Some Great Work at SCVAL Champs!

Monta Vista traveled back up the freeway to Crystal Springs for our league championships on November 5…and the team had a day to keep in our memories for a long time!

The junior varsity girls scooted out of class early and were on the course warming up before anyone else arrived.  The girls were clearly ready to show off all the work they had done all season and were in solid position at the one mile mark; by the end of the second loop at Crystal they had complete control.  Freshman Nikhita Saldi claimed the JV individual championship with an impressive 20:11 mark; that time is the 11th best time ever by a Monta Vista freshman girl at Crystal, and ties her with Bridget Gottlieb who went on to set a Monta Vista course record as a senior.  The top seven Monta Vista all runners finished in the top 10 of the League championship race:  Freshman Nerea Northrop, junior Rachel Jiang, Freshman Agnes Wang, and juniors Upasana Dilip, Vivian Cheng and Vibha Iyengar took seven out of the first seven places in our league!  That finish translated to a dominating victory for the team, as Monta Vista had a mere 21 points with second place Lynbrook tallying 59 points and Homestead 60.  What a day for all of these girls!

The frosh-soph boys lined up next.  Another group of smart racers managed the first loop and moved in the back part of the course, lead by Andrew Cole who took 8th place with a 18:16.  Andrew set the tone for the team, as the five MVXC scoring runners all set new personal records; Andrew was followed by Alex Nguyen with a 1:08 PR, Ari Rajaram who knocked 1:06 off his mark, Max Ready with a 1:08 PR of his own, while Thomas Philip completed the scoring with his own PR.   The boys ended up their season with a solid 4th place team finish in leagues.

The season-long leadership from junior Sylvana Northrop and senior Triya Roy shown through again, as both runners had PRs that placed them on the podium in second and fourth place.  This is the second year in a row that both of these fine athletes were in the top five at league finals!   The rest of our young team–Monta Vista rolled out three sophomores and two freshman together with Triya and Sylvana in the varsity squad–ran aggressively and brought home a close second place finish.  Jannah Sheriff’s 20:06 and Ellie Hsu’s 20:24 PR both earned them varsity all-league status, a repeat for Jannah and Ellie’s first.  Vivian Lau also had a PR as she completed the Monta Vista scoring, while freshmen Sydney Stevens and Avani Kalari had their first league finals experience–a challenging experience that will serve them well, as they start what could be a four-year varsity career.

Saving the best for last, the varsity boys toed the line at Crystal.  This is another young squad, with two seniors, two juniors and three sophomores representing the MVXC varsity. The two juniors lead the scoring, as Rohun Agrawal put up a 15:36 (Monta Vista’s 5th fastest all time) and Andrew Richardson recorded a 16:11 clocking (Monta Vista’s 1oth all time mark).  Rohun won the race outright, giving Monta Vista it’s second individual championship for the day, while Andrew sped home in 7th place.   Senior Nitin Subramanian and sophomores Matthew Sun and Sahil Goel all joined the PR party, completing the scoring as MVXC boys claimed their first league championship since 2009!

The boy’s championship was the culmination of a long effort by many people.  Captains Nitin Subramanian and Kyle Tsujimoto have been on the team for four years and continued to push themselves and encourage others.   Most workouts this season feature eight to ten boys racing off the track and headed to the roads and trails in a powerful pack, working as a team to continue to improve themselves.  I think that most of the boys have had many days were the work they did inspired their friends and teammates, and I know that all the boys had days when they were inspired by the work ethic of others.  This is a very, very hardworking as well as talented group, and they have the potential to continue to grow this season and in the future!

In addition to two league championships, Monta Vista athletes claimed 17 all-league awards!  That means that more than 1/3 of the all-league awards went to Monta Vista kids–that is an impressive performance.

Awesome job, team!  Now on the the Central Coast Section Championships on November 16 back at Crystal Springs–one more opportunity for a Crystal PR this season for our varsity athletes!

And please do not forget to sign up for the season banquet on November 19…this is always a special event, and we have a lot to celebrate already!

All-League Athletes from Monta Vista

Varsity Boys:

Rohun Agrawal

Andrew Richardson

Nitin Subramanian

Matthew Sun

Sahil Goel

Varsity Girls:

Sylvana Northrop

Triya Roy

Jannah Sheriff

Elisabeth Hsu

Frosh-Soph Boys:

Andrew Cole

Junior Varsity Girls:

Nikhita Saldi

Nerea Northrop

Rachel Jiang

Agnes Wang

Upasana Dilip

Vivian Cheng

Vibha Iyengar

Overall, Monta Vista set an impressive 31 personal records!  This table is below.  Complete results are at XCStats.

Crystal Springs Course Personal Records Set at League Championships