Contact the Head Coaches:

Girls: Traci Maynard  coachmaynard4capo@gmail.com

Boys: Matt Soto  matt.soto@yahoo.com

CVHS XC Booster Board members:

• President:  Sonja Beck email smbeck70@gmail.com
• Vice-President: Tamara Mordy
• Treasurer:  Michele Roper
• Secretary:  Beth Toner
• Boys Head Coach:  Matt Soto
• Girls Head Coach:  Traci Maynard
• Past-President:  Steve McLain email capo.xc.boosters.smclain@gmail.com

With every student/athletes health and safety as top priority, please reach out to your head coach on practice schedules and the latest information.  We will continue to rely on our CUSD and Athletic Director to provide guidance for scheduled dates and guidelines for safe sport.

Stay safe and Go Capo XC!

Welcome to the CAPO Valley XC Booster Club!
The new  cross country season has already shown signs of great success for both the boys’ and girls’ teams! I, as well as my fellow board members, are excited for the rest of the cross-country season! Last year was a year most will never forget and came with its own set of challenges, however; the athletes of CAPO Valley cross country are amazing and showed their dedication to the sport by never giving up! It is with their dedication to the sport of cross country, we, as parents, board members, and coaches will do everything possible to make their experience as a CAPO Valley XC athlete something that will create memories to last a lifetime.
On behalf of the CAPO Valley XC Booster Club, I would like to encourage you to volunteer and help support the athletes of the CAPO Valley cross country team. 
As a parent, I encourage new parents and returning parents to get involved with the CAPO XC boosters and your athletes’ team. Volunteering my time with cross country at CAPO Valley has been rewarding.   Programs like these need volunteers and the support of parents to remain viable.  
I thank you in advance for supporting the CAPO Valley XC Booster Club. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me or any board member at smbeck70@gmail.com.
Go COUGARS!!
Sonja Beck
CAPO XC Booster President

As defined by Coach Sayles:

CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) is the governing body of high school sports in California it is divided into 10 regional sections. We are in the Southern Section which has 40% of all the schools in California, almost 600. It is the most powerful and has a great depth of quality teams.

The State and each section is then divided into 5 divisions based on enrollment in the school.  We are in Division 2 currently the smallest school in 2 and in mid October there will be a revision of the divisions with possibility of us moving to 3 this year, and highly likely that we move to 3 next year with continued shrinking enrollment.

CVAA is the combination of the Saddleback and Capistrano Unified School Districts, 10 schools.  Two Leagues operate within the CVAA, the South Coast League and the Sea View League. 

In all sports, schools are assigned to the leagues based on a two year assessment of their performance in league.  The South Coast League is considered the “upper” or best league. So the top 5 schools are assigned to it every two years. Then there is a realigning that occurs.  In sports like cross county, it's possible for one gender to be in one league and one in the other (as is the case for Capo).  The boys will likely move up to South Coast next cycle , given their strong recent performances!!

South Coast League in Cross Country is considered the “super league” in the State , even the nation!!!!  The quality of teams, boys and girls is remarkably accomplished and deep.

Sea View also has many outstanding teams as Orange County is the top region in the State in terms of quality

Advancing to CIF is done in two ways. First in 5 and 6 team leagues, the top 3 teams based on the leagues method, advance automatically to CIF Prelims. IN addition, teams ranked in the top 16 in 2 of the last 4 official CIF polls(beginning post OC Champs week) also advance as “at large” teams.

CIF Prelims, currently being held at a course in Riverside involves the 40-60 teams in each division divided into 2 or 3 heats. The heats are seeded through 16 so make them balanced.

Then the top  24 teams advance to CIF Finals  the next week. The top 7 teams advance to the STATE meet Thanksgiving weekend in Fresno at Woodward Park.

Only 7 girls can race at CIF Prelims, Finals and State. At Capo Valley we traditionally take invite 10-12 girls to be a part of the “CIF” team, knowing that barring injury the likelihood of anyone but the top 7 or 8 racing is not high. We invite the others for the honor, the experience, and the future.

CVAA method of determining League Champs and CIF qualifiers

For many years the South Coast and Sea View Leagues held separate early October cluster or preview meet which counted as 40% of the total towards the team League Champs and CIF team qualifiers.  The League Finals then counted for 60%.  Last Spring, 11 of the 20 coaches voted to change this. Coach Matt and myself were VERY opposed to this change and remain so those in favor like having one less competitive race given most teams in the two leagues, especially South Coast go on to CIF Finals and STATE.

Our counter arguments were that it put all the “eggs” in one basket!!  What if a team has injuries? Illnesses? What if weather or fires cancel Finals, then what?

This year, only the League Finals races in each league will count towards League Champions and CIF qualifiers.

The non Varsity CVAA meet on Tuesday was a concession to the concern that non varsity athletes would get one less race.

Coach Matt and I will continue to work to change this policy back to the old way

Checks made payable to: CVHS XCOUNTRY BOOSTERS

These forms give athletes alternatives to taking school buses to and from athletic events when transportation is being provided by the district.

** Note:  For additional calendar dates, click on -> View All and scroll through the Monthly view >> to see October and November.

We believe that a TEAM is the athletes and the coaches, but a PROGRAM is the TEAM plus PARENTS. We have a very active, involved, and supportive group of parents. - Coach Sayles

Capo's cross country program has a booster club that supports the team so the coaching staff can focus on training our athletes. Parent leaders organize refreshments for meets, pre-meet dinners, team uniform orders, travel and transportation arrangements for non-local meets, a pre-season bagels on the beach, an end of season banquet and awards dinner, photo books and a team DVD for athletes and coaches. All these activities are done by parent volunteers, and many volunteers are needed each season.