California State Meet - November 25
Woodward Park - Fresno, CA
Division V
Last year Crystal Springs Upland swept both the girls and boys state titles. Can they repeat? Immanuel of Reedley girls team has been impressive all season and Francis Parker of the San Diego section is currently ranked first in the latest state rankings. Crystal Spring Upland won their section title easily and will be there to defend their title. San Francisco University and Lick-Wilmerding raced close in their sectional race. St. Margaret's, Convent & Stuart Hall and Thacher are all contenders too. Clara Riddle of Immanuel, Jesse Redding of Colfax and Ari Llorens of Francis Parker are individual champion threats.
Crystal Springs Uplands boy's team hope to repeat as champions and they will be challenged by Yosemite who dominated the CIF Central Section Finals. Other to division V schools are sectional rival Menlo Schools, Viewpoint, Cate, Francis Parker, San Francisco University and College Preparatory. Eyan Turk of Woodcrest Christian will be one of the front runners with Everett Capelle of St Margaret's, Benjamin Bouie of Crystal Springs Upland and Landon Pretre of Menlo in the front pack.
Division IV
The 2022 girls division IV champions JSerra are arguably the top girl's program in the state and look to punch their ticket to NXN for the second consecutive year. La Canada, Oaks Christian, La Jolla and South Pasadena hope to join the Lions of JSerra on the awards stage. Individually, the girls division IV is loaded with athletes who have a chance to extend their season at NXN or Footlocker. Chiara Dailey of La Jolla, Payton Godsey of Oaks Christian, Abigail Errington of South Pasadena, Ashley Boothby of Scotts Valley and Maya DeBrouwer of La Canada all look to run fast on Saturday.
St. Francis of La Canada are favorites to repeat as boys division IV champions with JSerra, Foothill Technology, Miramonte and St John Bosco boys in contention. Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral won the division IV race last year and raced at NXN and should repeat those feats. Lucas Cohen of Albany, Eli Fitchen-Young of Santa Cruz, Manny Hernandez of Cathedral, Samuel Franco of St Francis and Broen Holman of Sonora are other experienced athletes in division IV.
Division III
Campolindo won the division last year and raced at NXN. If Campolindo wins this year, it will be their fourth straight division III title. Cathedral Catholic of the San Diego section will challenge Campolindo for the title. Dana Hills, Maria Carrillo and Santa Margarita are other teams to watch in division III. Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery (Santa Rosa) has won this division twice and hopes for a three-peat. There are other capable athletes who can test Thomsen like Gioana Lopizzo of La Costa Canyon, Shea Volkmer of Campolindo and Melisse Djomby Enyawe of Corona Del Mar.
Dana Hills boys has looked strong all season and have the edge in division III. Oakdale won last year and plan to defend their title. Ponderosa, West Ranch, Santa Margarita, Maltilda Torres and Sage Creek are other strong division III teams. Evan Noonan won the title last year as a sophomore and based on his racing this fall, looks to win again. His teammate Jayden Hernandez will be close to Noonan. Omar Alsaidi of Oakdale and Joshua Chu of Ponderosa are top returners from last year's state meet. Pioneer's Carson Hedlund and Caden Hicks of University City will be factors in the race too.
Division II
Los Altos won last year's state title and earned a trip to NXN. This year the Eagles of Los Altos has company as sectional rival St. Francis of Mountain View won the two weeks ago at Crystal Springs. Ventura has a deep team and hope to take the title from Los Altos. Claremont won Mt SAC in October and will be a team to watch. Murrieta Valley is another team that will factor in the results. Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura won the division last year at state and ran the second fastest time on the Woodward course last October at the Clovis Invitational. She is the favorite for the individual title. Arielle Avina of Murrieta Valley, freshman Gweneth Williams of El Toro and Karissa Chamberlain of Whitney are other individuals of interest in division II.
Channel League rivals Ventura and Santa Barbara will match up once more in Fresno. Santa Barbara upset their rivals at Ventura at CIF SS Finals. How will Ventura respond on Saturday? Newbury Park is back after major losses with graduation. Granada qualified for NXN last year and won their sectional to get to State. Jesuit of Carmichael has a young team and is ready to compete. Andreas Dybdahl of Santa Barbara is the defending 1600-meter state champion in track and won the southern section last week over Anthony Fast Horse of Ventura who has ran an outstanding senior season. The Bay Area has a contingent of strong runners on the line Saturday including Palo Alto's Grant Morgenfeld, Aydon Stefanopoulos of Los Gatos and Trey Caldwell of De La Salle
Division 1
Buchanan girls from nearby Clovis is looking to win their fourth division 1 title in a row. The Bears of Buchanan swept their sections and look ready to defend their title. Santiago of Corona has been rolling this year and beat a closing Trabuco Hills at last Saturday's CIF SS Final. Del Norte and Poway of the San Diego section make a strong case to be division 1 challengers. Individually Rylee Blade of Santiago looks to be the favorite with a number of strong contenders that include Elle Lomeli of Buchanan, Holly Barker of Trabuco Hills, Tessa Buswell of Poway, Jaelyn Williams of Eastlake and Tatum Oleson of Menlo Atherton.
San Clemente finished second to Great Oak in last year's state meet and received bids to NXN. They look to battle again on Saturday. San Clemente hopes to reverse last year's results. Great Oak has been missing Westin Brown to injury, but have fought all season. Trabuco Hills has also battled despite missing Carsten Williams for most of the season and he ran last week at CIF Finals. Beckman and Mira Costa are competing to make it to the awards stage. Clovis East would like to break up the southern section and make it to the podium. Division I has a host of individual stars like Carter Spradling of Clovis East, Jason Parra of Millikan, Brett Ephraim of San Clemente, Owen Franck of Mira Costa, sophomore Maximo Zavaleta of MLK, Olaf Dietz of Berkeley and Joseph Vargas of Cleveland.
Look for photo galleries of the meet!
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