I like to give shout out once in a while to some runners who wouldn't get noticed otherwise. And one great thing about the state meet is that even as closely as I follow California racing, both track and XC, there always seems to be one or more runners do really well (under 15:45) that makes me say, "I have never even seen that name before!". It is also usually because they are not in the southern section, and aren't running many (if any) races that are speed rated by Tully.
Last year, it was Henry Braun and Olaf Dietz. Also Miles Jones had a limited number of XC results, and the Oakland qualifier was not rated, so he also appeared out of nowhere to me.
This year's winner is Cain Evans of Carlsbad, SD. He finished in 15:34. Huh?? Who the ef is that?? Well, he is a senior, but this was his first year of XC. Last year was his first year of HS track, and he only ran the 800m and 4X400 relay. He did manage a PR 1:59, but as a junior that doesn't catch attention. The only big race XC he ran was Mt. Carmel, and he finished 25th. And now 15:34 at states! Congrats big time.
Other notables that weren't notable to me before.
Skarbinksi, Isan SO College Prep 15:43.7
A really good time for a Soph regardless, but considering his 5K Freshman PR was 17:01, and his track season PRs 4:51/11:10, that is quite a progression. He was almost running last years mile PR over Woodward Park 5 months later.
Robert Ward, Granite Bay SR, and David Raigoza, Moorpark JR. Very similar advancement.
They ran 16:40/16:41 at Woodward last year respectively. Had 4:38/10:12 and 4:54/10:05 track PRs.
This year 15:39/15:43. Didn't see that coming at all. In fact I don't ever remember seeing the names before. Well done, that's a big jump.
One other runner who ran 16:41 at Woodward last year, and similar track PRs 4:37/9:50, but was a freshman last year.
Alijah Murillo SO Branham *15:14.7*
I had seen his results before, and I did notice his big performance in the section finals, but 15:14 as a soph?! That was a big surprise.
Congrats to these guys for putting in the work for big gains. Hopefully these runners can carry their much improved XC abilities over to track.
A lot of posts on here have been reported as "factually incorrect" but we have not deleted them as we don't follow the CA HS scene and don't know what is factually incorrect. If you want to email us about something you know to be factually incorrect, please do so at letsrun@letsrun.com.
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Wow. It's wild how Noonan was a few meters off the pace midway through and then absolutely demolished the last mile. He definitely has a shot at NXN.
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You'd think after almost 20 years of California prodigies being forced to choose between Foot Locker West and NXN, something would be done about scheduling so that the Sadie Engelhardts and other Californian/West Coast speedsters that have a shot at All-American in both Foot Locker and NXN can race both and not be forced to choose
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Bad scheduling is bad wrote:
You'd think after almost 20 years of California prodigies being forced to choose between Foot Locker West and NXN, something would be done about scheduling so that the Sadie Engelhardts and other Californian/West Coast speedsters that have a shot at All-American in both Foot Locker and NXN can race both and not be forced to choose
I think Engelhardt wants nothing to do with Footlocker. The finals have not gone well for her at that race.
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So why does it say that the course was 2.1 miles on milesplit…?24
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Another Name I want to recognize is Declan Higgins Senior out of Jesuit. First year of XC and last year was his first year of track. 15:37 at woodward is impressive and just shows how walt lange knows how to get the best out of any runners know matter what their experience is with the sport.
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Bad scheduling is bad wrote:
You'd think after almost 20 years of California prodigies being forced to choose between Foot Locker West and NXN, something would be done about scheduling so that the Sadie Engelhardts and other Californian/West Coast speedsters that have a shot at All-American in both Foot Locker and NXN can race both and not be forced to choose
It's a game of chicken between NXN and Footlocker, neither wants change their structure.
Footlocker, being the less desirable race for the west coast athletes in recent years, needs to bite the bullet make an exception for west since the state meet gauntlet of CA will never be going away which hamstrings the rest of the west region to very few possible dates. They won't, however, make any changes since they're fine getting all the entry fees from Footlocker West instead of a truly competitive meet with all regions best.
Couple of options if they actually did care:
Hand out invites to top west individuals at NXN.
Set a qualifying time required for each region at their respective state meets. IE sub 14:50 minutes at CA meet this year would have qualified 5 people for consideration. Any athletes that meet the time then get selected by committee on who has the best resume.
