Northgate Running Hard: One Championship Down, Next Race Coming

Northgate High’s cross country team ran away with the championship title at the Diablo Valley Athletic League's season-ender on Nov. 4, the first team title since 2004.

At the front of the pack, and racking up a DVAL MVP award, was junior Danny Stalters. His accomplishments shine, but don’t let the brilliance cause you to blink, because NCS championships are coming fast on the heels of his latest achievement. At the rate Stalters is racing, a second of shuteye on Saturday, Nov. 19, at Hayward High, could mean you miss him entirely.

Head Coach Royce Anderson said the team's camaraderie and work ethic are the reason all divisions of the school’s cross country program have excelled.

“When the lower class men aren’t up to speed, the seniors really get on them for the collective goal," said Anderson. "Everyone buys into it.”

Other varsity runners include James Sheehy, Ian Frazier, Connor Stephens, Joel  Sumner and Mike Valeriani. 

Anderson pumps the girls, frosh and JV teams too. In fact, it’s hard to get him to stick to Stalters. But when he does, there’s no meander in his answer.

“His best traits? He’s a student of the sport. His form is the best I’ve seen. He’s got great arm motions, which you don’t see from distance runners. It helps carry the legs for him. He has a good long stride, a real efficient turnover.”

Put that with more than 500 training miles during the summer and you get Stalters’ 3-mile times that jump backwards from 17:08 as a freshman to 16:00 during his sophomore year to this year’s best of 15:32 at Mount Sac in late October.

“I had a 400 percent increase in the miles between my freshman and sophomore year,” Stalters figures, in explanation of the big drop in his times.

This year, he estimates his off-season training, which includes mileage runs and one or two speed workouts, at 180 miles per month.

New coach

Coach Anderson has made a stride himself, moving from assistant coach to the leadership position. Head Coach Peter Brewer resigned, citing personal reasons, on Oct. 14.

“We’re out by Castle Rock so we have a vast terrain of different runs," said Anderson. We run hills, longer runs, and I like to do track work. I use pyramid workouts — the trick is to go for quality over quantity: These are high school runners, after all.”

Stalters sticks to himself during warmup strides and right before a race, tells himself there’s no reason to get worked up. During the race, he’s all eyes and ears.

“I listen a lot to the person breathing behind me and watch the runners in front,” he says.

Hardly a radical approach, but perhaps the internal video playing in his head is a better clue to his ability to cover ground faster than his competitors.

“If my legs are dead, I think of pictures I’ve seen of people running fast and that usually keeps me going,” he says.

He’s rarely distracted, but recalls one recent race where, forced to run by the port-a-potties twice, he found himself thinking, “Somebody better clean those things; they stink!”

After crossing the finish line, Stalters admits to being cerebral, even an over-analyzer of his form and approach. Team members and coaches help him stay centered and confident.

His definition of team?

“A good cross country team [means] everybody knows each other well; they push, but are friends; they have good humor; and they work together without internal rivalry.”

His coach’s definition of athletic leadership?

Anderson answers with a story.

“Right before the league final, I was getting ready to give my pep talk and I see Danny. Here’s a guy who doesn’t talk a lot before the team and he’s gathering them all together. He gave them a little talk that got them fired up. So I looked at the other coaches and said, ‘Let’s leave it at that, he’s got it covered.’”