Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

Archives

 

Northern California Championships

The streak of 10 straight times both the Men's and Women's Teams Qualifying for the State Championships came to an end last Friday at Toro Park as both teams finished in 9th place.  Under previous qualifying procedures both teams would have made it to their 11th straight State Meet, however this year the Championship field was reduced by 3 teams from the North and unlike in previous years of finishing in the Top 10 to qualify.  This year the teams needed to qualify in the Top 7.  Most all of the 14 Dons who competed ran either a season best or lifetime best to finish their season.  Three Dons did qualify individually to the State Championships in two weeks at Woodward Park in Fresno.  For the Women, Zoe Blankenship ran a 48 second personal best time at Toro Park to finish in 31st place overall and qualify as one of the 8 individual runners in the field.  The Men had a spectacular effort from team leader Iman Bayat who bettered his own school history best time to 20:49 to finish in 6th place overall and earn First Team All-NorCal Honors.  Sophomore Senai Gebrehiwet who finished second for the Dons and 43rd overall also ran a lifetime best on the course to qualify individually to the State Championships.

 

Coast Conference Championships

Zoe Blankenship led the Dons to their 10th straight top 2 team finish in the Coast Conference Championships last Friday as she earned 2nd team All-Conference Honors finishing in 12th place.  Kaitlin Garcia ran second for the Dons as Rebecca Collins was out with the flu.  Garcia ran a seasons best 23:00 to finish 16th place missing a medal by 1 spot.  Priya Kadakia and Mimi Nguyen finished in 19th and 20th with Kim Nguyen who joined the team late rounding out the top 5 in 24th place.  For the Men, Iman Bayat earned 1st Team All-Conference Honors with his 6th place finish.  Senai Gebrehiwet was 16th overall also just missing a medal by one spot.    Oscar Tamayo, Daniel Dabel and Fiston Kizungu rounded out the scorers for the Dons with 28th, 29th and 31st place finishes.  The Men finished 3rd overall and the Women were 2nd overall.  Both teams now move on to compete at the Northern California Championships next Friday, again at Toro Park in Salinas with the first race starting at 2 PM.

 

Santa Clara Bronco Invitational

The Top 8 Men and Zoe Blankenship for the Women competed in the Open Division of the 2017 Santa Clara Bronco Invitational.  This race would be both a step up in both distance and competition for one last race before the Coast Conference Championships.  Iman Bayat finished the 8K course in 26:12 to lead the men to an 8th place finish of mostly 4 year schools.  Bayat was 28th overall out of the 138 runners in the race and the 11th fastest runner on a collegiate team.  Senai Gebrehiwet in 75th, Daniel Dabel in 92nd, Oscar Tamayo in 119th, Fiston Kizungu in 126th were the rest of the scoring team for the Dons.  Zoe Blankenship finished in 52nd out of 81 runners as the lone female competing for the Dons.  Next up for the Dons is the Coast Conference Championships at Toro Park.

 

Toro Park Invitational

The Dons ran their first of 3 meets at Toro Park in Salinas at the Toro Park Invitational.  This meet also served as the unofficial NorCal Preview meet with most of the teams from Northern California in attendance.  The Women finished 7th as a team, led by Zoe Blankenship 30th place finish overall out of the 93 runners in the race.  Rebecca Collins and Kaitlin Garcia raced each other to 54th and 55th place, followed by Priya Kadakia in 57th place and Mimi Nguyen in 62nd place to round out the Top 5.  The men were led by Freshman Standout Iman Bayat who finished in 4th place overall out of the 138 runners in the race.  Bayat ran the fastest time in School History on the current Toro Park 4 mile course, coming in at a time of 21:10.  Senai Gebrehiwet was next across the line for the Dons in 34th place.  Daniel Dabel wsa just ahead of Oscar Tamayo as they placed 66th and 69th respectively.   Former Don Track Standout, Fiston Kizungu has joined the team to help out the Dons for the end of the year coming in as the 5th runner in 101st place in his first XC meet ever.  Some of the Dons will next compete in the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational.

