Are California’s Prep Athletes the Best in the Nation? Well, Yes, Absolutely

Posted by admin | Posted on 13-09-2011

Category : Region III

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Are California’s Prep Athletes the Best in the Nation? Well, Yes, Absolutely

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

There is a reason why California is continually the top-producing state in the nation for track and field talent. That reason would be a population of 36+ million people, the highest in the nation.

When you know that the second most populous state in the nation is Texas with 24 million, and then New York with 19 million, well, you get the point.

So just how big is California’s 39 million population? Well, you could take the total population of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Idaho, Nebraska, West Virginia, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Iowa and the result will still be a combined state smaller than California’s 36+ million people.

In other words, the combined population of 21 states would not exceed the population of California.

All of which makes the California talent pool the best of the best if not ahead of the rest in every event. Among the 49 boys and girls events shown below, California has the current national leader in 12 (24%) as well as 2 new American high school record holders this season.

Among the 25 California individual boy leaders, Reggie Wyatt is on top in 3 events, the 400, the 300 hurdles and the 400 hurdles. Randall Carroll doubled in the 100 and 200, Mac Fleet doubled in the 800 and 1600, and Mason Finley doubled in the shot put and discus.

Among the 24 California individual girl leaders, Jordan Hasay is on top in 3 events, the 1500, 1600 and 3200. Ashton Purvis doubled in the 100 and 200, Kori Carter doubled in the 100 and 300 hurdles, and Anna Jelmini doubled in the shot put and discus.

All of the athletes in the individual events are seniors except where noted after their name. There are 6 juniors, 1 sophomore and no freshmen.

Among the boys and girls relay teams, Dana Hills High School is tops in 5 events, the boys 4×800, 4X1600 and the 4000 distance medley relay, and the girls 4000 distance medley relay and 4×100 shuttle hurdle relay. Serra High School leads in 4 events and Rancho Verde High School in 3. Here is the complete run-down:

State of California Only – High School Boys:

100 – 10.30 by Randall Carroll of Cathedral – Current National Leader.

200 – 21.06 by Randall Carroll of Cathedral.

400 – 46.13 by Reggie Wyatt of La Sierra.

800 – 1:50.31 by Mac Fleet of University City.

1600 – 4:01.49 by Mac Fleet of University City.

3200 – 8:51.60 – Chris Schwartz of Foothill.

110 Hurdles – 13.76 by Dale Morgan of Taft – Junior.

300 Hurdles – 35.02 – Reggie Wyatt of La Sierra – Current National Leader and a New American High School Record.

400 Hurdles – 49.78 by Reggie Wyatt – Current National Leader.

4×100 Relay – 40.67 by Serra High School.

4×200 Relay – 1:27.32 by Rancho Cucamonga High School.

4×400 Relay – 3:13.75 by Rancho Verde High School.

4×800 Relay – 7:40.30 by Dana Hills High School.

4×1600 Relay – 17:21.67 by Dana Hills High School.

800 Sprint Medley Relay – 1:31.18 by Serra High School.

1600 Sprint Medley Relay – 3:27.49 by Rancho Verde High School.

4000 Distance Medley Relay – 10:01.50 by Dana Hills High School.

4×110 Shuttle Hurdle Relay – 61:11 by Valhalla High School.

High Jump – 7-03 by Nick Ross of Vista Mountain.

Pole Vault – 16-09 by Michael Woepse of Mater Dai Catholic – Junior.

Long Jump – 25-02.25 by Chase Wheeler of De La Salle.

Triple Jump – 50-04 by Hammed Suleman of Deer Valley.

Shot Put – 69-06.25 – Mason Finley of Buena .

Discus – 207-02 by Mason Finley of Buena.

Hammer – 256-09 by Conor McCullough of California – Current National Leader.

State of California Only – High School Girls:

100 – 11.48 by Ashton Purvis of St. Elizabeth – Junior.

200 – 23.46 by Ashlton Purvis of St. Elizabeth – Junior.

400 – 53.10 by Turquoise Thompson of Serra.

800 – 2:07.45 by Aly Drake of Valencia in Ventura.

1500 – 4:16.80 by Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep – Current National Leader.

1600 – 4:42.63 by Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep – Current National Leader.

