This is part 2 of our summer travels to high school cross country practices. To read about part 1 of our travels in the first half of the summer (Oregon and Washington schools), click HERE.
We asked in an Instagram post in June for teams to fill out their summer practice schedule so we could choose west coast schools to visit. The first half of the summer focused on Oregon and Washington schools and the second half of the summer focused on California schools. By using the survey, we pieced together a travel schedule for California.
Jesuit High School
A week earlier, we visited Jesuit of Portland and this time we visited Jesuit of Sacramento (actually in Carmichael). I was looking forward to the visit because the Jesuit boys have been traditionally a strong program and the 2024 team looks particularly strong. Another reason to visit was to meet legendary head coach Walt Lange. He has been the Jesuit coach since 1970!
Coach Lange arrived at practice on his bike and one of his assistants brought an extra bike for me. I put my cameras on my shoulder and I spent the morning with Coach Lange along the American River as the boys ran an out and back.
The practice started at 6:30 in the morning and for good reason, it was supposed to 105 that day. Other teams from the area were also running along the American River that morning. I enjoyed my time riding and chatting about coaching the Coach Lange. Click HERE for the article on Jesuit.
University High School of San Francisco
From Sacramento, I drove out to the much cooler climate of San Francisco. The following morning I met with University High School of San Francisco in the Presidio sports area. San Francisco is a densely populated city, but it does have a large park area by the Golden Gate Bridge called Presidio National Park. The team met at an athletic field for their exercises and ran hill repeats near the field.
Coach Carin Marrs welcomed me and introduced me to the team. The team ran repeat miles on a closed street on the southern end of the Presidio. University High School caught my attention over ten years ago because ESPN did a feature on their coach at the time, Jim Tracy, who was diagnosed with ALS. The team was determined to win their eighth state title in a row for Coach Tracy. It is a dramatic story that you can watch HERE. I showed the video to my team in Oregon when I was coaching. Coach Marrs has built on tradition started by Coach Tracy at University. To learn more about University's program, click HERE
The Bay School of San Francisco
When I looked at all the summer practice surveys, I saw the University practiced in the morning and Bay School practiced in the evening and both schools are located in San Francisco. Excellent! I can see two schools in one day! My oldest daughter Allison lives in the Presidio.. I went to University's practice Friday morning, then had lunch at Allison's apartment in the Presidio and watched the 10,000 meter men's final of the Olympics (Go Grant Fisher!).
That evening I went to The Bay School's practice which was on the northern end of the Presidio. They met at a park area that has an excellent view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Coach Walfred Solorzano graciously drove me around San Francisco so I could take pictures. I would have had no idea where to park and gotten lost if Coach didn't help me. At practice we saw my daughter Allison on her run near Fort Mason! The team ran from the Golden Gate Bridge to Fort Mason. I felt like a tourist on vacation. Check out Bay School's practice by clicking HERE.
Immanuel Schools
The following morning I met Immanuel School at Woodward Park in Fresno, home of the California State Meet. Two years ago I went to Buchanan's practice at Woodward Park and met Coach Connor Nolen at that practice with one of his athletes.
I have two connections to today's practice. I ran at Fresno State and Woodward Park was our home course. My second connection to today's practice was that my Fresno State teammate Dave Lehrman ran for Immanuel.
The team had just returned from their team camp at the beach and had to adjust to the warm morning in Fresno. The team had an easy day running the 5000 meter cross country course at Woodward Park. As I was waiting for the team to run by, several walkers saw my two cameras on my shoulder and gave me birding photography tips. Click HERE to learn more about Immanuel's practice.
Martin Luther King
From Fresno I drove to Simi Valley where my parents live and I used their home as my base to visit Southern California schools. I saw on the survey that Martin Luther King wanted me to come to their practice. MLK had a great season last fall and was looking forward to meeting the team.
I arrived for the 6:30am practice and met Coach Alfonso Ibarra. Coach Ibarra drove me to their workout location at a nearby park. I was impressed at the practice organization and how the assistant coaches helped out. Coach Ibarra's assistant coach Kalea Ibarra, who is also coaching at MLK, had a great conversation about how to use social media to promote the cross country program. Click HERE to learn more about MLK's practice.
Trabuco Hills
After my MLK visit, I drove out to Orange County for my visit with Trabuco Hills and JSerra. I saw on the survey that Trabuco Hills and JSerra practiced at different times in the morning and the schools are close enough that I could possibly see both teams. I went to Trabuco Hills first.
Coach Liam Clemons was super helpful knowing that I was trying to see two teams back to back and arranged for the team to start their run on their track so I could take pictures. The team met a portable classroom dedicated to the cross country team. I told Coach Clemons that I was jealous because I would have loved to have a team room when I coached. Click HERE to learn more about the Trabuco Hills boy's team.
JSerra
I then got in my car from Trabuco Hills in Mission Viejo to make it to JSerra High School for their morning practice. The team planned on a workout on the track. The track is used for many of the Sound Running track meets and I was fortunate enough to take pictures in March for The Ten meet. Coach Chase Frazier explained to me that the big hill to the west of the track does a great job of blocking any of the sea breezes at night and makes for an excellent track to get the qualifying times in the 10,000 meters.
