The Monte Vista Invitational - Home of the Eliminator!

The number of student athletes on the cross country team has increased almost two-fold from previous seasons. When Shannon Sos joined the staff at Foothill as a math teacher three years ago, he also was selected as the assistant cross country coach.

In 2005 the varsity, junior varsity and freshman/sophomore boys and girls roster was in the low 30s. This season there are nearly 60 athletes competing for the Falcons.

"We have a variety of athletes coming out for the team this year," said Sos, who is beginning his second year as head coach. "We have our returning highly competitive runners in addition to student athletes trying a new sport for the first time."

New to Foothill's cross country staff this season is veteran running coach Rik Richardson. His coaching career has spawned collegiate champions and Olympians.

"We are turning things around for the Falcons this season," Richardson said. "We are training like a university."

According to Richardson, his acclaimed old-school training methods showed immediate results last season with the distance runners on the Falcon track and field team.

The two coaches use a weekly training method that incorporates recovery days after strenuous runs. After a Saturday competition, the athletes run a long, slow distance (LSD) of around eight miles at eight minutes per mile to sustain stamina on Sundays.

On Mondays the team has their most difficult workout of the week. The runners focus on hard hill, 200-meter repeats.

Tuesday is another recovery day. The following day, the team employs tempo-runs. These are six- to eight-mile distances at a fast six-minute-per-mile pace.

On Thursdays, the Falcons head to the track for long interval training with rest periods between sets gradually reduced as the season progresses. The last day of weekly training involves easy stretching with a sprint workout in order to be ready for another day of competition on Saturday.

For the past three years, junior Matt Yankowski earned his varsity letter not only in cross country but also in long-distance events on the track and field team.

As one of the captains for the boys cross country team, along with senior Samuel Hyams, Yankowski is an ambassador for the sport at Foothill.

"I want the entire school to know about this sport," Yankowski said. "Running gives each athlete self-confidence to accomplish other things in life. Through running, I strive to be the best I can be."

Yankowski, along with teammate Jim Heppner, was selected for the East Bay Athletic League's second team in 2006. As the top Foothill runner last year, Yankowski's goals for this season are to place among the top finishers at the EBAL and North Coast Championships and earn a college scholarship.

Stephanie Biehl is a newcomer to the sport of long-distance running. Prompted by a friend to run her first 5-kilometer race at the Big Sur Invitational when she was 14, Biehl decided to join the cross country team when she was a junior.

"I love the challenge of running long distances," Biehl said. "The cross country team is like a family to me."

This year as a senior, she was thrilled to be selected as one of the captains of the team, along with junior Sara Nolan.

"It's so good to see so many new people coming out for the team this year. I love being captain and leading the team," Biehl said.

Cross country competitions take place at various park-like venues around the East Bay. The seven-member boys and girls varsity teams run a 3.1 mile or 5k race while the junior varsity teams compete in a 2-mile race.

At the Monte Visa Invitational Sept. 4 at Oak Hill Park in Danville, freshman runners Jennifer Goldstein and Mollie Richardson placed fifth and sixth respectively.

On Sept. 9 the team competed at the Ed Sias Invitational in Martinez. Yankowski placed 13th and Hyams placed 16th helping the Falcons capture an eighth-place boys team finish.

What prompted Richardson to join Sos' coaching staff was the fact the cross country team was so young and eager to improve.

"I've already asked a lot of these kids," Richardson said. "They can be very proud of their early accomplishments."

And individual titles -- as when Scott Bauhs, now making an impact at Chico State, won the NCS title in 2003.

The Wolves' talented runners of the early 2000s -- Bauhs, Tristin Blair, Dallin Rosdahl, Anthony Gladstein, Justin Arnold to name just a few -- have moved on. These days, seniors such as Keir Forester and Jason Silva are the new kids on the trail.

Forester, whose second-place finish was key to the Wolves capturing the Monte Vista Invitational title at Oak Hill Park on Sept. 4, said keeping the program's winning tradition going is a matter of putting in the time.

"It's a lot of determination and coaching. We have a great tradition of getting the summer (running) mileage up," Forester said. "That's been the whole secret."

"It's great having a set of (athletes) set such an example for us," Silva added. "You just want to be like them. The older people set the standard."

But the running gods help those who help themselves. This summer, the Wolves hit the road to the tune of up to 500 miles each. They'd meet at San Ramon Valley and often jog to Monte Vista before hitting the hills behind the schools and returning home.

For his part, coach Tim Hunter, now in his 12th season as Wolves head coach, would touch bases with his kids about twice a week throughout the summer. He said he never laid out a summer program for his runners, but would drop in on them and be available to answer questions.

"This summer was very much them," Hunter said. "I'd talk with them maybe twice a week, when I was finishing up my run."

Wonderfully, Hunter had 20 to 30 students putting in time on running trails this summer. That's a big pool to draw from as the school season began.

"How we train is we run together," Silva said. "That's just the way it worked out; we didn't plan it."

When the Wolves were competing for NCS titles two and more years ago, they often ran as a pack. They didn't plan it that way, either. But there they'd be, running second, third, fourth and sixth -- a long green and gold line heading into the chutes.

Scary to think the team might be on the same trail this fall.

Forester said: "It has to do with coach Hunter saying to stay together, 'You don't want to split off.'"

At the Monte Vista Invitational, Forester ran the 2-mile course in 10:56.47, good for second. Silva was fifth in 11:09.95.

The team's next challenge is when the Wolves head to the De La Salle/Carondelet Nike Invitational at Newhall Park on Sept. 15. The Stanford Invitational follows Sept. 29, followed by the East Bay Athletic League's first Center Meet at Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton on Oct. 3.