On the one hand, Palos Verdes got hammered by graduation, losing 4 of their top 7 from the Division 3 championship squad. On the other hand, the Sea Kings return a strong front-runner in Mazzy Genovese, they definitely go four deep in returning varsity-caliber runners, and they have a strong program that should bolster depth. That leaves this team hard to rank for the upcoming season: if they can resolve the 5-7 spots, Palos Verdes could finish on the podium again; if not, this is still a likely state meet team, but maybe not a title contender. There are some encouraging track results (Grace Catena looks like she might close the gap on Genovese, and Emme Schaefer appears to have taken a step forward), but overall not enough to be able to make a call one way or the other at this point. Based on recent results (2 titles in 3 years), I'd wager on the Sea Kings being better than this rankings, but since this is a stats-driven exercise they fall here.
2017 Returning Stats:
- 3 Mile Ranking: 15th
- 3-Year 3 Mile Improvement Rating: 5th
- 5-Year 3 Mile Improvement Rating: 2nd
- 3-Year 5K Improvement Rating: 9th
- Team 1600 Ranking: 27th