Great Oak continues to hold sway over California

By Paul Schmitz of DyeStat

Boys NXR California Preview

California is unique from the others in the Nike Cross Nationals qualifying process. California is the only region that does not host a race to determine who qualifies for NXN. Rather, the five divisions run at the CIF State Championships are merged into one virtual meet and the top two teams from that process are automatically selected to compete in Portland.

This format leads to the interesting situation of schools “competing” against each other without actually racing head to head. Changes in the weather and course conditions throughout the day at Woodward Park in Fresno that can affect running times is an additional consideration for California coaches and teams. This factor has led to many conversations among running fans about how the format has worked for and against qualifying teams over the years.        

California has secured more at-large bids than any other region in NTN/NXN history, with 14. 

All of the teams in the California preseason top five will be in the national top 20. Leading the way is powerhouse Great Oak. The two-time defending Division 1 state champion is again the team to beat as it reloads after finishing first and sixth at the last two NXN championships. Close on its heels is Roosevelt of Eastvale.

Missing the top-five cut but making the watchlist are a couple of teams from up north. St. Francis Mountain View and Dublin, both Division 2 teams, return a majority of their runners and had very fast springs on the track. The St. Francis Lancers return the top five from a team that finished 12th in the Division 2 state meet. In track, they had seven runners clock under 10 minutes in the 3,200. The team from Dublin lost Anirudh Surapaneni after a fourth-place finish at state, but return its next six. Dublin’s top five all ran 9:51 or better in the 3,200 this spring, led by Adrian Schroeder at 9:15.      

1. Great Oak. The Wolfpack lost two of the top four runners from a Division 1 championship and NXN sixth-place team. However, there is excellent depth here and this outfit has one of the best 1-2 punches in the country with Jacob Korgan and Carlos Carvajal. Both are in the top six returners from last year’s state cross country meet. The 2015 national champions are in the thick of another NXN title race.       

2. Roosevelt. The Mustangs finished third in the Division I race last year and return their top four runners and five of seven. Those runners showed improvement on the track this spring in the 3,200, led by Raymon Ornelas at 9:08 and Tyler Spencer at 9:09.     

3. Loyola. The Cubs would be ranked even higher than they are if track times were the only ingredient. Loyola has seven runners that clocked 9:41 or better this spring in the 3,200. If that speed is translated to courses this fall, Loyola will be moving up the regional and national rankings. The Division 2 runner-up Cubs came out fifth in the merge and return three of five and five of seven.     

4. Bellarmine College Prep. The Bells placed fourth in the Division I meet and return five of the top six, including the top three. They have the potential low stick in California in Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, the fastest returner from the state meet who placed 19th at Foot Locker Nationals, in addition to being a 9:07 3,200 track runner. 

5. Dana Hills. The Dolphins are coming off two straight trips to NXN, where they finished 14th last year and third in 2015. They rank as one of the top historical programs in the country with eight NTN/NXN appearances and this year’s team has the talent to go back, led by Jack Landgraf. However, California is the toughest region in the country and the competition to go to Portland will again be fierce. The team returns three of five and four of seven.   

Watchlist:

Dublin

St. Francis Mountain View

El Toro

West Torrance

Crescenta Valley

Mira Costa

West Ranch

Trabuco Hills

Willow Glen

Claremont