Danny Lowell’s cross country coaching experience may be limited
to what he’s observed as a student-athlete, but the 24-year-old
distance runner is nevertheless expecting a seamless transition
into his new coaching role at Anzar High. After all, the Anzar
graduate of 2005 previously ran long distance for the Hawks for
three seasons after transferring from North Monterey County
following his freshman year. He also volunteered to coach the San
Juan Bautista school’s second-year track and field program last
spring, and will take over a group of cross-country harriers this
fall that finished third in the Central Coast Section one year
ago.
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA
Danny Lowell’s cross country coaching experience may be limited to what he’s observed as a student-athlete, but the 24-year-old distance runner is nevertheless expecting a seamless transition into his new coaching role at Anzar High.
After all, the Anzar graduate of 2005 previously ran long distance for the Hawks for three seasons after transferring from North Monterey County following his freshman year. He also volunteered to coach the San Juan Bautista school’s second-year track and field program last spring, and will take over a group of cross-country harriers this fall that finished third in the Central Coast Section one year ago.
“And cross country is easier for me to coach than track,” said Lowell, who finished 21st overall at the CCS Championships during his junior and senior campaigns in 2003 and 2004, respectively. “I’m more distances than I am sprints. I know more of the training that it takes for distances.”
Lowell will take over the team from Doug MacKinnon, who coached the Hawks to four league championships in four years and who, in 2007, coached Anzar to its first-ever CCS championship at Crystal Springs in Belmont.
MacKinnon, who said the coaching turnover took place in August, still plans to help out the team a couple of days a week.
“I asked him to take over the cross country program because I’m just a dad, really,” quipped MacKinnon, whose son Miles graduated from Anzar in 2007. “I kind of recommended him and I think he’ll do a really good job.”
MacKinnon, who remembers Lowell when he was a student-athlete at Anzar, felt the new coach did a solid job last spring with the track team, which advanced seven to the Mission Trail Athletic League Championships and one to the CCS Semifinals.
“I was noticing how he worked with the kids,” MacKinnon added of Lowell. “I think Danny handled it really well. The kids respected him and he had good knowledge of the sport.”
While Anzar will be without harriers Armando Zepeda, Izzy Parra and Jacob Wilkenson this year — the latter two of whom competed on Lowell’s track team last spring — the main difference the incoming coach has noticed is the increase in numbers.
Lowell said 25 student-athletes came out for the team — 10 more than what he had for track.
“It’s a lot more than we expected to come out,” he said.
Returning from last year’s third-place CCS team is senior Aaron Hsia-Coron, who was third overall in Division V last season when he clocked a 16:48. Miguel Vega, who finished 18th in CCS Division V last season after recording an 18:00 at Crystal Springs, returns for his senior campaign as well.
Josiah Garza, too, enters his senior year for the Hawks — he was clocked in the low-19s last year — while senior Gregory Bissell, who was called up from the junior varsity ranks late last season, will look to improve upon the 18:58 he recorded at CCS last fall, which placed him 30th overall.
“The varsity looks pretty good right now, and a few freshmen might sneak in,” Lowell said, noting first-year runners Alex Samuels and Noah Schaub, who trained with the Tri County Running Club this offseason.
Reno May and Rodrigo Renteria are also expected to help out the varsity team this season.
“The team looks deep,” Lowell added.
Sophomore Diego Leon also trained with the Tri County Running Club this past summer. He recorded a 19:59 as a freshman at the CCS Championships last November.
Returning sophomore Valerie Quezada is expected to anchor the girls team this season after she finished first in the Coastal Athletic League Championships as a freshman last year. Quezada recorded a 22:31 at the CAL Championships at Toro Park last year and a 22:19 at the CCS Championships two weeks later, a time that positioned her 17th overall in Division V.
Joining her will be seniors Crystal Prado, Krystal Ruiz-Rocha and Courtney Delgado, while junior Brittany Romero, who finished ninth in the CAL Championships last season with a 25:44, is back as well.
While rival and defending CCS champion York is expected to be the favorite this season in the CAL — the Falcons return six of their top seven runners from last fall — Anzar should have a much clearer idea of how far they’ve come and how far they have left to go this Saturday.
The team will kickoff its 2010 season at the Early Bird Invitational, slated for Salinas’ Toro Park at 9 a.m.
“At the invitational,” the first-year head coach said, “we’ll see where everyone is at.”
