DFAL Championships
Hidden Valley Park
Martinez CA
Saturday, November 8, 2014

RESULTS AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

91:25 – SERIOUSLY?
Girls Destroy HVP Team-Time Record, Leach Claims All-Time Individual Mark as Cougars Dominate DFAL Championships

In the final race of the afternoon at Saturday's 2014 DFAL league championships, the Campolindo varsity girls laid down a team performance for the ages. Brighie Leach (15) and Toni Finnane (15) set the tone early, reeling in a fast-starting Chloe Hansel of Las Lomas so that the trio were shoulder to shoulder at the mile mark.

As the leaders hit "Finale" hill, Leach trailed Hansel and Finnane by a few steps. However, when the group reached the top of the steep 120 meter incline, the defending league champion had gained the lead.

Leach never looked back.

Finanne surged with her teammate through the final stages of the race. By the time the duo crossed the finish line, they had pulled 50 meters ahead of Hansel.

Leach's time of 17:27 is a new course record while, at 17:30, Finnane equals the old mark, set by two-time state champion Carrie Verdon in 2011.

Mary Orders (15), who held 4th place for the duration of the race, relentlessly maintained pursuit of the lead pack. Her final time of 18:28 is 5th best on the course in school history.

Rachel Johnson (15) came from behind yet again, moving from 14th (7th for her squad) in the first mile, all the way to 7th overall in the final stretch. Hana Sun (16) used a bold start and gritty mid-race effort to finish 9th in 19:10, which makes her the 9th best Campolindo athlete in course history, while Sarah Cella (16) and Hannah Ruane (18) grabbed the 12th and 14th spots, respectively.

The varsity girls' placed all 7 runners in the top 14, laying claim to 50% of the DFAL's "All-League" team. Had the rest of the league run as a single squad against the Cougars, they still would have fallen short, 23-32.

What's more, The varsity girls' total time for the first 5 finishers was a mind-blowing 91:25, a hefty 2:46 faster than the previous team-time course record set by the Campolindo squad of 2011.

Their performance topped off an historic day for the red and blue as all 6 squads managed to keep the league at bay, sweeping the team championships. The feat has only been accomplished once before in the history of the DFAL.

The race thought to be the biggest challenge for the Cougars turned into a route when Kekoa Nelson (16) joined his teammates, Matt McAuliffe (16), David Kuckuk (15), and Sam Lee (15) in the front pack of the junior varsity boys' race. All finishing in the top 5, the quartet helped annihilate their closest rivals and continue Campolindo's streak of league titles in the division.

Both frosh soph teams accomplished their missions. The boys' started off the meet with a nail-biter, holding off a challenge from Dublin to win by 2 points, 49-51. Ray Diaz (17) continued his front running while Kyle Flett (17) and Casey Chambers (18) each improved by 40 seconds to maintain the advantage.

The frosh soph girls simply overwhelmed the field, placing 6 runners in the top 9. Jenna Miles earned runner-up honors, and the fastest 2-mile time of the day for the Cougar girls, in 12:58. Jessie Foxworthy (18) and Savannah Hilton (18) both knocked over 30 seconds from their previous best to finish 6th and 7th, respectively.

With a sweep of the top 4 places, the junior varsity girls were equally invincible, scoring just 20 points. Robin Powell (16) claimed the individual crown with teammates Emma Ishida (16) and Sarah Shipway (16) in tow. The surprise performance came from Sophia Settle (16), who dropped her personal best by a whopping 52 seconds to finish 4th overall.

Another "pack" performance helped the varsity boys stay perfect. This day's "top gun" was Jared Yabu (17), who darted passed competitors in the final mile to pick up 4th place. Parker Lothamer (15) was next in line, lowering his course record by 10 seconds for 7th place.

Other big-time improvements came from James Lyon (18), who took 2 minutes off his season best mark in the frosh soph boys' division, and Sean Garvey (16), who cracked the 15 minute barrier by lowering his pervious record by 1:48. On the girls' side, it was Ashley Kohan (17) with the most progress, setting a new course record by 1:58. Jacqualine Hughes (18) and Clarina He (15) were the next best, improving by just over a minute.

Campolindo's Brighie Leach wins third DFAL cross country title

By Phil Jensenpjensen@bayareanewsgroup.com

POSTED: 11/08/2014

At the beginning of the final hill of the Diablo Foothill Athletic League girls championship race Saturday, Campolindo High's Brighie Leach was third behind a talented duo of Las Lomas' Chloe Hansel and Campolindo's Toni Finnane.

Near the top of that 120-meter hill, Leach took the lead. She held the top spot through the finish line to win her third straight DFAL individual cross country title with a Hidden Valley Park-Martinez course-record time of 17 minutes, 27.2 seconds.

"I just started going as fast as I possibly could," said Leach about her big move. "I wasn't expecting this to happen."

The trio had distanced themselves from the rest of the field by approximately the three-quarter mile mark of the 3.0-mile race and were in a tight pack together at the beginning of the final hill with about 600 meters left in the race. Each of the trio led at least once on the hill, with Leach, who has orally committed to Princeton, leading at the top. Finnane placed second in the race in 17:30.1, followed by Hansel in third (17:38.3).

In the boys championship race, Acalanes junior Cameron Gaskell made a decisive move just after the two-mile mark to win in 15:55.2. A Las Lomas duo of Danny Jervis and Tom Robey were second and third with times of 16:07.6 and 16:14.1, respectively.

