Metcalf has seen just about
everything in his time at the school, including the Castro Valley boys cross country team hoisting the Hayward Area Athletic League championship trophy about 25 times or so.
"We weren't a bad team," Metcalf said of the cross country team he ran for at Arroyo. "We were pretty good, but there was always somebody better than us. Castro Valley beat us a lot."
That is one of the few things Metcalf hadn't seen: The Arroyo boys team win a league title. Not many had, since the last time was in 1962.
But that changed Saturday.
The Dons, who finished in first place in the regular-season standings, coupled that with a second-place finish at the league championships last week to edge out Castro Valley for their first overall title in 45 years.
A feat that senior runners Martin Miller and Rick Medeiros never thought was possible four years ago as freshmen.
"Freshman year, we didn't really have high goals," said Miller, who finished in 10th place at the HAAL championships at Hayward High on Saturday. "It's pretty amazing, and we never thought it would happen."
Medeiros finished just ahead of Miller, in ninth place, covering the 3-mile course in 16 minutes, 24 seconds. The senior especially thanked newcomers Derek and Daniel Thomas. Derek, a senior and the brother of sophomore Daniel, took second place (15:56), while Daniel placed fourth (16:05).
"For them to step up and join the team and give us a shot to win as a team meant a lot," Medeiros said. "I didn't think we were going to get that much better, but through all the hard workouts, we did get a lot better and kept winning as a team. It was really good to have those guys come out."
The Dons knew they had four promising runners but were looking for someone to fill the final spot. That's when senior Marcus Hines picked up his pace, and he has done a tremendous job as the fifth runner. Hines finished in 21st place at the league championships to clinch the title.
"I am just really proud of everyone," Miller said. "This year we thought we can do some really good things in league, and we ended up achieving our goals."
The way the season started, the Dons figured a league title was out of the question. Arroyo's top runner, Daniel Thomas, was sick in the league opener, and O'Dowd handed the Dons a loss.
"I thought that kind of blew everything for us," Medeiros explained. "But after the Castro Valley race, we bounced back."
Indeed the Dons did. In fact, it was a stroke of luck that catapulted Arroyo into first place. Castro Valley had just five runners compete in a tri-meet at Hayward High on Oct. 25, and HAAL champion Jack Leng was disqualified for making a wrong turn.
That left Castro Valley with four runners — one under the minimum to post a score — and the Trojans had to take a loss to the Dons and San Leandro. Both Arroyo and Castro Valley won out — the Dons finishing at 7-1 and the Trojans at 6-2. The Dons finished regular season champions, and Castro Valley finished tied for second place with Hayward.
"I feel sorry for Leng, because he feels bad about it," Miller said of the regular-season win over Castro Valley. "But we accept the title and are pretty happy."
Medeiros said, "We still worked hard and went out after our goal. What happened, happened, and we will take it as it is. We are not going to complain."
The overall champion is decided by combining the regular-season standings and the HAAL championships standings. The first-place finish in the regular season gave Arroyo one point, and the second-place tie gave Castro Valley two-and-a-half points.
Arroyo's second-place finish at the league championship counted for two points, giving it a total of three points. The Trojans' win at the league championship gave them one point and a total of three-and-a-half points.
That meant the overall title went to the Dons by one-half point.
"It was pretty special," Daniel Thomas said. "I never thought that we were going to do so good, but we all worked hard and did it."