10 Championships & 4 NXN Berths on the Line

Austin Tamagno has been ranked in the top 3 in the nation all fall, although he has yet to square off against any of the other top runners.  That trend continues in Woodward Park, as the Brea Olinda senior is again a heavy favorite.  Tamagno is the defending champion, running 20 seconds faster than the next-best returner from the 2014 meet, and he hasn't lost a race all season.  Last weekend Austin overcame a capable challenger in Callum Bolger (San Luis Obispo), who is poised to be in the top 5 this weekend.  Earlier this season, Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos (Cathedral Catholic) looked like a potential contender, too, but he was beaten by Joshua Litwiller (La Costa Canyon) at the San Diego Section finals. David Frisbie (Kennedy Fremont) took the North Coast Section title convincingly, thereby establishing himself as a strong candidate for a podium finish.  Another guy to watch: Salem Bouhassoun (Mission), the San Francisco champion, ran very well at Stanford back in September.

Brea Olinda is far from a one-trick pony, as they also have very good depth that makes the Wildcats heavy favorites for the team title.  Paso Robles was able to stay pretty close in the Southern Section finals, though, enough to make them a threat to finish in the top 3.  Baldwin Park finished 3rd last weekend at Mt. SAC, comfortably ahead of the rest of the Southern Section pack, but just a bit too far behind the front two to be considered title contenders; nonetheless, the top 5 is definitely within their grasp.  Then follows a cluster of 4 teams, all of them good enough to get into the top 10, with Palos Verdes at the front.

There is definitely a gap between the top two and the rest of the Southern Section teams, but will it be big enough for the top teams from other sections to get onto the podium?  Campolindo looked very strong while winning the North Coast team title, defeating potential top-10 teams Las Lomas and Piner (a dark horse team that could surprise some teams on Saturday).  La Costa Canyon has been better know for the success of its girls' team lately, but the Maverick boys won an SDS championship solidly over a good Cathedral Catholic team, and they could be in the top 10 this weekend.  Don't be surprised if Vista Del Lago sneaks into the top 10 with a good race, and I think Shasta is underrated this year (and much stronger than last year, when they finished 22nd).

This could be the one race where the Southern Section is matched or exceeded by equal numbers of talented teams from around the state.  La Costa Canyon nearly ran a perfect score in the San Diego Section finals, putting 7 in the top 9 on a tough Balboa Park course, and they are legitimate title contenders after moving down from Division 2, where they finished 6th last year.  Central Coast champion Aptos is for real, as well, and it could come down to those two teams for the title Saturday.  Despite heavy losses to graduation, NCS winner Campolindo still has a team capable of making the top 10, as does Vista Del Lago, the SJS champion.

Every year there are some that say the Southern Section's reliance on a rugged Mt. SAC course tires out the runners.  This year, the prelims were run at Riverside City for that very reason, and it could make the section's teams even stronger.  That would help Esperanza a lot, after the Aztecs had to give everything they had to get past Palos Verdes at the finals last weekend.  Will Esperanza have enough gas left to build on that momentum and make a run at the state title?  If not, Palos Verdes could return to the top of the Southern Section contenders list.  You can't really rule out Moorpark, either, as they look like a top-5 quality team in this division.  Oak Park and Corona Del Mar both have the potential to crack the top 10.