San Mateo County runners primed for strong Central Coast Section showing

If Dimick can come close to duplicating his PAL championship performance, a CCS Division I title is definitely in his sights. He ran the fastest race at Crystal Springs this season by a huge margin — 40 seconds faster than Woodside’s Ethan Brooks at the PAL championships. Mountain View’s Emmanuel Leblond, who won the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League title, is Dimick’s closest competitor, based on time. The SCVAL ran its league championship race at Crystal Springs as well, with Leblond posting a time of 15:19.4.

Carlmont head coach John Lilygren, who served as the PAL meet director Saturday, said he couldn’t keep a close eye on the boys’ varsity race, but the reports back to him were that Dimick pulled away at the end.

“From what I understand, he and Ethan Brooks were neck and neck for about two miles and then Aidan ran away from him the last mile,” Lilygren said. “When I saw what the time was, it surprised me.”

Lilygren said Dimick has been strong all season. As a sophomore, Dimick finished third at CCS and ran in the state meet. His junior year was wiped out by the pandemic and Lilygren has seen quite the determination from Dimick this season.

“He’s been very motivated,” Lilygren said, adding he ran in the prestigious Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park that featured more than 1,500 runners on the boys’ side alone — and is site of the 2021 state meet.

“He ran Clovis back in October to get a shot at running the course down there,” Lilygren continued. “He was strong (running at 15:27.5). He wasn’t in the championship race, but he ended up winning the race he was in (XL Varsity Boys), setting a personal best by about 25 seconds.

“He was strong and recovered well. His training has just been going great.”

While Mountain View’s Leblond has the second-fastest Division I, Lilygren is more concerned with Bellarmine. The Bells are the seven-time defending CCS Division I team champion and they have won the CCS individual title three of the last four years.

Bellarmine’s Ryu Yanashita finished second to Serra’s Tommy Rogers in the West Catholic Athletic League championships with a time of 15:29.9, but Lilygren thinks maybe Yanashita was sandbagging a little bit.

“I have a suspicion Bellarmine (runners) still have something left in the tank,” Lilygren said.

With Bellarmine competing in Division I, it frees up Serra’s Rogers to be a contender in the Division II bracket. Rogers won the WCAL title in a time of 15:20.7, becoming the first Padre in nine years to win a WCAL individual championship. His time gives him a significant advantage over Woodside’s Brooks, whose time of 15:46.1 was the 11th-fastest time in CCS this season.

The most competitive division, however, is shaping up to be Division V where the West Bay Athletic League’s Menlo School and Crystal Springs Uplands School will battle it out for small-school supremacy. Crystal Springs is the six-time defending Division V champion, but it was Menlo that edged the Gryphons for the WBAL team title — 33-36 — helped significantly by the Knights’ Pretre brothers going 1-2.

But it was freshman Landon Pretre that stole the show from older brother Justin Pretre, a junior. Landon Pretre’s time of 15:28.4 was more than 10 seconds faster than Justin Pretre’s time of 15:39.5, and the fifth-fastest time by a freshman all-time at Crystal Springs.

The Pretres will be pushed by a trio of Gryphons, led by freshman Benjamin Bouie, who was third at the WBALs in a time of 15:46.6. Teammate Furious Clay, a junior, was fourth, while another freshman, Tarik Baker, was sixth.

But Aiden Deffner and Nik Khuntia gave Menlo four finishers in the top-10 at the WBAL championships.

On the girls’ side, Woodside’s Elle Marsyla, the PAL champion with a time of 18:01.6, should be in the mix for a CCS title, along with Prospect’s Kylie Hoornaert. She who captured the Blossom Valley Athletic League overall title with the only sub-18 time of the season — finishing the Crystal Springs course in a time of 17:59.0. Pioneer’s Bella Peretti should also contend as she posted a time of 18:02.6 to finish in second in the overall standings at the BVAL championships.

The Menlo-Atherton girls’ team finished second through fifth and had six of seven runners finish in the top-15 as they easily won the team title at the PAL championships. The group of Katie Lorenz, Tatum Olesen, Sofia Melani and Annie Pflaum should give the Bears a chance to contend for the CCS Division II team title. Sacred Heart Prep should be a player for the team title in Division IV, with SHP’s Julia Soderbery in position to challenge for an individual crown. In Division V, Crystal Springs will have some work to do to catch Castilleja, which has the three top times in the division. Crystal Springs’ Kaiya Brooks will need a strong showing to win an individual title, but her time of 18:44.1 puts her within striking distance of finishing on the podium and qualifying for the state meet.