Davis Wins CCS Championship!

Crystal Springs, Belmont - Turning his focus from the gridiron to the trails this fall, Sean Davis bumped up the mileage and transitioned into one of the best Cross Country runners in the section, winning the CCS Division III Championship Saturday.

Davis may be a rookie on the trails but he came into the season with quite the resume. He is the defending WCAL Champion at 800 meters and is also the school record holder at the distance. Davis needed that speed to win Saturday as he was challenged the entire way by Freshman Steven Sum of Saratoga all the way to the finish. Running stride for stride for most of the race it wasn’t until the final 150 meters that Davis pulled away to win.

Starting out the first mile in the chase pack with a comfortable 5:05 first mile, Davis moved into the lead with Sum and the two broke away from the pack running along side one another through 2.5 miles when the Saratoga runner made his move. Davis maintained his composure and tucked in until the final 400 meters when he closed the gap and took control of the race. It wasn’t easy, Davis was pushed to a 10 second personal best and school record 15:36. After his race he needed a moment to take in the victory and catch his breath but then was all smiles. Taken to his limit the Senior had won his first CCS title.

“Sean is a very focused and dedicated athlete,” said Coach Small. “He knows how to listen to his body and what he needs to be in top form. Our job was to provide the training program and watch him blossom.”

Blossom he did. Davis entered the season setting a team record at the Watermelon Run, the team’s time trial to kick off the season. After impressive runs at Early Bird and the RLS Relays he cramped up at the Nike Pre-Nationals in Portland, Oregon and was unable to finish, which was the first big question mark to the season.

Pacing a comfortable 3 miles at the first WCAL meet to regain confidence Davis negative split the golden Gate Park course but was still nervous about pushing a full three miles.  "I had to learn how to run hard for that long," Davis said reflecting on the mid point of the season.  "I was used to short track races and three miles is a completely different beast."

He rebounded nicely and just 2 days after Golden Gate Park he went on to finish in the top 10 at the prestigious Clovis Invitational running a school record 16:04 for the rolling 5k course. As the training transitioned Davis began to come into form winning the Second WCAL meet of the season at Crystal Springs in 15:52. He followed that up with 15:45 and a second place finish at the WCAL Championship. “My goal was to improve every time I ran Crystal Springs,” Davis said after his first run on the course. He did, improving a combined 16 seconds over the 3-4 weeks.

This fall has been a breakthrough season for the Warriors as the boys Cross Country team had the best 7 runners top to bottom in school history.  They set the team record in every course they ran this season including their best league finish ever since joining the WCAL. 

Davis will now turn his attention to the CIF State Championships on November, 26th at Woodward Park in Fresno. The Division 3 Boys Race start is scheduled for 1:25 pm.