3200 – 10:05.29 by Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep – Current National Leader.

100 Hurdles – 13.59 by Kori Carter of Claremont – Junior, and Monisha Davis of Etiwanda – Both are in a 3-Way Tie as Current National Leader.

300 Hurdles – Kori Carter of Claremont – Junior – Current National Leader.

4×100 Relay – 45.50 by St. Mary’s Academy.

4×200 Relay – 1:37.30 by Serra High School.

4×400 Relay – 3:42.91 by Serra High School.

4×800 Relay – 9:01.89 by Poly High School in Long Beach.

4×1600 Relay – 20:31.56 by Sagus High School.

800 Sprint Medley Relay – 1:45.08 by Rancho Verde High School.

1600 Sprint Medley Relay – 4:01.37 by Poly High School in Long Beach.

4000 Distance Medley Relay – 11:47.39 by Dana Hills High School.

4×100 Shuttle Hurdle Relay – 1:02.09 by Dana Hills High School.

High Jump – 5-11 by Tara Richmond of Poly High School in Long Beach – Junior.

Pole Vault – 13-04 by Kortney Ross of Westview – Junior.

Long Jump – 20-02 by Alitta Boyd of Moreau Catholic.

Triple Jump – 42-11.50 by Ciarra Brewer of Logan James – Sophomore – Current National Leader.

Shot Put – 54-04.75 by Anna Jelmini of Shafter – Current National Leader.

Discus – 190-03 by Anna Jelmini of Shafter – Current National Leader and New American High School Record.

“State Championships and Elite Meets Net 24 New Marks Among Prep Track Athletes”
“Michael Kiley Most Impressive Performer at New York Prep Track Championships”
Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com


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College Football – in Just Two Years Nick Saban Has the Crimson Tide No. 1 in the Nation

Posted by admin | Posted on 04-03-2011

Category : Region IV

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College Football – in Just Two Years Nick Saban Has the Crimson Tide No. 1 in the Nation

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Goodbye Texas. Hello Alabama. It is now the Crimson Tide that have become the No. 1 coveted target in the nation for big-time college football programs in America.

The Texas Longhorns, who were No. 1, took on their 4th top-ranked team in consecutive weeks and came up short on the road Saturday (11-1-08) in Lubbock to No. 6 Texas Tech 39-33 on a scoring play that never should have happened with 1 second left.

In a Texas-style shootout, the Longhorns trailed 19-0 and rallied to take a 33-32 lead on Vondrell McGee’s 4-yard touchdown run with only 1:29 to play. That gave just a little too much time left for the Red Raiders’ Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, two gifted athletes on a mission few others would dare to take.

With virtually no time left and 28 yards from pay dirt, Harrell found himself surrounded by nasty Longhorns and out of time with Crabtree in double coverage and no room to even turn around. So what does a great quarterback do? He throws high into double coverage, hoping his All-American wide receiver is as great as Harrell thinks he is.

Michael Crabtree does not disappoint either his teammates or himself. He rises to the challenge, grabs the rock with sure hands, breaks the wannabe arm tackle of a sophomore cover back trying to strip the ball, and takes a couple of steps into the end zone and the game clock shows 1 second left.

Amazingly, Crabtree stays in bounds as thousands and thousands of screaming, delirious fans pour onto the field of play. It is sheer bedlam as fans begin to rip down the goal post at one end of the field, and the officials on the field try to restore order for the extra-point attempt and final kickoff to Texas to eliminate the one second left on the clock.

This is college football in America on a Saturday afternoon. A major university with thousands of fans who have suffered through the dominance of Texas and Oklahoma teams for too many years. This is their moment of glory and they will not be denied. It is the competitive spirit of America in its finest hour, their years of hardship and agony are over and their 15 minutes of fame and glory have arrived.

All of the Texas Tech fans, players and coaches need to party down big-time because Texas Tech’s season is not over. The Red Raiders will now run a gauntlet somewhat similar to the one that the Longhorns faced as 8-1 Oklahoma State and 8-1 Oklahoma lie ahead and a lesser-light Baylor team lurks in the background.

