There is a chance that next years Salinas City Meet for track and cross country could be changed to a Salinas Public School City Meet.
The reason?
Palma doesn't seem to care, or just doesn't show up.
Last spring it elected not to compete in the Salinas City Meet for track, siting it was too close to the league finals.
And on Tuesday, it decided to jog the Salinas City Meet cross country championships because it wanted to save itself for a meet on Saturday.
Why even step on the course if you're not going to try? All you have done is piss off your fellow coaches. And your kids looked foolish.
John Devine has been writing about high school sports in Monterey County since, well, practically since he was an athlete at King City in the days just after leather helmets. In PrepNation, John has even more in-depth analysis of the latest results and news he's brought to you in The Herald and in his weekly videos.
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8 comments:
Change is needed for the Salinas City Championships in both track and cross country. Since all five schools (considering Palma/Notre Dame one) are now in the TCAL they see more than enough of each other throughout the season. Alvarez and North Salinas travel together in cross country for dual meets facing each basically every week of the season. I would propose opening the city meets up to be Salinas Valley Championships bringing in their neighbors from the south King City, Gonzalez, Greenfield, and Soledad (when they have a team). As for Palma, there is no excuse for not trying on Tuesday. Yes they have a meet at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, but are they forgetting their biggest meet of the year is next Tuesday when they face Hollister. Both Hollister and Palma were defeated by Salinas, which means if either team want to win the league Avis Kelley award they MUST win this dual. But then again maybe Palma is satisfied with their automatic birth to the the CCS division 4 championships and will jog league finals because it is to close to CCS.
Last I checked Palma was part of the Tri County Athletic League that in turn is part of the Central Coast Section (C.C.S.). The motto of this particular section is known as “Character Counts”. Avoiding competition that is part of a community event and is sanctioned by the C.C.S. for a programs individual glory in a meet located in Fresno doesn’t seem to follow these rules. Even if Palma be it the coaches, athletic director, or the Christian Brothers that run school believe that they are above the C.C.S. and their goals of producing morally grounded athletes, they should at least hold themselves accountable to their own private catholic schools mission statement that reads as follows, “...Palma promotes the educational mission of the Roman Catholic Church through the formation and harmonious development of the whole-person by challenging the young man to grow spiritually, intellectually, physically, socially, and morally...”. If Palma does not believe in community, is not socially responsible to their city, and feels no morale obligation physically and mentally to the competitions that they have scheduled then maybe they should just stay home making the City championships a public school event. At least the public schools seem to appreciate the pride and privileges that are garnered from being Salinas’s citizens.
Well, well, well. Once again it looks like Palma isn't satisfied with their superiority over the other schools in Salinas. For some reason they believe that they are better than all. We have a meet in four days so we aren't going to do our best. I believe that shows a lack of sportsmanship, and shows disrespect to the T-Cal. Possibly the fellow coaches and Athletic Directors and even the commissioner should step in and suspend this Chieftan team for the Salinas City Meet, and...C.C.S.??? For a lack of sportsmanship and a mighty piece of arrogance. Although those reasons aren't in terms of suspension, it is a good idea to punish Palma.
A couple of Devine Blog entries each day and the only one that elicits response is...high school cross country. I love it! I guess nothing controversial happened at last friday's football game so the boys from Iverson St had to do something else to draw out a little anger. Leave it to distance runners, always making trouble! Here's the deal. You may not like their approach (and it may not have been the way that I would have handled it) but the fact is that it is none of our business. If it makes you upset, that is your problem. It has nothing to do with the performance of your son, daughter or favorite team. Please don't pretend to tell them what races they need to be ready for. Again, that is none of your business. Let's be honest. You are just using it as an opportunity to criticize high school cross country runners and more specifically a school's athelitic program which in your eyes has a superiority complex. Of course if you feel that way, its your problem. I am especially amused by the attempt to tie the lack of effort to the "CCS Motto", the "school's Mission Statement" and to "social responsibility" (huh?). Quite a stretch. The good news is that Haley is very good at cutting and pasting and has a future as a trial lawyer. May I suggest you use the phrase "pride and privileges that are garnered from being Salinas’s citizens" as your closing statement someday? (Were you laughing when you typed that?). And besides, we all know that none of Palma's runners are from Salinas anyway, as there were recruited in 6th grade from places like L.A., San Jose, Kenya and Ethiopia. See, can't we all laugh and stop taking ourselves so seriously?
maybe they should change the name of the meet to the Salinas City Jogging Championships, so every one can compete at Palmas level
Very clever post Mister Wayne. Now that's the kind of knee-slapping comedy that I'm talking about.
Whats the date for the Salinas City Jogging Championships? I should be able to recruit a competitive team by the entry deadline.
A great barometer for the success of a program and the coaching behind it is the development of talent. The Palma football team has developed talent to the point where numerous athletes have earned scholarships to Division I programs. In the case of the Palma cross country team, moving athletes on to the next level has not been apparent. Does the talent level at Palma really require an absence from such annual events? Is there such a lack of talent on the squad that meets must be skipped to focus on short term and in a way selfish results? Even Alvarez High School has moved a kid on to a Division I program in Mark Blucher. Yes the schedule of events is not maximized for the health of the athletes. Monday meets are absurd. Yet at the same time these kids at Palma will not be running after graduation. Is it really worth it to cut out experiences for athletes that in the case of Palma will not hit another competitive trail for the rest of their lives?
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