Woodbridge will tell us a lot, and Chiara Dailey was outstanding there last year - but Clovis Invite will be a better indicator to see who will be wear the crown as the best in California and who will be running in Oregon in December.
Will it be Dailey, Braelyn Combe, Jaelyn Williams, Summer Wilson or someone else? Grace Smith, Molly Sundgren, MIllie Bayles or Isabella Ramirez maybe?
Dailey is the fastest returner at Woodward, but that was before Braelyn put up a ridiculous 4:35 to win State in the 1600. She has obviously made the leap to one of the best distance runners in the country. It's Braelyn Combe's time.
For NXN individual invites, this year none of the top girls will go to NXN with a team like Holly Barker last year and Rylee Blade the year before. Buchanan may have 2 girls in the mix at the merge, but they'll obviously go as a team.
California individual NXN Invites will go to:
Combe, Dailey, Williams, Smith and Wilson, and if the weather cooperates this year, they'll all have a good shot to be All-Americans.
They need a lowstick… in previous years it was Cate Joaquin or Tatiana Cornejo (both have graduated) and their last lowstick was from the class of ‘24 with Grace Dunham. Just saying, a lowstick would be very beneficial for Saint Francis
According to crosscountryexpress (NorCal xc page ran by the Crystal Springs Upland’s coach), these are the top 3 NorCal girls teams: 1. Whitney 2. Saint Francis MV 3. Oak Ridge
They need a lowstick… in previous years it was Cate Joaquin or Tatiana Cornejo (both have graduated) and their last lowstick was from the class of ‘24 with Grace Dunham. Just saying, a lowstick would be very beneficial for Saint Francis
Stay tuned. You might see something that surprises you.
According to their time trial, they got one of the best 8th grader (now 9th grader) in the area, Alyssa Gutierrez. Now that sounds like a familiar last name… could she be related to Del Oro’s number 1 runner Angeline Gutierrez?
Not only that but the Saint Francis team is a young team, their top 4 only being 9th and 10th graders while being led by a 9th grader. Top 7 consists of 2 freshman, 3 sophomores, 1 junior, and 1 senior. There seems to be potential for this team in years to come
J serra’s team worsened after she left and it was a huge loss for them. As an individual, Summer smashed every single runner on their team every single time she raced them.
How does someone leave out meets when they do these rankings? It's not that hard. I know it's not in Southern California so it doesn't count but someone tell them about the Sierra Invitational.