Aliso Niguel High School Cross Country

12/10/2021

It is hard to believe that it has been over two years since last posting on this page. What can I say? Nothing, except that life and other things have taken priority over posting here.

The program has gone through so much, and our athletes have achieved so much, during that time. And maybe someday I will sit down and document as much of it as I can.

But please stick with me for a moment, as I could not let other things take priority over the opportunity to recognize someone who has played such a pivotal role in this program.

Coach Burns is retiring, and this Monday night will be his last Awards Night as an Aliso Niguel Cross Country coach. He has assured me he will be at local meets and such this track season and in future cross country seasons, encouraging our athletes as he always has, so he will be around. But I think you'll agree that he has left an indelible mark on this program and on each of us that have worked with him in some capacity. I thought some of you might want to let him know what he meant to you personally.

So, if you would like to leave a message here for Coach Burns, or if you'd rather email me at school with a message for him, I would be happy to pass along your messages to him. If you need my school email, you more than likely know how to find it on the school website.

Thank you for your time, and thank you for your understanding where this page is concerned.

All the best to each of you,
Coach Walsh

08/24/2019

http://www.prepcaltrack.com/2019/08/23/high-volatility-prospects-govern-teams-41-to-50-in-boys-teams-hot-100-rankings-update/

High-volatility prospects govern teams #41 to #50 in Boys Teams “Hot 100” rankings update! by Rich Gonzalez · August 23, 2019 High-volatility prospects govern teams #41 to #50 in "Hot 100" rankings updateBy Rich Gonzalez PrepCalTrack.com Editor (—) Several strong teams fr...

08/24/2019

Welcome to another season of Aliso Niguel XC! Been a while since the last post, but in the interim we had a great track season, topped off by a CIF Masters appearance in the 1600m by Ben McKenna, and a new school record of 4:15 in the process! Lots of other great racing from other members of our distance team, too, both boys and girls, and the coaches are very proud of them all. But it’s XC Time once again and here’s a little something to whet the appetite. Some outside the program see the potential in our boys that we coaches do, so let’s see the boys see it in themselves and train to perform at that level! Go Aliso!!

03/16/2019

Big day today for Junior Ben McKenna, as he broke his own 1600m record (for the second time this season). Ben ran 4:17.81 at the Triton Invite at San Clemente HS. Congrats, Ben!

Lots of other good racing happening this track season, too. I’ll try to update when I can.

All the best to each of you!

- Coach Walsh

01/12/2019

It’s been a while since I last posted, so I hope this finds all of you well, and I wish all of you a very Happy New Year.

It’s definitely late for me to be posting, but I felt the need to do so, as I just got home from a wonderful evening that showcased some of the other amazing abilities that many of our runners have - true gifts of an instrumental music nature.

I want to thank Zaid Bustami (your rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody was wonderful) and some of the other boys, as well as Mrs. Sumimoto and some of the other parents, for inviting me to the ANHS orchestra concert this evening. It was fabulous and I am so glad I was able to attend.

I know my schedule and my distance from school do not often allow me to see my athletes in such performances that highlight the many wonderful talents they have beyond running and academics, but when I’ve been able to attend such events, I have always been amazed by their abilities. Congrats to all of the athletes/musicians that performed tonight - you did a wonderful job! And my buddy Mr. Jeung did a pretty good job conducting, too! 😉

It was also very nice to see the pride in all of the parents that I spoke to after the concert - you should be proud to have such great kids. It was great to see some alumni parents, too. (Hi,Ziad! Wonderful to see your folks tonight - I think you were showcased the last time I was able to see an orchestra performance! I hope all is well!)

Though this picture shows just a small subset of the evening’s performers, I think the smiles say it all. It was a very good night!

Lastly, to my athletes... please keep extending such invites. If I can make it work, I would love to see your performances!

Have a great weekend! All the best to each of you!

- Coach Walsh

11/24/2018

Ben McKenna just finished 23rd at the CIF Division 1 State Cross Country Championships! 15:33 for the wet and muddy 5K course at Woodward Park in Fresno! First Aliso boy to represent at State. The coaching staff and program are so proud of you, Ben!

11/20/2018

The boys finished the CIF SS Rankings in 16th, and the girls finished the same rankings with a 14th. Each team entered CIF Finals looking to improve upon those Southern Section Division 1 rankings, and they both did so.

Last weekend, the boys started off the morning with a great overall team performance to place 15th in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 Finals. In doing so, they beat Trabuco Hills, Vista Murrieta, Tesoro, and Los Alamitos (among others), each of whom have been big challengers throughout this and previous seasons. Individually, Ben McKenna ran his fastest time on this Riverside course to place 16th overall, punching his ticket to the State meet, becoming the first boy in Aliso Niguel history to run at the State meet. Jaryd Dukes finished his Aliso cross country career with a very competitive race; Keegan Fredriksen ran a great race to finish in his fastest time yet on this course, again running sub-15:50; Michi Sumimoto ran his fastest time yet on this course with a sub-16 race; and Sam Neuhaus finished his Aliso career on a definite high note as our final scoring runner in his fastest race on this course; Gavin Cowdrey got his first taste of what will hopefully be several CIF Finals races as our 6th finisher; and Josh Denk earned an opportunity to suit up as our 7th man and did not disappoint, as he was only about 10 seconds off his personal best. All of these boys should be very proud of their season, and we wish Ben the best of luck as he travels to Fresno this weekend for the CIF Division 1 State Championships!

