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We are going to have a post-season!  Our league, SCVAL, has decided that yes we can participate in the Central Coast Section Championship meet…so there is a lot of scrambling to make that happen.  Certainly, things will keep changing.  Here is information that is semi-current as of Monday, May 17…but be patient as things continue to change.

  • A SCVAL qualifier is planned for Saturday, May 29.  The meet will be held at Santa Clara High School.  We still don’t have a schedule of events.  No spectators will be allowed.
  • The top six athletes and relay teams in each event at the Santa Clara qualifier meet will advance to CCS Semi-Finals at Soquel High School on Saturday, June 12.
  • Finals will be held on Saturday, June 19 also at Soquel High School.
For the SCVAL qualifier event, the top 15 marks that are achieved by athletes during SCVAL dual meets this season, while competing as a varsity athlete, will advance to the meet.  If someone does not choose to participate, because of conflicts or to focus on another event, the next best mark will be entered.  So for example Sylvana currently has the 3rd fastest 800m mark in SCVAL at 2:23.17; the 15th best time is 2:31.14 held by Katherine Hegblom of Homestead.  Currently, Katherine is the last qualifier for the Santa Clara meet and Srushti Patel of Lynbrook, number 16 with a 2:32.95 is out.  But if Syl drops to focus on another race, then Srushti is in the meet.
 
Only marks that are earned as varsity athletes will count…so any frosh-soph or JV athlete with marks close to the cut off, that want to be considered for the post-season, should run in varsity during the next couple weeks to get a mark that counts for qualifying.
 
There is going to be a mad scramble the next two weeks as athletes try to achieve one of the top 15 marks!   If you think you are close, and want to qualify in a certain event, talk to your coach as soon as you can.  (Also let us know if you can’t or don’t want to compete in the post season.)
 
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Here is an idea of the status of the different events, and where Monta Vista athletes currently stand:
 
100m:  The 15th boys’ mark in SCVAL is 11.64 and the girls’ is 13.54 (REMEMBER these marks will go down over the next couple weeks).  Sammi has the 11th best mark today, Agnes is a quarter second away from qualifying, and Jonathan is 0.16 seconds away from the cut off.
 
200m:  23.91 boys/28.01 girls.  Jonathan and Agnes are the closest to qualification (Agnes less than .2 seconds away).
 
400m:  55.21 for the boys, 65.15 for the girls.  Valerie is 0.61 seconds from the target, while Vish has about 2.5 seconds to shave off.
 
800m:  2:06.62/2:31.64–but I think these are very soft numbers, as I can see the owners of some of these marks may scratch out to focus on the 3200m–Syl and Rohun are examples (1600m athletes generally don’t scratch the 800 as they figure it’s a free second shot at qualification).  Syl and Rohun both are in the top 15, while Justin, Andrew R, Jannah and Syl are all close. 
 
1600m:  4;37.64/5:31.41.  Syl and Rohun have top-15 marks, Justin is less than 10 seconds away, while Nikhita is less than two seconds from a qual time.  Jannah has a little less than 5 seconds to peel off (remember, again, that the cut-off will change and some 3200m runners could scratch out.
 
3200m:  10:31.36/12:41.75.  My guess is this target drops a lot as athletes who have been avoiding the 8-lapper decide this is a chance to be in the post-season!  For now, Syl, Nikhita, and Rohun all look pretty safe while Vivian, Justin, and Andrew Cole are all within striking distance (and Matt, Jannah and others could think about this distance too.
 
High Hurdles:  19:37/19:11.  Soti and Zoë both look good for moving on.
 
Low Hurdles;  45.93/53.33.  Again, Soti and Zoë look to be in good shape while Yvonne and Ethan are lurking a bit in this event.
 
Relays:  It could be everyone goes or there could be a cut off.  Don’t ask me yet!
 
Shot:  36’8.5″/26’4.5″.  Henry and EZ look solid and Sammy is in striking distance of the cut off, while Alice is the only freshman currently in the top 15.  One big throw from Mel or Diya could also change things.
 
Discus:  98’5″/82’11”.  Vibha and Alice both would have work to do to qualify, while Eric and Sammy look good in the disc–for now.
 
High Jump:  5’4″/4’6″.  Sammi looks like the lone MV representative in the verticals.
 
Long Jump:  Today 19-‘1″ is the top boys’ mark, 15’5.5″ for the girls.  Sammi and Zoë are sitting in the top group, with Brandon needing some improvement.
 
Triple Jump:  38′-0.25″‘/31’-3″.   Zoë is in the top 15 and Brandon is close.
 
Pole Vault:  Zoë…all pole vaulters will be able to compete at Santa Clara!
 
If you want to check out who has achieved different marks, and where you stand, and who is on the bubble for yourself you can go to athletic.net and the SCVAL results….there are a lot of filters you can use to zero in on events, genders, leagues.  Remember that marks achieved in invitationals may not be used–but these athletes also might have marks in dual meets that are almost as good.  There is a lot of drilling down if you want to be precise but maybe you don’t need to be precise at this point if you are trying to pick a target for the next couple of weeks, or if you are setting goals for next year.
 
And talk to your coaches, they might be able to answer your questions too!
 
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