The drama of this game could not have been higher. Texas Tech only needed a field goal to win the game, but could not rely on its kicker to convert from some 40 yards out. Not only was Harrell’s pass into double coverage over the top, and even though Crabtree made a great catch, had he been tackled short of the end zone or gone out of bounds, it is unlikely in the moment that the Red Raiders could have called a time out and still had enough time to set up for a game-winning field goal try.

“All we needed was a field goal, but a touchdown’s even sweeter,” said Raider quarterback Graham Harrell after the game. “If you’re a quarterback and don’t want to be in that situation, you should change positions.” Harrell finished with 474 yards passing and 2 touchdowns while completing 36 of 53 attempts.

Was this really THAT big of a win for Texas Tech? Yes it was. The Red Raider win over Texas was the biggest win in Texas Tech history and its first win against a No. 1-ranked team. The victory gave them command of the Big 12 South and put them smack in the middle of the race for a spot in the national championship game.

And just how close was Texas to winning? How about 1 second among 60 minutes of play? Or the fact that on the play prior to Crabtree’s winning 28-yard TD catch, freshman safety Blake Gideon dropped what would have been a game-ending interception on a tipped pass. That single drop meant Harrell could make the dangerous decision to throw into double coverage to Crabtree. The rest is now history.

The win vaulted No. 6 Texas Tech past Penn State, Florida and Oklahoma into the No. 2 spot in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll. For Texas Tech fans around the world, this rise to prominence came none too soon.

The reason Alabama vaulted from No. 2 in the AP rankings to the top spot is because the Crimson Tide shut out Arkansas State Saturday 35-0, scoring in every quarter and looking every bit as if they should be No. 1.

Coach Nick Saban has quickly become better than the gold standard in Alabama. Saban has taken the Crimson Tide to the No. 1 ranking in the nation in only his second year at Tuscaloosa.

Saban is the highest paid coach in college football ( million for 8 years). Many fans and boosters at Alabama believe Saban is worth every penny of it and now you know why.

Saban turned around Michigan State’s program in one year and went to 3 bowl games in his first 3 years. He turned around Louisiana State’s program in one year, won or shared 3 SEC titles, went to bowl games all 5 years and won the National Championship in 2003. He turned around Alabama in his first season last year and went to a bowl game. Now his Crimson Tide players are 9-0 and in the hunt for a spot in this year’s national championship game.

No. 5 Florida recorded a huge win on the road at No. 8 Georgia, putting some major hurt on the Bulldogs, 49-10. Since their unexpected lack of focus and 31-30 loss to Mississippi, Coach Urban Meyer’s Gators have gone ballistic croc hunting, ripping apart Arkansas 38-7, LSU 51-21 and Kentucky 63-5 before hosting Georgia.

Apparently the Gators have become so savage that they will rip apart their victims but also drink their blood in their quest to get into the national championship game.

Both Texas and Georgia lost to top-ranked teams. Texas Tech, Alabama and Florida were among 13 of the 20 AP Poll teams to win this week, 7 others—including Texas and Georgia which played top-ranked teams–lost and 5 teams were idle. No. 3 Penn State, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 18 Ball State, No. 21 North Carolina and No. 25 Maryland were all idle.

The other ranked teams which won big and made a statement included:

No. 4 Oklahoma at home in a waltz over Nebraska 62-28 (the Sooners led 62-21 after 3 quarters), No. 7 Southern Cal on the road shut out Washington 56-0 (the Huskies are dead and waiting for fired head coach Tyrone Willingham to get on down the road), No. 9 Oklahoma State at home over Iowa State 59-17 (the Cowboys scored in every quarter), No. 11 Boise State at home shut out New Mexico State 49-0 (the Broncos scored in every quarter against what we think is a team in the southwest), No. 12 TCU on the road over UNLV 44-14, and No. 15 LSU at home over Tulane 35-10.

Four other ranked teams won but were hardly impressive. They included:

No. 10 Utah on the road over weak, unranked New Mexico 13-10 (the 9-0 unbeaten Utah Utes are overrated big-time and may find that out this week when they clash with 9-1 TCU), No. 14 Missouri on the road over unranked Baylor 31-28 (the now toothless Tigers take down a 3-win Baylor team), No. 17 BYU on the road over weak, unranked Colorado State 45-42 (the Cougars are hardly ferocious, they gave up 32 points to TCU, 35 to UNLV and now 42 to Colorado State after beating a winless 0-8 Washington team 28-27 earlier in the season), and No. 22 Michigan State at home over Wisconsin 25-24 (it’s true that Wisconsin may well be the best 4-5 team in the country, but the Spartans should have won by two touchdowns).

