|
By Vytas Mazeika
<br />vmazeika@
<br />bayareanewsgroup.com
<br />MOUNTAIN VIEW >>It ’s hard
<br />to crack the boys cross
<br />countr y lineup at St.Fran-
<br />cis,especially considering
<br />there are 88 runners on the
<br />roster.
<br />“It’s the biggest team in
<br />the histor y of our school,”
<br />St.Francis coach Phil Pom-
<br />pei said.“It’s a lot of full
<br />buses and full locker rooms,
<br />but there’s definitely an en-
<br />ergy and an excitement
<br />around what’s going on.
<br />And whether it’s the No.1
<br />guy or No.88,there’s a level
<br />of pr ide and ow nership of
<br />being part of this program.”
<br />“Depth is something that
<br />we really work on a lot as
<br />a team,”said Shyam Ku-
<br />mar,the defending Central
<br />Coast Section Division II
<br />individual champion.“We
<br />make sure that we cultivate
<br />the underclassmen and
<br />make sure that they feel as
<br />much a part of the program
<br />as we are,and show them
<br />that through belief in the
<br />program you can achieve a
<br />lot more than you’ve ever
<br />imagined.”
<br />Kumar,a 5-foot-8 senior,
<br />and the other top six var-
<br />sity runners on the Lanc-
<br />ers will travel this weekend
<br />to Fresno to compete at the
<br />Clov is Invitational.
<br />The 3.1-mile Wo odward
<br />Park course is the site of the
<br />CIF state championships on
<br />Nov.25,and this is the per-
<br />fect chance to introduce
<br />novice runners to the trail
<br />and the atmosphere.
<br />“The main thing I’ve
<br />learned is it goes out quick,
<br />but you can’t really be
<br />afraid,”said Kumar,who
<br />finished 20th as an indi-
<br />vidual last year.“They can
<br />stick right up there with ev-
<br />er yone else and just because
<br />it goes out at a crazy kind of
<br />start doesn’t mean the en-
<br />tire race is over.They can
<br />still push through the pain
<br />and sort of fight to the end.”
<br />St.Francis is the back-to-
<br />back CCS D-II champion as
<br />a team,but failed to po-
<br />dium at state after coming
<br />in 12th.
<br />It ’s obvious the stakes
<br />are raised after the Lanc-
<br />ers opened the season last
<br />month at the Chieftain
<br />Classic in Salinas on the
<br />Toro Park course with a
<br />perfect score:1-2-3-4-5.
<br />“You rarely go into a meet
<br />expecting to score 15 points,
<br />so it ’s pretty remarkable to
<br />accomplish that in our first
<br />meet of the year,”Pompei
<br />said.“I don’t expect that
<br />we’ll go 1 through 5 on Wil-
<br />low Glen again,but to do it
<br />once was a pretty cool start
<br />to the season for the guys.”
<br />Leading the pack for St.
<br />Francis is a 1-2 punch of Ku-
<br />mar and junior Colton Col-
<br />onna,who finished in that
<br />order at the CCS champion-
<br />ships last year.
<br />“We do push each other,”
<br />said Kumar,who trains 40
<br />to 45 miles on race weeks.
<br />“I think that’s really how we
<br />get better together.”
<br />“There’s nothing like hav-
<br />ing those two guys rolling
<br />together,”Pompei said.“A nd
<br />just the way they’ve been
<br />training is the way that
<br />they’ve been racing,and
<br />that’s helpful for the guys
<br />behind them and for the
<br />team scoring.They’re real-
<br />izing how fortunate they are
<br />to have one another.
<br />“I think it ’s only helped
<br />Colton continue to develop
<br />and helped keep Shyam
<br />hu ngry and pushing to al-
<br />ways have somebody right
<br />on his shoulder.It ’s a pretty
<br />special pair.”
