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Steeplechase lures Peninsula athletes
Oakland Tribune, May 13, 2008 by Anonymous
Dominic Vogl and Mike Delaurenti were distance-running teammates at Serra High who went on to take up the steeplechase in college, Vogl at Sacramento State and Delaurenti at Santa Clara.
A few days before they were to run in the same race at the Hornet Invite, March 22, they talked on the phone.
"He says, 'Hey, dawg, it's my birthday Saturday, be sure and bake me a cake,' " Vogl recounted.
Delaurenti was joking around. But Vogl granted his request.
"The night before I had some time on my hands, so I baked a cake," Vogl said. "Just a one-layer, funfetti."
It's not the first time Vogl had performed as a pastry chef.
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"I like desserts a lot," he said.
So this time, Vogl put his creation in a bag and stashed it at the finish line. He was in sixth place with a lap to go, but kicked it in and finished second. He had just enough time to grab his bag and make a presentation of the cake to Delaurenti, who placed third.
Since then, the season has gone quite well for both runners. Both have met the NCAA Western Regional qualifying standard in the steeplechase of 9 minutes, 7 seconds. Vogl ran a 9:02.47 early in the season. Delaurenti had a big breakthrough race at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational, running 9:06.84, an improvement of 10 seconds over his previous best time.
Delaurenti also became the first Santa Clara track athlete, in the fourth year of the program, to qualify for the NCAA Regionals.
Katie Voigtlander, formerly of Burlingame High, is also focusing on the steeplechase in college, at UC Santa Barbara. Voigtlander improved her best to 11:15.36, seventh all-time for women at UCSB, in a dual meet against Cal Poly.
Some people might wonder, why the steeplechase, an event that is not contested at the high school level in California?
"It's so much different from everything else we do," Vogl said. "There's a technical aspect to it, because you're going over hurdles. It's something new, it breaks up the monotony. And the water jump. It's a real exciting race. The whole time, I'm hoping I don't fall."
OTHER LOCAL QUALIFIERS: UCSB's Chris Ashley, formerly of Aragon High, has met the NCAA Regional qualifying standard in the men's
5,000 with a time of 14:03.26.
- Cal Poly's Evan Anderson, formerly of Menlo-Atherton High, has qualified in the men's 1,500 at 3:47.14.
- USC's Aven Wright, formerly of Serra High, met the qualifying standard in the triple jump when he reached 50 feet, 31/2 inches in a dual meet against UCLA.
DIEPENBROCK TO CANADA COLLEGE: Peter Diepenbrock has been hired as the men's basketball coach at Canada College, replacing Lamont Quattlebaum.
Diepenbrock, a Peninsula native who graduated from Burlingame High, has coached at Palo Alto High the last 11 years with notable success. He guided Paly to a Division II state championship in 2006, beating Mater Dei in the championship game. Mater Dei has since won back-to-back state championships over Mitty.
"He really interviewed well, and when I get calls from people like Mike Montgomery and Roger Craig recommending I hire him, I figure I better listen," Canada athletic director Mike Garcia said.
NEW FACILITIES: San Mateo Union High School District football fields are getting a big upgrade.
Fieldturf fields are being installed at Aragon and Hillsdale, grass fields at Capuchino and Mills. (San Mateo and Burlingame already have turf fields).
"I can't believe it," said Aragon football coach and athletic director Steve Sell.
Aragon has long had one of the best football teams and one of the worst fields in the area.
"The big benefit will be for the track kids and the soccer players and the 800 kids that take P.E.," Sell said. "We had to raise a half-million dollars to go from grass to turf. None of this could have happened without the commitment of (SMUHSD superintendent) Dr. David Miller."
Aragon will dedicate the field Sept. 19 prior to a 7 p.m. home game against San Mateo. Portable lights will be brought in for the occasion.
LUCRATIVE HOLE IN ONE: Jimmy Thompson, the assistant pro at Poplar Creek, made a hole-in-one April 20 on the 188-yard par-3 third hole, a shot that earned him $10,000.
"I think I'll save it," Thompson said, "maybe spend a couple thousand on a vacation."
The $10,000 payoff was a promotion of Charitee's VeriShot hole- in-one monitoring technology.
Contact Glenn Reeves at (650) 348-4345 or greeves@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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