The girls also had a great team race, finishing in 12th place overall, beating Dana Hills, Tesoro, and San Clemente in the process, all of whom had been ranked higher than the Aliso girls during the regular season. Carly Schuerger led the girls with a sub-18 performance for the first time, followed by freshman McKenna Murphy, who showed veteran-level gutsy race skils, and a tremendously brave performance by rookie junior Catherine Swanson, who is also a basketball star and sprained her ankle in an Aliso basketball game the night before her CIF Finals race. Emily Richards, Casey Jones, Jaden Haskins, and Taylor Wilson all ran great races, as well, to make Aliso girls' cross country proud of their first ever trip to CIF Finals as a team.

11/20/2018

The boys' and girls' varsity teams each advanced to CIF as a result of at-large berths due to end of season CIF rankings. Each team took full advantage of that and put their all into their racing at CIF Prelims.

The boys placed 7th in their heat to advance as a team to CIF Finals, with 2nd place and 11th place individual placings by Ben McKenna and Jaryd Dukes, respectively, and solid racing by Keegan Fredriksen, Michi Sumimoto, and Gavin Cowdrey.

The girls placed 5th in their heat, with 7th and 8th place finishes by Catherine Swanson and Carly Schuerger, respectively, the former showing veteran level racing despite this being her first season of cross country at Aliso and the latter improving on her time from last year's CIF Prelims by nearly 10 seconds. Emily Richards, McKenna Murphy, and Natalie Lemans rounded out the scoring to yield an excellent team outcome.

And so both the boys and the girls advanced to CIF Finals, the girls doing so as a team for the first time ever!!

Apologies for the pixelation in the individual pics - they look way better on the prepcaltrack site if you visit that website and look for CIF Prelims.

11/20/2018

South Coast League Finals results recap from the handout provided to the boys is attached here.

The boys had a good day!

11/20/2018

As the boys were not at Mt. SAC, I only have results for the Riverside Invite - my apologies for that.

The Riverside Invite was a new addition to the boys' season to expose more racers to the CIF Prelims/Finals course, giving an opportunity to learn it and gain confidence in racing it.

The sophomores started the morning with what the results state is a 7th place finish, but with Mikey Fitzgerald's excellent 16:51 race still missing from the tally, it was probably closer to 4th overall as a team. Individually, Gavin Cowdrey placed 4th overall with a brave front-running performance, and a breakthrough race for Nate Gattuso added to the team success. This was followed by a freshman race where 6 of the 8 boys ran all-time bests, which is always a goal for us. Sankalp Shastri made a huge push with 600m to go and ran a 30 second PR to win the race in a time of 16:31! The varsity boys followed that with a 6th place finish in their race, topped off by a stellar win by Ben McKenna, who put in a surge with about a mile or more to go and had confidence he could hold it, and, in addition to the continued work of the core varsity guys, the top 15 placing of Jaryd Dukes and big race when needed from Han Abdali made the overall team placement possible. Finishing it off was the JV group, led by Brian Kelly and Josh Denk.

Sorry the pic originally posted from Prepcaltrack is coming through terribly so it has been removed.

11/20/2018

OC Champs photos

11/20/2018

OC Champs was an adventure - it was cancelled at 2am and then it wasn't and was back on at 4am, and then half way through the morning, it got cancelled again. So only half of our teams got to race, the frosh teams and the varsity. The freshmen boys and girls started the morning with strength, Sankalp Shastri individually finishing 4th overall and Kaito Cotter finishing in the top 25, as well. The girls placed 2nd overall as a team, and placed three girls in the top 10 - Reese Raygoza, Casey Jones, and Kelly Graham. It looked to be a great start to the day, but the rain had started coming down more heavily, making the already saturated ground a slip fest in some corners. But racing continued, for the moment.

The next racing for our team saw both the boys' and girls' varsity teams run in the Sweepstakes race, which is something for these boys and girls to be proud of. The boys placed 9th overall after just missing out on a tie for 8th with Los Al (we got them solidly at CIF), led by a slipping and sliding Ben McKenna, who placed 8th overall and earned All County status, despite going down in the last 800 meters around a muddy corner. The girls also placed 9th, led by an 8th place finish from Carly Schuerger.

Unfortunately, all the falls in the varsity races told the meet director that conditions had become hazardous enough that the remainder of the races would need to be cancelled. So our sophomores and JV racers would have to wait until the next meet to toe the line at Mt.SAC for the girls and the Riverside Invite for the boys.