Boys Sweepstakes Preview
But, before the girls take off at 10:00 am, the boys warm up the course for them at 9:10! Unlike the girls where the battle for the top three spots will be tightly contested, the boys' affair is a little more wide open. Dana Hills is seeking to defend their 2017 title, where they finished ahead of El Toro, 79-105. Mission Viejo was 3rdlast year with 149 points while Trabuco Hills was 4th with 185 points. Expect much of the same here in 2018, as Dana Hills should rack up, yet another Orange County Championship!
Dana Hills is slated for their annual trip to the podium at next month's state championships and are led by Simon Fuller (5th place, 14:58.6 last year) who is coming a solid 15:16 performance at Clovis last weekend. They've overcome the graduation of Jack Landgraf (last year's runner-up here), the transfer of one of the best in the state along with an additional loss of an additional scorer for them! With all of that, Dana Hills should still defend their title. Carrick Denker has been a solid No. 2 for the Dolphins (14:47 at last month's Dana Hills Invite) while Hayden Stein is looking to bounce back after a frustrating performance at Clovis last weekend. Canyon-transfer, Cole Stark is looking to be a consistent force in their top three as he was their top boy several weeks ago while Garrett Hough has been a solid fixture in their scoring five this season.
The real battle should be for second place where Woodbridge, El Toro, Capistrano Valley, Trabuco Hills are those that will vie for that runner-up slot. This could very well be Woodbridge's best squad in school history. We have them slated for a spot to next month's state meet as Brett Knutson has taken the reigns to lead the Warriors. His best performance was at the Woodbridge XC Classic where he ran a 14:35. Caleb Terefe and Ryan Welton have provided a solid supporting cast as well. Sophomore Joseph Moon has added to their scoring five with his tremendous improvement over the last several months!
El Toro was a squad hit heavily by graduation, by Coach Chai has rounded up the troops to bring another solid group of Chargers to the OC Champs. Mitch Groff has put injuries behind him and has been rolling, as we saw from his 15:44 performance at the Nike Portland XC Invite two weeks ago. This squad continues to develop as Jonas Hartline and Juan Torres-Mondragon while Khaled Ajaj returned back to the lineup two weeks ago. This squad is seeking another trip to the state meet, via Division 2 this year, as they finished 8th a year ago at the Division I state championships. Jason Leland and Groff were the only two that returned from that team, so rather impressive that El Toro has been able to put themselves right back towards the top.
Trabuco Hills at full strength, with all seven clicking on the right day, can very well be our runner-up here! Josh O'Neill has been on fire this season as we saw with his 14:28 performance last month at Woodbridge. But, a recent off the course accident derailed him last weekend at Clovis. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew 'had a collective off day, according to head coach Liam Clemons. Landen Lee (16:08 at Clovis) shined up front for the Mustangs with his best performance thus far. Good news is that they all finished within a 28-second scoring gap with O'Neill finishing close to a minute slower than his talent indicates. With him fully healthy and the rest of the crew packing up well, this squad could surprise this weekend.
On paper, most would glance at Capistrano Valley's results from the Clovis Invite and immediately look elsewhere. As much as their 82:48 team time did not stand out, they were missing one of the top guns in Sean Robertson. They are hoping that he is only out until early next month, so they will be short handed in the meantime. Meanwhile, Ty Savely (15:58.5) and Andrew Bautista (16:05.1) displaying some solid improvement, with the latter clocking almost a minute faster at Clovis than last year!
JSerra and Newport Harbor made some solid jumps in our Orange County Boys team rankings after their 
performances at Clovis last weekend. But not much separates the groups currently ranked 5th and all the way down to 16th when analyzing each squad and their stats this season! JSerra is led by defending champ, Anthony Grover (pictured with Simon Fuller at Clovis) with his 14:45.6 performance a year ago. Last week was his first race being challenged, and he brought home a 15:17.8, a new personal best for him on the Woodward Park, state meet course. Peter Herold's 15:32.4 last weekend was also a personal best. The key for team success will be for their scoring five to close that huge gap on these top two frontrunners. Newport Harbor is led by one of the Orange County's best in Alexis Garcia (7th, 15:00.6 here last year). Michael Davey moved up closer to that No. 2 spot Will DeBassio also closed that gap on Garcia. Their 82:24 team time last weekend also moves them up our Division II CIF-SS projections.
Other individuals that should shine are led by Ben McKenna (Aliso Niguel) who rolled to a 14:59.8, 6th place finish last year. Tesoro's Bryson Crites has been having a solid season (14:30.8 at Cool Breeze Invite) and is coming off the victory at the Central Park Invite last weekend. Teammate Daniel White also put together his best race this year, crossing in 15:33 there. Meanwhile, Crean Lutheran's Garrett Miller is entered as an individual and ran 15:29.2 here last year.
MileSplitCA Orange County Boys Team Rankings
1) Dana Hills
2) Laguna Beach (not competing)
3) Woodbridge
4) El Toro
5) Capistrano Valley
5) Trabuco Hills
7) JSerra
8) Newport Harbor
9) San Clemente
10) Esperanza
Others: Aliso Niguel, Brea Olinda, Foothill, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Santa Ana, Tesoro.