What’s crazy to think about is guys like Andreas Dybdahl (Santa Barbara- Now at UCLA, 2X CIF 1600 champ, 2nd last year in D2 15:05) and Devin Ibarra (El Diamante- 15:06 3rd DII and 1600 Central section champ, 4:09 pr) wouldn’t be able to podium at DII state this year.
Alright let us out of staters know who to follow now that Noonan and a couple of the other guys are graduating.
Maximo Zavaleta beat all California nonseniors at every race except the state meet. He beat some individual qualifiers in big races too. He probably had an off race at state. Connor Lott won the D1 race (the large school division) at the state meet. Others individuals to watch out for are on teams that will likely make NXN as a team. Matilda Torres has Hunter Hannah and Benjamin Fernandez. Jesuit has 4 solid individuals (Abbott, Hoferer, Jakary, Ogilvie).
On the girls side, Chiara Dailey won the overall merge at the state meet but she does Footlocker, not NXN. Summer Wilson is also solid. Trabuco Hills has a few solid individuals remaining such as Bayles and Desormeau. Buchanan did great at NXN and had 5 scoring individuals packed up and 4 of them are coming back - Gutierrez / Sundgren / two Buckley sisters
Because the top 15 boys in the merge of the state meet were all seniors, and some of the top individuals will be on NXN qualifying teams, it will give a lot more room for unheard-of people to make NXN individually.
Evan Noonan was the 7th man on Dana Hills in 2021, and made NXN individually in 2022 as a sophomore.
All the guys that were named are definitely really good. Here are a few names I think could take major jumps and surprise people. My 5 “hidden gems”
Braulio Castillo West Ranch - 15:10
Closed in a 4:45 at the state meet which is really solid and shows there is room for growth with maybe more fast racing. He ran 9:50 and 4:29 last year so clearly he is starting to tap in to some serious talent after going 15:43 at Clovis earlier this year. Some more experience in fast racing and he will be good. Not really a hidden gem anymore but I am really high on him and he needs to be mentioned.
Caleb Burton - 15:31
I am betting on Crescenta Valley and how they develop talent and I feel he is the guy for the program right now. He has had a solid progression and I think in a faster race he would have had a better time at state. PRD by seven seconds from Clovis. 4:26 and 9:49 so definitely going to be interesting to see his track times.
Ryan Fitzpatrick - 15:27
He actually ran the same time at Clovis which shows his consistency and how I do not think he will be a one off. 9:33 and 4:22 last year. Small CCS school and has had a natural progression. 17 to 16 flat and now 15:20s. Clearly he is trending in the right direction just needs to work on maybe peaking a little more for the state meet as he runs similar times at Clovis and State historically.
Mehari Winheim - 15:24
Total wildcard and in my opinion he has one of the highest ceilings. He ran 16:12 his freshman year at state then did not run a singular race his sophomore year for cross but ran 4:40 in track and no notable 3200 performances. Some consistent racing and training and this guy in my opinion has sub 15 potential and to me I see some just natural talent here from his state meet performance. He is a D5 school so him and Fitzpatrick will be a nice battle to watch with some other proven guys such as Olly O’Connor and soph star Blake Bay.
Mateo Cafaro - 15:33
The Monte Vista Junior ran 9:33 and 4:32 last spring. He ran 16:46 at Clovis last year and made the jump this year in cross. Passed 18 guys in the last mile closing in almost a 4:50 in what was a fast D2 race which to me shows he was able to hold the fast pace and give a little more late. He was 16th at NCS for D2 but then at the state meet he ended up being the 3rd fastest guy from that section in division 2. Monte Vista is a solid program and I think there is definitely talent here.
I am sure I missed a few and I mean of course there are notable names like Oliver Hunter who has been great for Dana and has experience in big races. Josiah Bowman has the fastest 5k time of any junior but it was ran on a fast course though and he had an off day at the state meet but do not forget that name as well.
Considering how Eddie Sion of Crescenta Valley went from 16:02 at Clovis to 15:04 at state last season to 8:51 and 4:10 last track season- CV can def brew something up on the individual sides, they have a history of creating out of nowhere stars (Parker Simmons, The Fitzgerald brothers, Zach Torres, the aforementioned Sion, etc)
There seems to be lots of good individuals in D5. This division is much improved from the past. Henry Hauser is another one to watch out for. He will be the new low stick for Menlo after Pretre and 2 other low sticks graduate
Alright let us out of staters know who to follow now that Noonan and a couple of the other guys are graduating.
Maximo Zavaleta beat all California nonseniors at every race except the state meet. He beat some individual qualifiers in big races too. He probably had an off race at state. Connor Lott won the D1 race (the large school division) at the state meet. Others individuals to watch out for are on teams that will likely make NXN as a team. Matilda Torres has Hunter Hannah and Benjamin Fernandez. Jesuit has 4 solid individuals (Abbott, Hoferer, Jakary, Ogilvie).
On the girls side, Chiara Dailey won the overall merge at the state meet but she does Footlocker, not NXN. Summer Wilson is also solid. Trabuco Hills has a few solid individuals remaining such as Bayles and Desormeau. Buchanan did great at NXN and had 5 scoring individuals packed up and 4 of them are coming back - Gutierrez / Sundgren / two Buckley sisters
According to a comment in this video, the ML King coach isn’t very good and he burnt them out early in the season. This is something that could possibly lower Zavaleta’s chances of going to NXN. He didn’t make it in 2024
While this new program won't have much depth next year, it will return a powerful 1-2 punch in Hunter Hannah and Benjamin Fernandez, along with other key members to form a deadly scoring squad. However, they will be in trouble if any one of their runners has issues.
Sometimes they get a really good freshman that scores for them
Will Newbury Park and / or Ventura boys make it back to state? They didn’t last year but they each only lose two seniors
You need roughly a 16 minute team time average on Mt Sac to safely be in to state in D2. Ventura and NP each only had 1 guy even under 16 minutes at all.
No way they will make it as a team unless they have crazy improvement or transfers. They might get 1 guy in as an individual though.
This post was edited 33 seconds after it was posted.
The other regions have way more talent than california. That is why it is really hard to place top 10 and why you see a lot of top runners in the 50th-70th place