Woodbridge Preview

which race do you guys think is more stacked this year? boys or girls sweepstakes?

Newly updated entries

prepcaltrack.com

NEWLY UPDATED WOODBRIDGE SWEEPSTAKES ENTRIES!!

Rich Gonzalez

Link:prepcaltrack.com/2023/09/12/woodbridge...

am I crazy? Why did Flower Mount Boys get put into the sweepstakes race but The Woodlands and Austin Vandegrift boys both still in the sweepstakes? Are these two teams not some of the best teams in Texas and aren't flower mount boys more average?

I mean Austin Vadegrift and The Woodlands teams are both still in the rated race.

Not too many people are talking about this...but this is likely the best (non-NXN or Footlocker) girls race to ever take place.

You have four defending California state champions
- Sadie needs no intro
- Thomsen was undefeated in XC last year before getting 16th at NXN (also 9:55 for 3200)
- Payton Godsey won Running Lane (and ran 9:57)
- Buswell (2:08)

The Non-Californians
You have Hedengren (4:35 and 9:54) who won all but one XC race last year
You have Michalak (3rd at NXN) -- plus her sub 17:00 teammate who beat her last week
You have Humphries twins (top 15 at NXN and 2:06/4:40 girls)
You have Leachman who is on fire and ran 9:57 as a freshman last year

The rest of the Cali girls
- Dailey #1 in the country at 15:54 (also ran 2:09/4:42 as a freshman; 14th at Foot Locker)
- Lopizzo #2 in the country at 16:06 (9:59 last year; FL finalist)
- Blade ran 10:03 and was CA State Champion in the 3200 (NXN qualifier)
- Boothby ran 4:39 in the spring
- Holly Barker #1 in the country at 10:26 and ran 10:11 in the spring (FL finalist)

Plus, I'm sure Buchanan or some other school will have someone come out of the woodworks.

I could see some girl running sub 16 and getting like 11th place. The caliber of amazing girls running is crazy -- to think that only one will be undefeated after this weekend.

Last year Sadie ran pretty much the last 2.5 miles by herself. I wonder what she'll do if she's surrounded by half a dozen girls with 1k to go?

So sorry, my fat fingers downvoted this on accident and can’t undo it. I didn’t want to discourage an informative post!

Milesplit seems to think woodbridge is the fastest course in the country and is similar to a track. This is definitely a misconception for people who haven't run there, it is nothing like a track, it is just a flat course. Woodbridge is a flat course and no different than any other flat course in southern section and no different than Garmin Running Lane. The only downside to the woodbridge course is that there are too many turns, It made me throw up pretty badly after I finished my race. Garmin Running Lane's Huntsville course has the luxury of not having that many turns so I personally think runninglane is faster (my personal opinion).

However where Woodbridge excels is the excitement, competition, the hype, the crowds and very nice cool weather. Many socal runners have their best performance at of the season at woodbridge.

however milesplit is right that people go to woodbridge to run a fast time. Running there is all about trying to get your time down as low as possible. The competition and excitement will push you to your max potential

So what! It's a damn race ... it could be 2.4 miles and downhill. What matters is who shows up. It's a stacked field and running your best against the competition is what matters! Period.

I disagree, people go to Woodbridge for the competition not for time ! Cross country courses very time does not matter.

They actually go for both and that’s allowed. We will be there for both.

The Rodriguez brothers didn’t race at Cool Breeze, but according to the entires list, they will be racing at CIF

Girls team entrants based on Milesplit national rankings...

Milesplit:

2. Buchanan (CA)
4. Air Academy (CO)
5. Flower Mound (TX)
10. Southlake Carroll (TX)
13. JSerra Catholic (CA)
18. Ventura (CA)
21. Los Altos (CA)
22. Rancho Cucamonga (CA)

Dana Hill's big transfer Jayden Hernandez that got 14:30 last year isn't registered in the race. I assume he wasn't eligible yet.

Yes, he is probably on the SOP. Clovis is when all those transfers finally get to race varsity

I don't understand your guitars.

The insane hype for Woodbridge comes from the fact that everyone is really hoping for that breakout performance. People are excited and hoping that their training has paid off and that they will be able to compete at the next level. California runners have seen other runners that they originally thought were average drop an insane time here. They want to have that same breakout race. This level of hype doesn't exist at all later in the season. Later in the season, runners will have realistic expectations and know what they are capable of.

It is the first big race of the season and we will be introduced to some new big names that nobody has ever heard of. For example, in 2021 we were introduced to Newbury Park and their insane lineup.

The only race that I think is comparable to Woodbridge is the Arcadia 3200 (because of the early hype and all the unrealistic expectations). However, the Arcadia 3200 is a more extreme version of Woodbridge because PRs are far more important in track than they are in cross country.

I wouldn't say Woodbridge '21 introduced us to Newbury Park. They were already the heavy favorite for nationals, with 4 sub 9ers and the Arcadia mile champion. It moreover changed the narrative from 'is Newbury park still the best team in the country' to 'Newbury Park is the best team ever'.

It did introduce us to Kevin Sanchez though. His win over Caudillo was big. Last year's Woodbridge introduced us to Herriman.