 

MJC Invitational

The Cross Country Teams traveled to Modesto for the MJC Invitational.  This was the first time all of the Women who started the season raced in the same race.  Zoe Blankenship ran a college best time to finish 6th place overall in the race of the 43 runners.  Rebecca Collins continued to run second for the women finishing in 23rd place overall, followed closely by Priya Kadakia running in just her second race of the season who was 26th place.  Mimi Nguyen and Kaitlin Garcia rounded out the top 5 for the Dons in 28th and 29th place.  The Dons finished in 3rd place overall of the 8 teams with runners entered.  For the Men, they too finished in 3rd place overall led by Freshman Iman Bayat who covered the 4 mile course in 20:46 to finish in 2nd place overall out of the 53 runners in the race.  Senai Gebrehiwet had a collegiate best time to finish in 7th place overall, and Daniel Dabel came in 20th with his best race of the season.  Oscar Tamayo 33rd and Manav Walia 35th rounded out the Top 5.  Chance Hall was just behind Walia in 36th for the Dons.  On Friday, the Dons will travel to Toro Park in Salinas, CA to compete in the Toro Park Invitational, which will also serve as the NorCal Preview.  The Dons will be among over 300 entered runners in the race. 

 

Lou Vasquez Invitational

The Dons had a rare midweek meet traveling to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Thursday to compete in the Lou Vasquez Invitational.  Thirteen Men's and Women's Teams were entered in the meet and the Dons had their best finish of the season.  The Women finished 5th overall, led by Zoe Blankenship in 30th place overall.  Freshman Rebecca Collins had a lifetime best to be the number 2 runner for the Dons in 42nd place overall.  Kaitlin Garcia 47th, Mimi Nguyen 49th and Liy Liy Trenh 55th were the 5 women entered in the race for the Dons.  The Men finished in 6th place with Iman Bayat running a season best time of 21:18 to finish in 13th overall.  Sophomore Senai Gebrehiwet was next across for the Dons in 32nd place just breaking the 22 minute barrier by 1 second on the extremely windy day.  Daniel Dabel 65th and Oscar Tamayo 66th were next across the line together only 4 seconds apart.  Manav Walia 95th Chance Hall was 103rd as the other Dons entered in the race.  The travel to Modesto next Friday, September 29th. 

 

Las Positas Invitational

The Dons traveled to Livermore, CA Friday afternoon to run in the first ever Las Positas Invitational.  The meet featured 10 Mens teams and 11 Womens teams.  The Men and women had their highest finishes of the year as a team.  Zoe Blankenship led the ladies to a 3rd place team finish behind Hartnell and UC Santa Cruz.  Finishing in 19th place overall.  For the Men, Iman Bayat again led the Dons with a 14th place finish with Sophomore Senai Gebrehiwet in 27th place.  The men finished in 4th place overall as a team.  The Dons will have a short week as they get ready for the Lou Vasquez Invitational on Thursday at the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields.  

 

Fresno Invitational

Seventeen Junior College teams from around California once again met at Fresno's Woodward park for the Fresno Invitational, which has served as the unofficial state preview meet for many many years.  This was the first race for the Dons at the actual distance they will compete at most of their meets with, so this also served as preview to see where the Dons were at in this early season with so many new faces.  For the Women, Zoe Blankenship led the women with a personal best time for Woodward Park to finish in 57th place out of the 119 runners.  Freshman Rebecca Collins, in her first race of the season was the number two runner for the Dons finishing in 94th leasing a close quartet of Dons to score an 11th place finish as a team.  Kaitlin Garcia was in 96th, Mimi Nguyen was in 101st and Liy Liy Trenh 110th.  For the Men, Iman Bayat once again led the team with a 31st place finish out of 162 runners.  Bayat ran one of the fastest times in years for a Don on this course with a time of 21.51.6 for the 4 mile course.  Senai Gebrehiwet finished in 60th place, and was followed by Daniel Dabel in 102nd, Oscar Tamayo in 117th and Manav Walia in 139th to round out the scoring team, who finished in 14th place.  The Dons will next compete in the Las Positas Invitational in Livermore, CA on Friday Sept. 15th. 

 

NDNU Argonaut Invitational

The Dons opened the 2017 season at a familiar place but were running a different course.  The Dons opened at the Notre Dame de Namur Argonaut Invitational where they were the only junior college team to compete of the 9 schools with entered athletes.  It was near 100 degrees and the athletes were running a 6K race for the women and an 8K race for the men.  Many of the Dons were in their first college race ever on the hardest course they will run all year.  For the Men, Freshman Iman Bayat finished 11th overall to lead the Dons.  Sophomore Senai Gebrehiwet finished a respectable 21st place to give the Dons a 1-2 punch among the 54 athletes that finished the race, as many dropped out due to the heat and challenging course.    For the Women, Sophomore Zoe Blankenship finished in 29th place overall to lead the women out of the 68 women who managed to finished the race.  The men finished in 5th place overall and the women finished in 7th as a team.