2018 Earlybird Invitational Preview by Coach Gustavo Ibarra.  After much thought and consideration, we announce 
that the 23rd Annual Earlybird will be our last. Earlybird has had a great run and has been a wonderful celebration 
of the best sport in the world. Thank you to all who have made it the meet it is today. Special thanks to Coach 
Bruce White and Coach Jess Soliven who started Earlybird with a modest handful of teams 24 years ago on the campus 
of North Monterey County High School. With our change of venue it grew yearly to become one of the premier invites 
in California. Conducting events at Toro Park has become somewhat difficult or the running community and with other 
life changing events for meet management we felt it was the right time. We also want to announce that we will be 
having the 1st Annual Jackie Henderson Memorial Invitational back on the campus of North Monterey County HS on 
October 6th and we hope to continue that invitational for many years to come. Jackie was an assistant coach for 
us who was hit by a car while on a run and passed away last year. So, we hope you enjoy our last Earlybird and 
THANK YOU for coming over the years and making the meet possible. On to the last ever Earlybird preview!We will 
start with the boys this year who will most likely steal the show. The CCS Section will shine with the top 3 
overall ranked squads making a rare early season clash plus the always lurking schools from outside the area. 
St. Francis of Mountain View (CCS #1) is a monumental addition to Earlybird and will storm Toro Park in grand 
fashion. The Lancers are senior heavy and return the bulk of their historic squad who danced their way to a CCS 
title, a STATE title, and a 9th place NIKE TEAM NATIONALS finish last year as the first ever CCS team to qualify 
to nationals. Look for them to take a great shot at their very own Toro Park course record (78:41) they set last 
year. They come in ranked in the top 5 in the UNITED STATES and will certainly put on a great show. Los Altos 
(CCS #2) and Bellarmine (CCS #3) will most likely have to settle for 2nd best here today. Both squads are battle 
tested having represented the section very well at the state level and will look to close the gap to St. Francis 
all season. We think Bellarmine will be a strong 2nd here today and may surprise some folks with their new addition 
up front. Clovis West comes back after a few years away and is now led by Rich Parris, an Earlybird legendary coach, 
who led Madera and Madera South to many meet titles. They feature a true team with a ten second 1-5 spread. Whitney 
returns hoping to break into the top 5 here. Cupertino (CCS #6), Aptos (CCS #8), and Willow Glen (CCS #10) also 
have great returning groups and will hope to join the fun up-front. King City showed well at Chieftain and could 
move up. Other squads to watch are Greenfield, Serra, Mitty, San Benito, Alisal, Kerman, Los Gatos, and Palma.The 
senior boys potentially feature the best grade-level team in meet history. Individually, Owen Mackenzie (Los Altos) 
is favored and returns to defend his title. His 15:27 last season was good for #20 all-time at Toro and he also 
blasted a 9:07 2 mile in the spring.  But, we think Colton Colonna (St. Francis) will pose a huge threat and may 
steal his first win here, especially if his teammate Eric Eng can help him early on and through the famous Toro 
hills. Colton had a stellar spring with a 4:13 mile and will hope to keep it close at the end. Chris Anderson (SLV), 
Maximiliano Chavez, Ross D’Orfani (Bellarmine), Owen Tanaka (Cupertino), and Luca Bommarito (Los Gatos) seek to 
crack the top 10 once again. Teammates Daniel Skahill and Mason Elefant (St. Francis) will also mix it up in the 
top pack and hope to give the Lancers the best team showing in our 23 years. Christopher Plascencia (Marina) had 
a nice breakthrough in the spring and hopes to translate that into the fall. Others to watch include Jorge 
Benitez (Aptos), EJ Kelly (St. Francis-Watsonville),  Max Chavez (Cupertino), Tommy Padilla (Palma), Rigo 
Garcia (Greenfield), Ryan Lawlor (Los Altos), Christian Santana (Kerman), Michael Vaquilar (Clovis West), 
Devin Makhini (Mitty), teammates Luke Hammers and Ted Fuell (Bellarmine), Joseph Loredo (San Benito), Peter 
Maciel (Alisal), Fausto Medina (King City), Jiovanni Garcia (North Monterey County), and Isaac Gensel (Monterey). 
Teams to watch are St. Francis and Bellarmine.

The junior boys feature a pack of three guys who were all within four seconds of the win last year and a spoiling 
newcomer. Ethan Dodge (Whitney), Marco Del Canto (Willow Glen), and Adam Sage (Los Altos) return and are in the 
hunt for their first win but will have to battle our newcomer and pre-meet favorite Juan Pablo Garcia (St. Francis). 
His teammate Aiden Maddison will make it two Lancers near the front here. Others to watch include Justin Chiao (Gunn), 
Cole Mckain (Merced), Evan Franco (Branham), Austin Vasquez (Whitney), teammates Luke Sage and Daniel 
Ghasemfar (Los Altos), teammates Pierson Lamborn, Matthew Morgan, and Jake Bringetto (Clovis West), Nick 
Torres (Enterprise), Alex Asch (Willow Glen), teammates Esteban Deniz and Ricardo Diaz (King City), Mitchell 
Ross (Scotts Valley), and Patrick McCarthy (Bellarmine). Teams to watch include Willow Glen, Clovis West, 
St. Francis, Los Altos, and Bellarmine.The sophomore boys feature what may be the best underclass team around. 
