After the track season has ended for most teams and their distance athletes, I feel pretty confident on my new top 10 rankings for boys. Won't yap as much this time. These rankings will be heavily influenced by runners' season bests in comparison to cross country performances from the fall.
1. Jesuit
Although Jesuit was missing Ogilvie this season, they still have put together great times and they always show up in cross country, so we can count on a return from them to be the best team in the state.
2. Beckman
This team is very deep in the 3200m and their 6-7 are much closer to the top 5 than other teams. Notably, Hassan Syed, a sophomore, had a breakout 3200m in 9:22 and will become another good individual for them.
3. Woodbridge
This team has lots of depth in the 3200m and great top runners. Notably, Aidan Antonio will be a top athlete in the entire state this fall and will be a strong low stick for the team.
4. Mountain View
although Mountain View is lacking depth outside of their top 7 returners from the 3200m, they have a very strong top 3 and the rest of their top 7 are very strong.
5. Vacaville
This team is young and will also have a strong top 3, with a good 4-8. They only have one junior out of their top 8 returning for this fall. They will likely have some freshmen and sophomores making big jumps to close in on the top 8 runners.
6. Campolindo
Like Vacaville, Campolindo looks very young but is still strong. Their runners will make big jumps this fall to be one of the best teams in the state.
7. San Clemente
San Clemente is yet another very young team. They have a strong duo in Mattheus Dos Santos and Yohan Anderson, but the rest of their team is far behind, although still competent. This team will have to improve their 4-7 to be their strongest.
8. Matilda Torres
This team lacks depth, but still has a strong top 5. The team's success will rely on the improvement of Hunter Hannah and Benjamin Fernandez, otherwise the team may stagnate.
9. Mira Costa
Mira Costa showed significant depth last fall, but seems to lack it in the 3200m. They have a strong returning top 6, Led by Carson Ehman and Krish Desai.
10. Martin Luther King
This team has stagnated, with only 4 returners under 10 minutes in the 3200m, with their top 3 returners unable to PR in the 3200m this season. If they can get their 5th man to catch up, they can stay in it and contend this fall.
Ayala and Redondo Union have been replaced on my rankings by Campolindo and Mountain View, because apparently Ayala's program is falling apart, and Redondo is hugely lacking in depth in the 3200m, with only 3 returners under 10, and their 4th returner running 10:35. Meanwhile, Campolindo and Mountain View look very strong and have some depth.
Good list.
Once you add Granite Bay transfer Connor Bilodeau to Jesuit, they'll be fixing to win NXN.
And Vacaville will likely surprise people...if they can stay healthy.
Good call on Campo. Lots of energy right now.
Jesuit boys trying too hard on the recruiting grind. If he comes he comes, you don't have to keep posting it to try and get people worked up and recruit him anymore than you already have. You have plenty of talent, you just have to develop what you have and get past the injuries.
Like all races, it’ll all come down to who shows up on the start line healthy. Alberts didn’t have a stellar xc season last year…will his T&F success this year lead to better results this season? If so, it’ll be close.
After the track season has ended for most teams and their distance athletes, I feel pretty confident on my new top 10 rankings for boys. Won't yap as much this time. These rankings will be heavily influenced by runners' season bests in comparison to cross country performances from the fall.
1. Jesuit
Although Jesuit was missing Ogilvie this season, they still have put together great times and they always show up in cross country, so we can count on a return from them to be the best team in the state.
2. Beckman
This team is very deep in the 3200m and their 6-7 are much closer to the top 5 than other teams. Notably, Hassan Syed, a sophomore, had a breakout 3200m in 9:22 and will become another good individual for them.
3. Woodbridge
This team has lots of depth in the 3200m and great top runners. Notably, Aidan Antonio will be a top athlete in the entire state this fall and will be a strong low stick for the team.
4. Mountain View
although Mountain View is lacking depth outside of their top 7 returners from the 3200m, they have a very strong top 3 and the rest of their top 7 are very strong.
5. Vacaville
This team is young and will also have a strong top 3, with a good 4-8. They only have one junior out of their top 8 returning for this fall. They will likely have some freshmen and sophomores making big jumps to close in on the top 8 runners.
6. Campolindo
Like Vacaville, Campolindo looks very young but is still strong. Their runners will make big jumps this fall to be one of the best teams in the state.
7. San Clemente
San Clemente is yet another very young team. They have a strong duo in Mattheus Dos Santos and Yohan Anderson, but the rest of their team is far behind, although still competent. This team will have to improve their 4-7 to be their strongest.
8. Matilda Torres
This team lacks depth, but still has a strong top 5. The team's success will rely on the improvement of Hunter Hannah and Benjamin Fernandez, otherwise the team may stagnate.
9. Mira Costa
Mira Costa showed significant depth last fall, but seems to lack it in the 3200m. They have a strong returning top 6, Led by Carson Ehman and Krish Desai.
10. Martin Luther King
This team has stagnated, with only 4 returners under 10 minutes in the 3200m, with their top 3 returners unable to PR in the 3200m this season. If they can get their 5th man to catch up, they can stay in it and contend this fall.