Five other ranked teams committed the unpardonable sin of losing to an unranked team. They included:

No. 16 Florida State lost on the road to Georgia Tech 31-28, No. 19 and unbeaten Tulsa lost on the road to Arkansas 30-23, No. 20 Minnesota lost at home to Northwestern 24-17, No. 23 Oregon lost on the road to California 26-16, and No. 24 South Florida lost on the road to Cincinnati 24-10.

Read my other detailed, knowledgeable, interesting articles on college football, including:

“Texas Handles Unbeaten Oklahoma State, and Penn State Whips Ohio State”

“Top 6 Teams Remain on Top, Led by Unbeaten Texas, Alabama & Penn State”

“Only 10 Undefeated Teams Remain – Oklahoma, Missouri and LSU All Lose”

Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html


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Fresno, California – The Bread Basket of the Nation

Posted by admin | Posted on 06-08-2010

Category : Region V

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Fresno, California – The Bread Basket of the Nation

Fresno, California. Many consider this city, located in the middle of the Central Valley, to be the hub of central California and the bread basket of the nation. It is located just outside the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and by car two hours southeast of San Francisco, four hours North of Los Angeles, and two hours South of Sacramento. It truly is a location that crosses the paths of many travelers throughout the state. Fresno, and surrounding area, is the largest agriculturally producing region the United States. Fresno gets its name from the Spanish word for ash tree, and the city features the ash leaf prominently on it’s flag.

The city of Fresno has an ethnically and economically diverse population of 471,000 residents as of the 2007 census. This makes it the fifth largest city in California, and the thirty-sixth largest city on the nation. The Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,003,000, which makes it the second largest metropolitan area in the Central Valley after Sacramento. Fresno lies right in the middle of what used to be a huge marsh system that extended all the way through the Central Valley. The area that is now the city was first discovered by Spanish missionaries who were looking for suitable mission sites. The area became the property of the United States in 1846 as a consequence of the Mexican War. After gold was discovered in California, miners flocked to the area and the surrounding foothills as a place to stock up on supplies. Fresno County was established first, before the city, in 1856 with the Millerton community as the county seat.

It was not until 1872, after the first rail line was laid down, that the city of Fresno was established. The strength of the local economy has always been agriculture, as Fresno is located right in the midst of the fertile San Joaquin Valley. 2005 data shows that more than twenty percent of the cities jobs come from the agricultural industry, providing more than three billion to the local economy. It is estimated that one in three jobs in Fresno County is tied in some way to agriculture. Much of the nations produce is grown in the Fresno area, where Fresno County is the largest agricultural producing area in the United States. More than 7500 farmers grow more than 250 crops on more than 1 million acres of farmland.

Fresno truly can be called the bread basket of the Nation. The main crops of Fresno are table grapes, raisins, cotton, cattle, tomatoes, milk, tree fruit, poultry, citrus, and nuts. As a result of this a large food processing industry has developed to support the agricultural production. Canning, curing, drying, freezing, and packing plants are located in the Fresno County area. Agricultural related manufacturing is also present as farm machinery, metal products, transportation equipment, stone, clay, and glass products, lumber and wood products, furniture and fixtures, and electrical equipment. Fresno is also considered a port of entry city making it an ideal center for transportation and distribution.

The city is home to a major university, California State University Fresno. Known as Fresno State, with the Bulldog as their mascot, the 327 acre campus has more than 46 traditional and modern buildings. The university offers 32 nationally accredited departments and programs, which is one the most of any campus in the Cal State system. The 1083 acre University Farm is considered one of the most modern and best equipped agricultural facilities in the nation. More than 22,000 students attend the university, with approximately 17,000 attending full time. There 1,300 graduate study students who are supported with almost 1,400 full time faculty members, who help graduate almost 5,000 students annually.