Run Footlocker west regional in October. I think you have 1 weekend between Clovis and CIF Prelims (also avoiding MT Sac invite middle of October) that you can avoid running into any other west states state meet and still run the event. I think that's the last weekend in October. (Not sure if they're allowed to do this?)
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hulnne wrote:
Thanks, I do find that interesting. I don't see my name on there. Then again, I ran before they had a state championship. I could have finished in the top 5,000. I am sure of it.
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Hobby10k wrote:
Bad scheduling is bad wrote:
You'd think after almost 20 years of California prodigies being forced to choose between Foot Locker West and NXN, something would be done about scheduling so that the Sadie Engelhardts and other Californian/West Coast speedsters that have a shot at All-American in both Foot Locker and NXN can race both and not be forced to choose
It's a game of chicken between NXN and Footlocker, neither wants change their structure.
Footlocker, being the less desirable race for the west coast athletes in recent years, needs to bite the bullet make an exception for west since the state meet gauntlet of CA will never be going away which hamstrings the rest of the west region to very few possible dates. They won't, however, make any changes since they're fine getting all the entry fees from Footlocker West instead of a truly competitive meet with all regions best.
Couple of options if they actually did care:
Hand out invites to top west individuals at NXN.
Set a qualifying time required for each region at their respective state meets. IE sub 14:50 minutes at CA meet this year would have qualified 5 people for consideration. Any athletes that meet the time then get selected by committee on who has the best resume.
Run Footlocker west regional in October. I think you have 1 weekend between Clovis and CIF Prelims (also avoiding MT Sac invite middle of October) that you can avoid running into any other west states state meet and still run the event. I think that's the last weekend in October. (Not sure if they're allowed to do this?)
I wonder how many kids, particularly in the southern section, want to run both NXN and Footlocker? It already has been a long and grueling season. Plenty of very good runners who miss NXN skip Footlocker, even though they may live within 40 miles of Mt Sac, because they are tired and don't want to run 2 more races (assuming they did qualify).
If they could skip the FL qualifier, maybe. This is just a guess, but I still think most Cali kids would just do one or the other. One more race after the Cal state meet makes sense. One data point will be this year, how many of the top 20 individuals who didn't qualify for NXN even go to FL qualifying? I mean actually race, not just show up on the entries list.
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Is Oakdale the fastest team ever not to make it to NXN? They ran 77:26, which would have been the 13th fastest in the course history. In front of them, you have NP (2021), NP (2022), NP (2019), Arcadia (2010), Great Oak (2019), Great Oak (2018)…
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whostillruns12 wrote:
great oak snags a at large spot. somehow they always weasel their way in lol
Could they possibly 10-peat?
This is their 7th consecutive NXN bid
The girls team has really disappeared
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10Peat? wrote:
whostillruns12 wrote:
great oak snags a at large spot. somehow they always weasel their way in lol
Could they possibly 10-peat?
This is their 7th consecutive NXN bid
The girls team has really disappeared
(Did not count the 2020 &2021 seasons)
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NXN is going to be muddy. I hope the California runners know to wear the correct spikes for a mud course. (don't wear flats on mud course) Mud courses are all about being mentally tough and pushing past those barriers.
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>>Is Oakdale the fastest team ever not to make it to NXN?<<
Probably. But most people were thinking halfway through this season that this was going to be the toughest year on the boys side to get an at-large. So if Oakdale had made it, the title would have went to whatever team didn't instead.
And the title "fastest team not to make it" will only last for one year. Next year looks even more stacked.
It is a bummer for Oakdale, but someone was going to be "fastest team not to make it". But the decision has been made, time to move on. They ran 77:26 at the Cal state. That's amazing, and you can't take that away. Remember them for that.
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16:20 be sure to wear the right spikes
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thisisrough wrote:
NXN is going to be muddy. I hope the California runners know to wear the correct spikes for a mud course. (don't wear flats on mud course) Mud courses are all about being mentally tough and pushing past those barriers.
I wonder if any of the California individual runners will see the cold, rainy, muddy forecast for NXN and change their mind and run the Foot Locker West Regional on Saturday instead.
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The issue isn’t that they’re the fastest to not go. The lines gotta be drawn somewhere obviously. The issue was they were almost identical both in power merge (2 points off) and team time (actually beat great oak) and still didn’t go. They were even competitive throughout the season at all of the big meets you can manage to go to when your norcal. How can a team justifiably fit between great oak and Oakdale when they were so close, prompting one of those at larges to take Oakdales spot. That’s the real issue
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