<br />Juniors Eric Eng and
<br />Daniel Skahill,along with
<br />sophomore Juan Pablo Gar-
<br />cia,finished within a sec-
<br />ond of each other at the
<br />Chieftain Classic,half a
<br />minute behind Colonna and
<br />Kumar.
<br />But there’s plenty of other
<br />Lancers hoping to get a
<br />chance to run at the We st
<br />Catholic Athletic League
<br />championship on Nov.1 at
<br />Crystal Springs in Belmont .
<br />Several of them will get
<br />a shot at improv ing their
<br />spots on the ladder this
<br />weekend at the Serra Invi-
<br />tational,as the Lancers will
<br />send a “B”squad to the race
<br />on the 2.95-mile course.
<br />“The guys work so hard
<br />and it ’s frustrating some-
<br />times when they’re No.8 or
<br />9 or 10,and they’d be in the
<br />top seven on just about ever y
<br />other team,”Pompei said.
<br />“A nd so to give them an op -
<br />portunity to put that varsity
<br />singlet on in a top compe -
<br />tition like Crystal,we’ll see
<br />who steps up and who puts
<br />their name in the conversa-
<br />tion to be considered for the
<br />top seven down the road.”
<br />“I think that’s huge,”Ku-
<br />mar said.“The fact they
<br />put on the varsit y singlet
<br />and they go out there and
<br />they race I think will really
<br />show them what they’re ca-
<br />pable of.”
<br />The goal right now is to
<br />dethrone Bellarmine as the
<br />WCAL champion,with the
<br />Bells currently enjoying a
<br />10 -year reign.
<br />The last time the Lanc-
<br />ers claimed the title was in
<br />2005.
<br />“The time goals that I’ve
<br />set out for myself don’t re-
<br />ally matter too much for
<br />me,as long as I lay it all
<br />out there for my team,”Ku-
<br />mar said.
<br />“I think ever y single guy
<br />on that team is far more
<br />concerned about the team
<br />perfor mance than his ow n
<br />individual perfor mance,”
<br />Pompei said.“They push
<br />each other and they suppor t
<br />each other and they encour-
<br />age each other and they love
<br />each other and they pick up
<br />each other up when they’re
<br />down.It ’s just a joy to work
<br />with them and to have that
<br />culture within the varsity
<br />group trickle down.”
<br />Contact Vy tas Mazeika at
<br />650-391-1329.
<br />BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
<br />St rength in nu mber s fo r back-t o-back CC S cha mpion
<br />St.Francis has 88
<br />runners on roster
<br />NOTICE INVITING SEALED BIDS
<br />CITY OF REDWOOD CITY
<br />REDWOOD CITY,CALIFORNIA
<br />Notice is hereby given that sealed bids will be opened by the City of
<br />Redwood City at the Office of the City Clerk,1017 Middlefield Road,
<br />Redwood City,California at 3:30 p.m.Thursday,October 19,2017 for the
<br />following bids
<br />“STORM PUMP REPAIR SERVICES”
<br />The Notice Inviting Bid packets may be obtained from the Public Wo rks
<br />Services Department,1400 Broadway Street,Redwood City,CA94063,
<br />online at http://www.redwoodcity.org/business/bids-proposals,or by
<br />calling (650)780-7464.All bids must be submitted at or beforethe
<br />specified time and place and plainly marked on the envelope:“SEALED
<br />BID FOR STORM PUMP REPAIR SERVICES DUE 3:30 P.M.THURSDAY,
<br />OCTOBER 19”.Late submittals will not be accepted.The Council of the
<br />City of Redwood City reserves the right to reject or accept any proposal or
<br />bid or any part or portion thereof or any combination of bid items or bids,
<br />and further reserves the right to waive any informality or honest clerical
<br />error in any bid.
<br />Pamela Aguilar
<br />City Clerk
<br />Published in the Daily News on October 6,2017
<br />FRIDAY,OCTOBER 6,2017 150 THE DAILY NEWS 27★6.1.B. - Page 32
|