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Wisconsin ranks 10th in nation for health care system performance as judged by The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System

Posted by admin | Posted on 23-02-2009

Category : Region III

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Wisconsin ranks 10th in nation for health care system performance as judged by The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System

When it comes to health care, Wisconsin is one of the best places to live in the nation, according to a new report released today.
Wisconsin ranks 10th in nation for health care system performance as judged by The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System

When it comes to health care, Wisconsin is one of the best places to live in the nation, according to a new report released today.

The report by The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System shows that Wisconsin ranks 10th among all states and the District of Columbia in health system performance. That is a notch above the state’s ranking in 2007, the group’s first state scorecard.

But if the state improved its performance to the best level of states — Vermont topped the chart — it would save nearly million on hospital readmissions of Medicare patients, and there would be 163,650 more adults with health insurance.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private research foundation advocating for an improved national health care system. In addition to the state assessment, it also publishes a national scorecard. The 2008 report gave the nation a failing grade.

The 2009 state scorecard was based on the performance of state health systems on 38 indicators covering five categories: access; prevention and treatment; avoidable hospital use and costs; equity; and healthy lives.

The results show wide disparity among states and little movement in narrowing the gaps that existed in 2007, particularly in access and quality of care.

“Where you live matters in terms of access, the quality of care you receive … and it shouldn’t,” said Cathy Schoen, a Commonwealth Fund senior vice president and co-author of the report, titled, “Aiming Higher: Results from the 2009 State Scorecard on Health System Performance.”

On the 38 health performance indicators ranked by state, Wisconsin scored among the top five on five criteria, the top quarter on 15, the second quarter on 17, the third quartile on four and the bottom on two.

Wisconsin’s highest rankings came in healthy lives, which includes deaths per 100,000 population. In that category, the state rose to eighth place from 21st in 2007. In access, which includes the number of insured, Wisconsin was ninth-best compared to 13th two years ago.
(2 of 2)

The state dropped to 13th place from ninth in the prevention and treatment category, and to 16th from 14th in avoidable hospital use and costs.

Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy and a public policy professor at Rutgers University, said Wisconsin’s drop for the most part was largely the result of other states improving in certain areas, not necessarily because Wisconsin’s performance declined.

For example, Wisconsin actually showed improvement in the percentage of heart failure patients given written instructions at discharge, 76 percent in 2009 compared with 61 percent in 2007, but its rank in that category dropped to 23rd from ninth.

“That’s an area where there’s been improvement nationwide,” Cantor said, “and Wisconsin just did not improve as much.”

The scorecard comes as Congress is engaged in an intense debate over legislation intended to provide health care coverage to most if not all of an estimated 47 million uninsured Americans and slow the rise in costs.

While access to health care for children has improved greatly, the researchers found, it has declined for adults. The researchers attribute the increase in coverage for children to the State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, a federal initiative.
Commonwealth Fund officials say the results underscore an urgent need for federal action on health care reform.

“The differences we see among the states translate to real lives and dollars,” said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. “If we can enact health care reforms that give all states the opportunity to do as well as the best states, we will save lives, improve quality and cut costs.”

The state dropped to 13th place from ninth in the prevention and treatment category, and to 16th from 14th in avoidable hospital use and costs.

Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy and a public policy professor at Rutgers University, said Wisconsin’s drop for the most part was largely the result of other states improving in certain areas, not necessarily because Wisconsin’s performance declined.

For example, Wisconsin actually showed improvement in the percentage of heart failure patients given written instructions at discharge, 76 percent in 2009 compared with 61 percent in 2007, but its rank in that category dropped to 23rd from ninth.

“That’s an area where there’s been improvement nationwide,” Cantor said, “and Wisconsin just did not improve as much.”

The scorecard comes as Congress is engaged in an intense debate over legislation intended to provide health care coverage to most if not all of an estimated 47 million uninsured Americans and slow the rise in costs.

While access to health care for children has improved greatly, the researchers found, it has declined for adults. The researchers attribute the increase in coverage for children to the State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, a federal initiative.
Commonwealth Fund officials say the results underscore an urgent need for federal action on health care reform.

“The differences we see among the states translate to real lives and dollars,” said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. “If we can enact health care reforms that give all states the opportunity to do as well as the best states, we will save lives, improve quality and cut costs.”

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