incompetitiveness.


Time will tell, but we think we minted some new running enthusiasts. This is one of our program’s goals. We want each athlete to have a quality experience, enough that they look forward to running beyond high school. Several of our alumni have run competitively in college on scholarships, and many more have gone on to enjoy the sport in all of its wonderful variations, including trail races, half marathons and just plain (but important) fitness running.

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November 8, 2019

CCAA Mountain League Championships

On November 7, the Pirates took on the big schools at the CCAA Mountain League Championships, held at Cuesta College’s Fairbanks course. The Pirate squads were reassigned to the Mountain League this season due to the success of the girls team last season in the Ocean League. Both teams held up, but could not push into the upper echelons of this high-powered league, perhaps the strongest overall in the entire CIF Central Section. The Girls finished 6th out of 6 teams, just a few points behind Atascadero, and the Boys finished 6th out of 7 schools, beating Righetti. Adreinne Frere led the girls and Michael Carbajal led the boys. Both earned league honorable mention honors. Michael’s time, 17:33.9, was the fastest of any freshman in the league.


Pirate Results - CCAA Mountain League Finals

The Fairbanks Cross Country Course 5K (11/7/19)

VARSITY BOYS:

22. Michael Carbajal 17:33.9 (Fastest freshman in the Mountain League)

33. Eric Cruz 18:13.9

40. Diego Martinez 19:32.3

41. Brendan Costa 19:36.4

42. Noah Howard 19:57.7

45. Jacob Rocha 20:34.1

47. Zachary Moore 20:50.6


VARSITY GIRLS :

26. Adrienne Frere 21:55.7

29. Maya Gellerman 22:13 (#6 freshman in league)

34. Peyton Schemmer 22:41

37. Taylor Costa 24:39

38. Olivia Fernflores 27:11.6

39. Kate Avila 29:57.2

*Varsity athletes out for this meet: Senior Captain Maia Burton, Sierra Kocina.


JV BOYS - 7th (7 teams):

72. Charlie Inman 20:59.0

115. Matthew Osorio 22:50.7

136. Luis Garcia 25:22.2

140. Jacob Cromer 25:47.5

152. John Cameli 32:05.9

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September 28, 2019

Bellarmine/Sacred Heart Invitational

The Pirate Varsity Girls won the Bellarmine/Sacred Heart Invitational in Los Angeles on Saturday 9/28/19. The Pirates scored 88 points to top a field of 15 teams including perennial small-school powers Flintridge Prep (2nd, 97 points) and Santa Ynez (3rd, 115).


The Boys team finished 12th, led by senior Eric Cruz (35th place in 17:28 over the hilly 2.94 mile course) and freshman Michael Carbajal (37th in 17:35). They were followed by sophomore Diego Martinez (75th in 18:34), junior Brenden Taylor (119th in 19:45), and sophomore Jacob Riegelhuth (168th in 22;14).


We had an idea that Michael Carbajal would be solid, since he was a good runner in middle school, but Cruz is a surprise. He is a senior and has never before participated in a high school sport. Eric has a great stride, is very aerobic, and has true speed. He and Michael push each other in practice, and Diego Martinez is right there with them. Diego has missed most of our meets this season due to a family trip to Mexico, and he will move up on Eric and Michael once he gains racing experience.


For the girls, the win was a nice mid-season reward for all of their training. The team was led by junior Adrienne Frere (4th in 20:19) and soph Peyton Schemmer (6th in 20:35). Peyton was a first-team all-league harrier last season and is even stronger this year. She and Adrienne are developing into a true one-two punch at the top of the field. These two were followed by senior Captain Maia Burton (24th in 21:57), junior Sierra Kocina (38th in 22:52), junior Taylor Costa (44th in 23:15), freshman Maya Gellerman (58th in 24:01) and junior Olivia Fernflores (64th in 24:05)


This meet was formerly known as the Bellarmine-Jefferson Invitational, and Pirate teams have been attending for decades. Morro Bay has notched many wins over the years, most recently in 2013 for the boys and 2015 for the girls. Thanks to proceeds from the Morro Bay Invitational, and the terrific volunteer and community support that goes into it, the Pirates have always been able to travel to “Bell-Jeff” the day before the meet. This allows the athletes time to preview the course in Griffith Park, and then explore the wonderful Griffith Park Observatory. It may seem amazing, but we never see phones out in the observatory! The astronomical exhibits, including huge models and actual meteorites one can touch, just seem to draw in these student-athletes.


Next up for the Pirates is the CCAA mid-season meet at the Elks Unocal Event Center in Santa Maria on Wednesday, October 4th.

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