DIVISION II BOYS
Teams to Watch (Full Rankings)
Monache is the defending team champion and returns the top individual in the section and one of the best in the state, but lost it's middle three scorers from last year's D-II final. That said, the two non-scorers who took the line last November, are among the four returning. Projections based on average returning time have Bakersfield Liberty pushing Monache for the title with Roosevelt, Sanger and El Diamante all pushing for that third spot. Reedley, the 2017 runner-up, lost four of the five scorers who finished between places 10-22 and will need its two returning non-scoring starters and plenty of help to again challenge for a podium spot. San Luis Obispo joins the D-II fray after placing 6th in D-IV in the Southern Section. SLO is a team to watch for the future, returning all five scorers from last fall, a group of four juniors and a soph.
Athletes to Watch (Full Rankings)
Monache senior Ivan Mendez was 2nd to the graduated Moises Medrano at last year's section final. Mendez, who ran the Woodward Park 5K course in 15:54.80, clocked one of the fastest 3-mile times in the country last year when he went 14:20.30 at Woodbridge (held on the fast flat layout of SilverLakes in Norco). That time ranks No. 2 overall in CA and No. 3 in the US among returning athletes. Dinuba senior Jonathon Padilla, who was 5th at last year's section final, 17 seconds behind Mendez, is the No. 2 returner in D-II. Eight of the top 20 from the section final are back. The others are Liberty senior Joseph Mikhail (9th), Mt. Whitney senior Alejandro Arellano (11th), Reedley junior Matthew Jarrett (12th), Dinuba senior Danny Araujo (18th), Monache junior Isaiah Sotelo (19th), and Sanger sophomore Roberto De Loera (20th). Junior Duncan Speirs, who was 10th in the Southern Section D-IV final, is the top returner for SLO.