I hope you are as excited as me–the first practice of the year will be tomorrow, Saturday August 9, at 7 AM! We will meet where summer running has been meeting–on the steps near the baseball diamond. All you need are good running shoes, clothing you like to run in, and a water bottle. A light snack as soon as you wake up is a good idea, and bring something for afterwards is smart (we can start some breakfasts when we have a better idea of Saturday headcount).
Clearance Update
At the bottom of this post is a current list of everyone who is currently in the clearance process. Clear means–well, that you are cleared, on the team and good to go! Pending means that we are waiting for Mr. Bonacori to review your application; at this moment he is up to date. ???? means your application has been reviewed and there is some issue–mostly, you need to retake the concussion screening then reapply, or maybe you are missing your physical (hey veterans, maybe you can volunteer to help solive problems with concussion screening if the freshmen are having issues). INC means you have started the process but not completed all the requirements yet, so you need to complete the requirements and then apply for clearance.
By the way here are some stats to date…
Total athletes who have started or finished the cleaerance process: 56
Athletes cleared so far: 46. Well done, and thank you, all of you!
There are 19 girls and 37 boys in the system now.
This is a young team!!! 4 seniors, 6 juniors, 20 sophomores, and 26 freshmen are in process now. This is a tribute to all the people who helped with recruiting! And we are not done, are we?
Meet Your Coaches!
Coach Flatow will be back for his fifteenth year, and Coach Smith will be back for his third year coaching cross after three years coaching the Monta Vista sprinters, hurdlers, and relay teams. Coach Samantha and Coach Tyler will be helping out as much as they can given their schedules. If you would like to learn more about Coach Flatow, Coach Smith, Coach Sam, and Coach Tyler, here are some bios we did before the 2023 track season.
I am so happy to be able to announce that Triya Roy will joining our coaching staff this season! Coach Triya graduated from Monta Vista in 2020 after running cross country and track all four years. Her achievements include: all-Santa Clara Valley Athletic League honors (8X in cross and track), all-CCS honors, and team captain of the 2018 Central Coast Section championship team, which also finished in the top 10 in California. Coach Triya was Matador of the Year in 2020, the highest athletic award at our school. Coach Triya ran collegiately at Johns Hopkins University, and she competed at three NCAA cross country national championship meets, including 2022 when her team was the national champion. She was a national academic all-american in the 2022 year–not easy to do as a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major! Coach Triya starts her new job in January, 2026, and that allows her to coach this season at Monta Vista…we are so fortunate to have her! She is also planning to train for her first marathon in December. Coach Triya is a connection to some Monta Vista and Hopkins teams that had remarkable team culture; we can learn a lot from her knowledge and example.
Roster Status as of August 8 at 1:37 PM
Everyone…you can help me clean up the roster. If you know someone who is not on this list but you know they plan to join cross, let me know who they are (and remind them to get going on the clearance!). If you see a name on this list and you know they changed their mind and are not joining cross, let me know that too. It’s helpful!
| Firstname | Lastname | Sport | Status | Grade | |
| 1 | Akshat | Ambekar | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 2 | Shouki | Baba | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 3 | Krishna | Batni | Cross Country | ???? | 9 |
| 4 | Raghuram | Chandramouli | Cross Country | INC | 9 |
| 5 | Jonah | Chang | Cross Country | Clear | 11 |
| 6 | Constantine | Chua | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 7 | Hao-Chun | Chuang | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 8 | Aidan | Cushman-Kihnley | Cross Country | Clear | 11 |
| 9 | Oliver | D’Souza | Cross Country | INC | 10 |
| 10 | Aanya | Dhua | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 11 | Zeynep | Dogan | Cross Country | ???? | 9 |
| 12 | Vaishnavi | Eranti | Cross Country | ???? | 9 |
| 13 | Tarun | Gandhi | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 14 | Ethan | Ge | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 15 | Samuel | Heinonen | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 16 | Miranda | Hsu | Cross Country | Clear | 11 |
| 17 | Naomi | Hsu | Cross Country | Clear | 11 |
| 18 | Darren | Hsu | Cross Country | Clear | 12 |
| 19 | Eva | Huang | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 20 | Pranshu | Jha | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 21 | Sarah | Kumar | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 22 | Caroline | Labudde | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 23 | Iris | Lee | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 24 | Sophia | Li | Cross Country | ??? | 9 |
| 25 | Josiah | Lim | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 26 | Kaitlyn | Lum | Cross Country | ???? | 9 |
| 27 | shayan | mahajan | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 28 | Vikram | Mallya | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 29 | Jayden | Mattekatt | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 30 | Myra | Mishra | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 31 | Kento | Murase | Cross Country | ???? | 11 |
| 32 | Chelsea | Nie | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 33 | Aric | Obaidur | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 34 | Taylor | Orr | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 35 | Rajit | Pandey | Cross Country | ???? | 9 |
| 36 | Ananya Vijay | Parakimeethal | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 37 | Jimin | Park | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 38 | Oliver | Perrault | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 39 | Soma | Pujara | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 40 | Medha | Rustagi | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 41 | Rishi | Salvi | Cross Country | *Practice* | 12 |
| 42 | Vishakha | Shastri | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 43 | Ritik | Shenoy | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 44 | Ashwanth | Sundaramoorthi | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 45 | Brandon | Wang | Cross Country | Clear | 12 |
| 46 | Yibo | Wang | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 47 | Eli | Wang | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 48 | Ray | Wang | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 49 | Aiden | White | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 50 | Riu | Yamada | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 51 | Isaac | Yan | Cross Country | Clear | 11 |
| 52 | Ethan | Yang | Cross Country | Clear | 12 |
| 53 | Darin | Young | Cross Country | INC | 9 |
| 54 | Melinda | Zhao | Cross Country | Clear | 10 |
| 55 | Youheng | Zhong | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
| 56 | Zhengyin | Zhu | Cross Country | Clear | 9 |
