By Derek Wilson
Marinscope
After an aggravating year-long stall, local athletes are off and running again.
Ever since high school sports were effectively canceled a year ago as the state began quarantining against COVID-19, coaches and athletes have been waiting for an opportunity to compete again. Marin County cross country teams were hoping to compete last fall, as normal, but had to wait until the county entered the Red Tier, with 10 or fewer new cases of COVID-19 daily.
“It was a long process,” said Nicole Graydon, cross country and track coach at Redwood High School. “It was craziness. We were going from training in July for a fall season, to we might have a season or might not. Then we thought maybe in December we’d have a season, but that didn’t happen.”
Graydon continued, “When we got the season start date, then the Marin County Athletic League coaches had the first meeting with Marin County Health and Human Services and other groups, and they told us they were comfortable only with us running time trials. We said that’s not how our season goes. It’s been a ride.”
The boys team from Tamalpais edged Redwood, 26-29, at Hamilton Landing (Tam’s first home meet) on Saturday morning, March 13, in the second week of races. Tam’s Caden Carney and Tomo Scharber led the field, followed by Redwood’s Hudson Grace and Daegan Cutter.
The Redwood girls, meanwhile, topped Tam, 18-41, with the Giants’ Haily Connery, Helena Janku and Lulu Baker taking the top three overall spots. Tam leader Briana McInnis finished fourth overall.
The fact that the teams were able to run together at all was a major victory for local cross country squads. An earlier plan considered having teams running in cohorts — both on the same course, but not at the same time.
After working out details for this season, runners are on the starting line together, but safely distanced from each other in pods of 10 runners, and they all wear face masks until they start running. They put the masks they’ve been carrying during the race back on when they come to the finish line. And ahead of events, teams are expected to post public alerts or signs near the course so people know to avoid the area during the race.
Redwood and Novato’s home meets are held at College of Marin’s Indian Valley Campus. San Marin traditionally holds meets at Hair Park, while San Rafael goes to Miwok Meadows in China Camp for its home meets. Branson is expected to run at San Geronimo.
The six-event season is expected to continue through April 9. The fastest runners and top teams would then normally compete for league, North Coast Section and State championships, but there will be no postseason this year.
That means Grace, the 2019 MCAL Boys Runner of the Year, will not have a chance to defend his title in this, his senior year.
“I know the idea of no postseason was hard for the runners, and the idea of not going to any invitationals made it more difficult, since they really enjoy those,” Graydon said. “The seniors, especially, were hit hard with no postseason. But whenever I talk with the kids, it’s like those things don’t matter anymore. They’re just glad to be running. It’s an emotional relief for them.”
Throughout the past year, whenever they had the opportunity, team members would meeting small pods and run through town while wearing masks. It seemed an unusual sight during a time when people were distancing from each other as much as possible, but it was also a comforting sign of some sort of normality.
“Whatever the quarantine level was, they had a small pod and went out there to run, as long as it was possible,” Graydon said. “Having no team dinners together was rough, but they found a way. They Instagram the dinners, or stuff like that. Even though we’ve lost a lot during the past year, coming together now — for races, training, or online — is more positive than anything.”
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