2025-26 Year in Review

 

All of the schools have held their graduations and everyone's track season has ended. Like in years past I like to sum up the key events and some of the numbers for this year. I think some perspective is needed. I retired from teaching exactly one year ago. With that event I slowly began adding to the 23 StanCo schools. By the start of track I was fully up to 53ish schools accounting for over five counties of territory. Again perspective...lets say you were a teacher with 30 students and you suddenly decided to increase your class size to 60 students. Or a mechanic who repairs ten cars a week, now will work until he has completed 20 cars each week...I more than doubled my responsibilities and work load. More teams meant more meets, more photos, more connections that need to be made with coaches, more miles of driving, more t-shirts, more results to write up, more money and more time ...I am not trying to complain. I choose to do what I do for my own reasons BUT I want the followers of this blog to fully grasp that those pics they get for free do have a cost (more on that later).

 

CROSS COUNTRY IN NUMBERS

33--the number of XC meets I went to

30--(15 boys and 15 girls) were voted onto the first ever All South SJS XC team. 

17--different coaches voted for that All South SJS XC team. 

17:20--the new StanCo and South SJS Woodward Park girls' mark recorded by Riverbank's Giselle Fernandez

18:06--the new StanCo and South SJS Willow Hills girls' mark recorded by Turlock's Elle Williams

11/10--eleven frosh boys and ten frosh girls were named to the first ever All South SJS  Frosh Team

73--South SJS runners qualified for the State XC meet.

44--the number of Runner of the Week shirts given out

24--the number of pink Screamin Scott Showdown shirts given out

50--the number of patches and collages given to the All StanCo (20) and All South SJS (30) runners 

21--the number of schools currently signed up for next Fall's Screamin Scott Showdown...my goal would be to have all 53 schools from my coverage area attend 

 

TRACK IN NUMBERS

43--the number of track meets I attended

54--athletes hit at least one of the all South SJS track marks. 8 hit all three to make the first team, 28 hit two of the marks to make the 2nd team. 

5--South SJS runner qualified for State in distance events (Tyleah Badea, Riley Gier, Alex Mejia Hidalgo, Giselle Fernandez, and Natalie Arriaza).

3--the number of State medals earned in distance events by South SJS (Riley, Giselle, and Natalie) 

1-frosh boy (Aden Cavanaugh) broke 10 in the 3200...only 2 other StanCo boys have acheived that fete in the past 20 years.

3--crazy fast frosh girls that are already making a huge historic footprint on the all time lists (Jaylyn Carrillo, Roselynn Dominguez, Anahi Ruiz Velasco)

34--the number of purple 800/1600 shirts given out

29--the number of orange 3200 shirts given out

6--the number of StanCo Meet distance event champion shirts given out

6--the number of County Clash Meet distance event champion shirts given out

2--"Record Breaker" shirts given out

#1--Natalie Arriaza (Patterson) broke the all time South SJS mark in the 3200 at 10:20.34

#4 Alex Mejia Hidalgo (Beyer) 4:10.34 in the 1600

#4 Riley Gier (Lathrop) 1:52.02 in the 800

#5 Tyleah Badea (Sierra) 2:12.67 in the 800

#5 Elle Williams (Turlock) 10:41.22 in the 3200

 

SOME GENERAL NUMBERS

76--(33 XC and 43 track) meets 

152,000--the approximate number of pics that I took at meets. That is I take about 2000 pics per meet. 76 x 2000 = 152,000. I delete about 1/2 at the meet = 76,000 come home with me. I delete about 1/2 of those once I am home. 

38,000--That leaves me posting about 38,000 pics this year

58--the number of blog posts for the 25-26 seasons 

26--different South SJS schools I went to to give out a shirt, and collage, or attend a meet.

7--scholarships awarded...there were 20 applicants 

5-- Carlos Campos (Pacheco), Jesus Deniz (Merced), Tim MacCabe (Pitman), Scott Mitchell (friend and MoHi photography teacher), and myself all collaborated on a new logo for South SJS Distance.

1--legend (starter Chuck Buettner) died. I will miss seeing him and hearing his stories. He was one of the largest financial supporters of my scholarships.

 

SOME MORE REALITY NUMBERS  

456--the approximate number of hours spent at meets. 76 x about 6 hours/meet 

76,000-38,000--paring down the 76,000 pics I bring home down to the 38,000 pics that I post takes A LOT of time. On a good day (nothing good on TV) I can edit about 150 pics in an hour. The calculator says that comes out to be over 253 hours...rounding off a bit more turns that into 100 full days of sitting in front of my computer editing

127--the total number of shirts that I gave out this year. At about $15 per shirt it comes out to $1905. 

$3563--the amount donated to me this past year for scholarship. With that I was able to give seven $500 scholarships

 

SUMMARY

First I want to say that I believe that between 45 and 50 years ago being involved in distance running saved my life. I do what I do to give back to the sport in an effort to repay a debt that can never be repaid. I operate under the philosophy that I can always give more, do more.   

 

BUT the region I cover is huge. It spans from LeGrand to Mountain House to San Andreas to Mariposa. I travel to meets between Roseville and Fresno. Covering meets, editing photos, typing up results, connecting with coaches and athletes takes time. Having cameras repaired, driving to meets, giving out shirts, patches, and collages all takes money. That is all on me. I will bare the burden of that time and cost.

 

However, I need your monetary help with funding the scholarships. I will fund one $500 scholarship each year. In order to recognize more than one South SJS graduate I need your support. 100% of money donated to me is put toward scholarships (not gas, or cameras, or shirts).

 

If you have read this far you are to be commended--

So have you appreciated the pics I get of your athlete? Maybe you couldn't be at that meet, but I was. Maybe you had questions about something, and I answered them for you. Maybe your athlete earned a shirt or got a personal message from me when they hit a new PR. Maybe you just appreciate the mission of supporting these deserving athletes...help me if you can. Thank you.