The depth in Socal is greater than the other section so the kids have to run faster than every section multiple weeks in a row most races this year were not time trials they were sit an kick races.Southern section runners run back to back days at
Arcadia and Mt Sac so they know what it lik. A lot of other sections have back to back days of racing but they only have to run hard one time because qualifying from their prelims to finals is a joke. example
Matt Strangio Qualifying times
9:32.94 May 16 Sac Joaquin Section DI Prelims & Finals (May 16 & 18) time would not have quailfied for southern section finals
9:23.51 May 25 Sac Joaquin Section Masters Prelims & Finals (May24 & 25) V F time would not have qualified for southern section masters
Southern Section runner who takes 3rd at state
7 9:07.14 May 12 CIF-SS Division 1 Prelims V P
1 9:04.49 May 19 CIF-SS Division 1 Finals V F
1 9:01.78 May 26 CIF-SS Masters Meet negative split the race last mile 4:25
Liam Anderson
4:11.43 CIF North Coast Section Meet of Champions May 25, 2018 - May 26, 2018 1st Finals >time would place3rd at southern section masters
4:20.85 CIF North Coast Section Meet of Champions May 25, 2018 - May 26, 2018 1st Prelims > would not qualified for southern section finals
Elias Opsahl Southern Section runner who takes 3rd at state
4:11.66 CIF Southern Section Masters Meet May 26, 2018 3rd Finals > last 800 2:01
4:12.79 CIF Southern Section Division Finals May 19, 2018 4th Finals >
4:17.21 CIF-Southern Section Division 2 Prelims May 12, 2018
Doubling days are easy when there is less competition the southern section qualifying system is not the best for the Southern Section athletes as qualifying for state is harder than most states. There should be a minimum qualifying standard for state as many of the other the sections get to jog most years while the Southern Section has to run fast 3 weeks in a row. Many very good southern section runners don't make it out of the section even though they would qualify in any other section. The runners that ran this year and won were very good runners, but there may have been a southern section runner at the top of the podium this year if a different qualifying system was in place.