"There was a good vibe going into the warm-up," Gaskell said. "Once the race got off, my body didn't fail."

Campolindo's girls and boys teams also won championship team titles with scores of 21 and 41, respectively. They clinched the DFAL titles with the wins.

DFAL PHOTO ALBUM FROM ERIC YABU IS HERE!

HUGE GALLERY OF PICTURES FROM STEVE LEACH HERE!

SENIOR SPEECHES AND FAMILY PICS HERE!

BOYS' VARSITY
Grd TOTAL PR CR Plc.
JARED YABU 10 1616 4
PARKER LOTHAMER 12 1628 7
JONATHAN SEMENZA 11 1629 8
KEVIN BUCKLEY 12 1633 10
RICHARD GONG 10 1646 13
NATHANIEL SAUERBERG 11 1648 14
MIGUEL BALIWAG 11 1748 32

Campolindo 41, Dublin 64, Las Lomas 65, Miramonte 97, Acalanes 113, Dougherty Valley 128

BOYS' FROSH SOPH
Grd TOTAL PR CR Plc.
RAY DIAZ 10 1106 3
KYLE FLETT 10 1133 8
DYLAN HOOVER 10 1141 11
CASEY CHAMBERS 9 1142 12
NAVID BOOZARPOUR 10 1146 15
ETHAN SAUERBERG 9 1202 27
NICK WOLFORD 10 1208 28
TIMOTHY SAMS 9 1215 39
MAX LEE 10 1217 40
MATTHEW LOPRESTI 10 1218 42
BRYAN KIKUGAWA 9 1232 54
NICK LANDRY 10 1235 55
JACK STRONG 10 1258 68
KYHBER PRATT 9 1321 77
DAVID CHEN 9 1329 78
KRISH VISHT 9 1330 79
JACOB NOYES 9 1408 96
THIBAULT GOURLIN 9 1432 102
ARTHUR GOLDBLATT 9 1442 106
MATTHEW PROTZEN 9 1517 111
JAMES LYON 9 1619 124

Campolindo 49, Dublin 51, Alhambra 83, Miramonte 102, Dougherty Valley 107, Las Lomas 109, Acalanes 216

BOYS' JV
Grd TOTAL PR CR Plc.
SAM LEE 12 1124 2
DAVID KUCKUK 12 1127 3
MATTHEW MCAULIFFE 11 1129 4
KEKOA NELSON 11 1131 5
SEAN PAPPA 12 1159 13
WILL BUCKLEY 11 1212 20
AARON LIN 11 1213 21
DOMINIC EDWALL 10 1238 34
STONE MAO 10 1240 36
CAMERON ATWOOD 11 1251 43
JOSH STEINGRUBE 11 1256 49
SEAN GARVEY 11 1259 50
EVAN RIEDEL 10 1301 52
JULIAN SOCHER 10 1301 53
NICK BISHOP 11 1308 56
JASON LIN 10 1353 64
DEREK HE 9 1359 66
THOMAS HEUTMAKER 11 1407 68
HAYDEN WELLS 10 1411 71
FLORIAN MICHAEL-SCHWARZINGER 9 1417 73
CONNOR MATHEWS 9 1424 75
CHRISTOPHE MARINIER 9 1510 80
TRENT CAPURRO 12 1621 85

Campolindo 27, Miramonte 51, Las Lomas 67, Dougherty Valley 98, Dublin 107, Acalanes 180

GIRLS' VARSITY
Grd TOTAL PR CR Plc.
BRIGHIE LEACH 12 1727 1
TONI FINANNE 12 1730 2
MARY ORDERS 12 1828 4
RACHEL JOHNSON 12 1849 7
HANA SUN 11 1910 9
SARAH CELLA 11 1933 12
HANNAH RUANE 9 1950 14

Campolindo 23, Las Lomas 79, Dougherty Valley 86, Dublin 113, Miramonte 126, Acalanes 136, Alhambra 188

GIRLS' FROSH SOPH
Grd TOTAL PR CR Plc.
JENNA MILES 9 1258 2
ISABELLA CHAO 9 1345 3
JESSIE FOXWORTHY 9 1417 6
SAVANNAH HILTON 9 1429 7
ANN CHERAYIL 10 1449 8
JULIET ARNSWALD 10 1452 9
AMALIA RIEGELHUTH 10 1536 15
KATY LY 10 1620 28
AUDREY MOORE 9 1707 45
SARAH LEMELIN 10 1710 46
JACQUELINE HUGHES 9 1732 51
KIM BAXTER 10 1733 52

Campolindo 18, Las Lomas 46, Dougherty Valley 90, Miramonte 94

GIRLS' JV
Grd TOTAL PR CR Plc.
ROBIN POWELL 11 1309 1
EMMA ISHIDA 11 1313 2
SARAH SHIPWAY 11 1357 3
SOPHIA SETTLE 11 1410 4
NATASHA MCULLOUGH 11 1521 10
CLARINA HE 12 1550 15
NADIA AQUIL 12 1610 21
MIRANDA PROTZEN 12 1658 25
KRISTY CHIANG 12 1839 35
ASHLEY KOHAN 10 1844 36

Campolindo 20, Las Lomas 35, Dougherty Valley 67, Miramonte 117, Acalanes 132