Kevin Andrews (Los Altos) was our favorite last year and ran away with a 31 second win. This year he will have 
his hands full. That’s because Colin Peattie (Bellarmine) blasts onto the cross country scene after a stellar 
first track season. He blitzed a 4:16 mile as a 9th grader and is coming off a big win at Lowell Invite. Colin 
will spearhead the dominant Bellarmine army which includes Clem Welsh, Christian Yarwood, Nolan Topper, Casper 
Aliaga, 
and Ajay Mallya. Blaine Reynolds (Aragon) was 4th last year and hopes to break up the Bellarmine fun. Others to 
watch include Collin Hepworth (Los Altos), Eric Kontur (Leland), Jose Velasquez (Alisal), and Benjamin Geil (Leigh). 
For the teams, Bellarmine stole the show with an 89 point win last year and should shine even more with Colin on 
board.The freshmen boys are always a fun mystery race and help remind us what it’s all about.The ladies feature 
our most recent dominant squads and the fastest two teams ever at Toro Park. Aptos (#7 CCS) and Santa Cruz (#17 CCS) 
return and have made Earlybird their playground. Aptos broke the course record here a while back only to see Santa 
Cruz take it away to a still standing 94:30. Santa Cruz took top honors last year over Aptos but now Aptos looks 
to be a bit stronger with Santa Cruz taking some graduation hits. Willow Glen (#8), San Lorenzo Valley (#9), and 
St. Francis (#10) look to shake up the CCS hierarchy while Whitney comes from out of the area once again to upset 
the locals. Other teams to watch include Cupertino, Aragon, Leland, San Benito, Carmel, Los Altos, Los Gatos, 
Mountain View, Merced, and host North Monterey County.The senior girls stole the show last year up-front with 
3 girls under 19:00. Quinn Hagerman (Merced) returns as favorite after her stellar 18:32 and now has 18:14 in 
her sights to make the park’s top 25 list. She ran a splendid 17:58 5k in track and won the Lowell Invite last 
week. Emma Madgic (Aragon) and Lila Roake (Santa Cruz) hope to get pulled along once again to some stellar times. 
Keep an eye on Naomi Donovan (Los Altos) and Jessica Kain (Scotts Valley) as both dipped under 5:10 in the mile. 
Others looking to close the gap are Christine Albrecht (Valley Christian), Jenna Lange (Nueva), Beata Gold (Aragon), 
Amber Fry (Mountain View),Shannen Dorn (Westmoor), Colleen Lang (Carmel), and Faith Mora (North Monterey County). 
Maya McCabe (SLV) blitzed a 2:13 800 in track and hopes to move up here. San Benito and Los Gatos should shine 
team wise.  The junior girls return our favorite Oriana Jalal (Cupertino) trying to defend her Earlybird title. 
Defending here is hard and she will have to hold off a large pack of contenders in Gabby Hughes (Santa Cruz), 
Madison Yen (Willow Glen), Julia Hoffman (Saratoga), Annika Paylor (Los Gatos), Angela Leavitt (Notre Dame-Salinas), 
Skyler Miller (Branham), Rianna Campbell (Cupertino), Alondra Cardoza (Downey), Kayla Penny (SLV), Shannon 
Gould (Mountain View), Jacqueline Garcia (Kerman), and teammates Ruth Conneely, Abby Watkins, and Kailea 
Zlatunich (Aptos). Willow Glen, Leland, and Whitney look like team contenders here.The sophomore girls rocked 
it last year putting 8 girls under 20:00 at Toro Park. Audrey Reed (Live Oak) pulled off the late win by only 
3 seconds in 19:20 and looks to dip under 19:00. Viveca Pannell (Los Gatos) was a strong 3rd and hopes to 
improve although we think it will be hard with rising-star Layla Ruiz (Watsonville). Layla had a fantastic 
spring with an 11:09 2 mile and could challenge for the overall win here. Melissa Cichon (Leland) won Chieftain 
and could surprise. Others hoping for top medals are Issy Cairns (St. Francis), Susana Estrada (Aptos), Melissa 
Cichon (Leland), Isabel Sanchez (Santa Cruz), Azalea Groleau (SLV), Lauren Okamoto (San Benito), Rachel 
Suess (Carmel), Tiffany Carrera (Roberto Cruz), Marlene Delgado (Alisal), Kirsten Ransford (Whitney), Abigail 
Paradise (Willow Glen), and Bridget Waelty (Fremont). Whitney and Mountain View should shine as a team. The 
wide-eyed freshmen girls kick off the high school portion of the meet and always bring lots of excitement as 
they make immediate impacts to their respective squads. We hope you enjoy our last Earlybird!Visit our NEW event 
website for full coverage! ttps://sites.google.com/view/earlybirdinvite/home-page?authuser=0