After the practice, I drove back to my parent's house in Simi Valley, but I pulled off the freeway so I could watch the men's Olympic 1500 meter final where Cole Hocker won the gold! Click HERE to learn more about JSerra's practice.
Simi Valley
I saw on Simi Valley Cross Country's Instagram account that they were hosting an all-comers cross country race on Tuesday night which worked out perfectly in my schedule. I ran cross country and track at Simi Valley High School so it was fun to be there to take pictures. Tonight the racers were at Corriganville Park where Simi Valley Cross Country uses as their home course. The park used to be an old movie ranch where movies and TV shows were filmed.
The run was a community event and several local high school athletes ran in the race too. Click HERE to view the photo gallery of the race hosted by Simi Valley High School.
West Ranch
This is an example of piecing together the California trip like a puzzle. Oaks Christian normally practices in the morning, but moved their practice in the afternoon to prepare for after school practices. Suddenly Wednesday morning opened up in my schedule. West Ranch reached out, asked if I could visit and they practice in the afternoons except on Wednesday mornings! Boom! I put the West Ranch puzzle piece in my trip and made it to Santa Clarita to see West Ranch.
Coaches Gerry Perez and Chris Raigosa welcomed me at Central Park in Santa Clarita and showed me places to take pictures at the park. Like Woodward Park in Fresno, Central Park was bustling with athletes from other schools getting ready for the cross country season. Click HERE to read about West Ranch.
Oaks Christian
After seeing West Ranch in the morning, I traveled to Oaks Christian at Westlake, CA. I was looking forward to visiting Oaks Christian because I had a group run last summer at Moorpark's Happy Camp and met several of the Oaks Christian boys. The school has been around since 2000 and is an athletic power, but I left the area in 1992 so it is a new school for me and looked forward to seeing the campus.
Coach Wes Smith has been the cross country coach since the school opened in 2000 and had a lot of stories about coaching at Oaks Christian. They just returned from team camp at Flagstaff. It seems like Flagstaff is the new go-to place for team camp. Coach Smith handed out the team t-shirt at practice which reminded me of my time coaching and that is one of the rituals of a new season. Click HERE to learn more about Oaks Christian.
South Medford
It was time for me to head home to Oregon and South Medford reached out to me the year before about visiting. South Medford filled out the survey and I was hoping to catch them on the way home. I got to know know head coach Josh Wallace at a cross country clinic a few years ago and assistant coach Braulio Mejia is a Hueneme High School alum. The Vikings of Hueneme is in the same school district as my first teaching stop at Channel Islands. Small world.
As I was driving back to Oregon, Coach Wallace let me know AQI was high in the area due to an area fire and they might have to move the practice to a higher elevation at Mt. Ashland. This is one of the challenges of summer practices out on the west coast. Ultimately, the air quality improved the next morning and I met the team closer to Medford in Jacksonville, Or for a trail run. Coaches and athletes ran on the trails (and more people gave me photo tips on finding birds). I then headed home with the occasional rest stop breaks to watch track at the Olympics. Learn more about South Medford HERE.
Back in Oregon
With only one week left of summer practices in Oregon, I saw Lincoln High School's practice on their track. The school was remodeled recently and I tried to get the school and downtown Portland in the pictures. When I was coaching, there aren't a lot of cross country movies to show athletes like at a team dinner or at a team camp. I could show McFarland USA or show the Long Green Line about Coach Joe Newton and cross country power York High school. One of the stars of the Long Green Line is Eric Dettman who is the Lincoln coach! Click HERE to learn more about Lincoln High School.
A few days later I drove to Valley Catholic. With all my driving this summer, from Bellingham, Washington to San Juan Capistrano, California, my drive to Valley Catholic is less than two miles! One of the advantages of living in Beaverton, Oregon is the Nike World Campus. They have two trails on the campus, that gives runners soft footing and uninterrupted running. Coach Ian Berge invited me to see their annual relay at Hollister Trail at Nike. The event is so popular that alumni show up and join the fun. Click HERE to learn more about Valley Catholic.
I started the summer by visiting Wildwood Running's summer camp visit to the Olympic Trials in Eugene and ending the summer at their last summer group run at Leif Erikson Trail. One of the founders, Marie Davis Markham, helped lead the out and back run on the trail. Leif Erikson is a popular trail in Portland as it is a wooded trail near downtown Portland. From a coaching stand point, it is hard to get lost on the trail. Because of its popularity, you are bound to see other teams running the trail. Today we saw the University of Portland men's team running up the trail. There are quarter mile markings along the trail which is helpful considering the trees can block a watch from an accurate reading of mileage. Marie and Robyn McGillis have cultivated a wonderful project that supports and educates the female athlete. I am glad they invite me to their events to take pictures. Click HERE for photos of the Wildwood Running group run.
My last visit was to watch the end of the Sunset High School's fundraiser for Shriner's Children Hospital where the athletes, parents and alumni raise money with a 24 hour run on the Sunset track. Coach Dan Neeway conceived the idea over ten years ago and it has become a community event. Coach Neeway is one of my closet coaching friends. We taught in the same school district and speaking of teaching, has taught me a lot about coaching. Click HERE to learn more about Sunset High School.
Over the summer I made over twenty visits to high schools from Washington to California. I am looking for to seeing the athletes and coaches at meets this fall. Have a great cross country season!
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