Not To Far Off The Mark

Over 50 people came in after the break even mark of 30 minutes. Leading this group was Driller Sarah Baker (photo) in a time of 24:31/30:04 for 86th place. A few places behind her was Arvin's coach Brian Nelson in 19:00/30:06. A new Driller came in 91st, Kevin Scrivano will be following in his three siblings and be running cross country this fall. He ran 21:37.

North's Kaylee Moyer came in 90th in a time of 26:51/30:08 and will be a sophomore in the fall.

Some other quick times were posted by David Bacus and CSUB's Ryan Lucker who both ran 17:36. Former CSUBer Pam Boyles ran 22:35 and current Road Runner Eddy Lee came in 117th and ran 17:44.

Right behind him was Ridgeview's Robby Baker ran 17:16 for the fastest time of the day. Last but not least was a new runner who posted an 18:00 on the course. Brandon Croft is a senior from El Diamonte who ran with Robby at the state cross country meet last year.

Despite the Heat Some Beat Their Previous Best

79 out of 204 beat their time from before despite the heat. of course some have been trying to game the system to place high in the overall standings but quite a few just let it hang all out at every run and are unconcerned about the points race.

Some improvers this week were Gabby Lerma (photo) Of Bakersfield High who came in 26th with a time of 23:15/28:37.

Future Driller Scott Van Matre ran 25:14 but exceeded his handicap so instead of getting 36th place he was moved to 80th, His brother David (Driller 08') came in 55th with a time of 19:25/29:32.

Ahead of him was Zach Holt (Driller 09') who came in 46th in a time of 17:39/29:21. Zach is going to be runing his first marathon at San Francisco on July 26th. He is shooting for a sub three performance.

Jessica Huizar of Ridgeview came in 28th in a time of 23:59/28:49 and was followed by her coach Adam Setzer who ran 21:49/28:55 for 32nd place. The Wolf Pack's biggest supporter is Robby Baker's mother Danette and she came in 53rd in a time of 33:28/29:29.

After a cross country trip with the kids and back, Kari and Jonathan managed to improve their times. Kari cam in 44th in a time of 31:37/29:20 and Jonathan came in 50th in a time of 22:39/29:26.

Showing no mercy on friends or elders was Oscar Fuentes (East High 08' - 60th in 17:58/29:40) who chased down and passed his girlfriend Lina Nunez (CSUB - 61st - 21:31/29:41)in the last yards of the race and Andrew Ariey (Driller 09' - 75th in 17:36/29:55) elbowed his way past a former Driller Joel Cardoza (76th - 21:14/29:57) in the last yards of the race too.

The IV wins the 4th BTC 5k Run

Peter Perez IV won the fourth installment of the 2009 BTC Summer Series 5k with 23:06/24:50 (Real time/Tape time) time. Taking second is a long time Andy Noise (when he was known as a record store) friend Jenny Gia aka Jenny Angel. She is a member of the Dusk Devils band and always is sporting a great rockin t-shirt and her trademark shades.

Speaking of old Andy Noise friends, one of my oldest is 7th place Steve Humphreys. He was the fastest cop in Bakersfield until he retired a few years ago. He was a 17 minute 5ker and a 2:53 marathoner just a few years ago. Now that he is retired and back in Bakersfield, look for him to pick up where he left off and join our very fast 50 - 59ers here in town. With Hatley joining Deeter and Weinmann recently in this age group, getting a medal will be hard for a few years. Steve only ran 31:23/27:08 but he is trying to win this event this summer.

After Four, Things are Heating Up

The overall winner is the one who has the lowest point total for three races. So until the fourth race, there is no true leader. But now we have one and it is Brad DeWitt (photo) with a 15th, 3rd and an 80th for a total of 98 points. His score and Van Matre's would be lower but they exceed their handicap and so they were bumped down 80th.

They violated this rule:

Sandbaggers New rule: For any Runner who reaches the 20% improvement mark on any run the following will occur:
1. Regardless of your finishing place in that run, you will be considered as if you ran a 30 minute tape time and placed accordingly.
2. Your placement in that run WILL COUNT as one of your 3 scoring races for consideration in the overall Top Ten finishing. This will be enforced each time you exceed the 20% improvement mark.
3. The race directors have full discretion to enforce the rule.

Even with this penalty they are number one and three in the standings. But probably will not improve their score because of this rule. Two that do have a chance to improve and move up the rankings are Jeri Shea and myself. We are in fourth and fifth and have two low scores and a pretty high third so we could move into the top places.

But much depends on how much handicap we have left and how fast the race is. With two races left, a lot can happen and someone with only one scoring races could come out of nowhere and take the title. Last year, son and father came in first and second overall. Peter Wykoff took the title with 30 points and his dad (Johnathan) was second with 40. Awards are given out to the top ten and last year tenth was a mere 77 points.


1 Brad DeWitt 15 3 80 98
2 Lisa Manzano 50 23 33 106
3 Scott Van Matre 9 32 80 121
4 Jeri Shea 26 99 4 129
5 Paul Anderson 5 128 14 147
6 Blayne Poon 28 68 57 153
7 Noelle Combs 68 8 130 206
8 Josh Gilbert 102 89 20 211
9 David Riel 10 42 169 221
10 Danette Baker 114 56 53 223