Ayala and Redondo Union have been replaced on my rankings by Campolindo and Mountain View, because apparently Ayala's program is falling apart, and Redondo is hugely lacking in depth in the 3200m, with only 3 returners under 10, and their 4th returner running 10:35. Meanwhile, Campolindo and Mountain View look very strong and have some depth.
Good list.
Once you add Granite Bay transfer Connor Bilodeau to Jesuit, they'll be fixing to win NXN.
And Vacaville will likely surprise people...if they can stay healthy.
Good call on Campo. Lots of energy right now.
Jesuit is in no position to win or podium at nxn even with Connor Bilodeau the arrogance is astounding.
Once you add Granite Bay transfer Connor Bilodeau to Jesuit, they'll be fixing to win NXN.
And Vacaville will likely surprise people...if they can stay healthy.
Good call on Campo. Lots of energy right now.
Gonna hard to beat Niwot though. They won it last year and they return 5 guys from it. They also always seem to do really well at NXN.
Niwot returns:
4:09
4:10
8:50
9:00
9:17
CBA NJ returns
8:57
9:05
9:07
9:10
9:13
Those Niwot times all come from 5000+ feet at altitude and Colorado preforms significantly better at xc than they do track. CBA runs their times in the rain, cold and wind. Jesuit times can't even compare to cba times and they race in perfect conditions. It's not even close. There will be 3 more southwest teams that are leagues above jesuit as well, we just don't know who they are yet
First Jesuit needs to live up to its mission. That SJS Masters 800m was bad. Sending a kid out hard ala Wake Forest style. Then the boy knocks out 2 others 150m in. Then they edit the race video so you can't see it. Clear dq. Clear bs. If they lived up to their mission they would scratch him. Then tap on all their boys one year older and the recruiting. It's not good. Where are the adults to stop this.
They have Lott who is arguably California’s fastest guy coming back. Next 4 returners ran a 9:50 or faster. They also got 2 more guys just slightly above 10:00.
While this two did really have a bad Track and Field season I wouldn't count them out. This two always seems to shine when Cross comes around.
And with Hunter's season he did have two nasty falls on the season which both times he would become injuryed because of them. Which one was at CS finals where he was in the pack with Luke and Connor.
While this two did really have a bad Track and Field season I wouldn't count them out. This two always seems to shine when Cross comes around.
And with Hunter's season he did have two nasty falls on the season which both times he would become injuryed because of them. Which one was at CS finals where he was in the pack with Luke and Connor.
And sooooo many top individuals in the state are graduating, so Hannah / Fernandez will likely move up
Saint Mary’s College from Berkeley is going to underrated next season in D4. They return 2 sub 9:20 (one of them being a sophomore) and one 9:25. Sophomore Djali de Chalus was usually their 4th-7th last season but step up this track season and is running the 3200 at the state meet. If they can develop a strong 4-8 next season and have everyone healthy, they do have potential to podium. Personally I’d have them over Foothill Tech. I’m telling y’all don’t sleep on St Mary’s College
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
Noel Huato is returning next year and just ran an 8:57 3200 at the CA state meet, beating Miller, Holman, and Caldwell.
One more list. Usual method, just based on actual times ran, no added projections. Just taking the higher of last year's best xc SR, and comparing that to a 3200/1600 SR equivalent rating. Then taking those SRs and making an ordered list and scoring it like a xc meet.
Jesuit still is far ahead, and Beckman and Mira Costa still seem to have a slight edge on the rest of field. After that, take your pick. Jesuit is really the only top 15 nation team I see at this point, but there are so many potentially really good teams. To show how any team could emerge from this list, consider that Oak Park returns 6 runners under 10, and that doesn't include a 9th grader who ran 15:55 at state xc finals, and 4:27 runner who could have broke 10 if he made a serious attempt at it. And this team is #36 on the list. Which is why I don't number the list, the difference between #36 and #16 is very small relative to how much runners can improve in one year (or the affect of injuries).
Jesuit 109 Beckman 238 Mira Costa 301 Vacaville 377 Mountain View 391 JSerra 415 Woodbridge 417 Campolindo 490 Matilda Torres 499 ML King 516 Ayala 526 San Clemente 527 Davis 530 Hart 549 Granada 568 Clovis North 593 Poway 596 Redondo Union 602 St John Bosco 608 Dos Pueblos 613 Agoura 625 Viewpoint 643 Willow Glen 648 Foothill Technology 658 Crescenta Valley 668 St Mary 676 Bellarmine 677 Oak Ridge 678 West Ranch 679 Saugus 692 West Torrance 692 Sage Creek 697 Maria Carrillo 723 La Serna 726 Buchanan 735 Oak Park 749 Dublin 755 Aliso Niguel 760 Loyola 765 Palos Verdes 776
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
Noel Huato is returning next year and just ran an 8:57 3200 at the CA state meet, beating Miller, Holman, and Caldwell.
Also, Aidan Antonio was the #2 nonsenior in the 1600 state finals