San Diego Section Girls Preview
Coronado's Teresa Perez. (Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)
Division 1: This is going to be a fun race to watch. Eastlake's Patricia Miessner, fourth last year as a freshman in her first year of cross country, has taken off this season and is the No. 2-ranked individual. She'll get a rematch with San Marcos' Caitlin Cornell, who beat her last year, and big-meet runner Hannah Hartwell of Carlsbad. Another rapidly-improving runner, El Camino's Liliana Prieto, is ranked No. 5 and is coming off an Avocado East win over Cornell. El Camino, Canyon Crest and Rancho Bernardo should battle for a team title.
Division 2: The Steele Canyon sophomore with the great first name, Mysti McComack, led the Cougars to a 15 point sweep in the Grossmont Conference with the five scorers just 23 seconds apart and the next two only 17 seconds back. All that gets you in this division is a third place ranking behind Western League champ Scripps Ranch and Del Norte. Still, you have to be impressed. Scripps Ranch's Giovanna de Silva was seventh here a year ago and with Canyon Crest and Rancho Bernardo moving up, she should be in the mix. This is easily the most wide-open race individually and team-wise.
Division 3: Coming off a huge victory at Mt. SAC and winning the Avocado West league title by more than a minute over teammate Jessica Riedman, La Costa Canyon's Kristin Fahy still says she has plenty left for a late-season run. Who could argue? The rest of the state will be looking to see how the No. 1-ranked Mavericks perform as they go seven deep with lots of movement. Two other individuals-Cathedral Catholic's Cami Doheny and University City's Elise Boisvert-will give chase individually and leading their teams.
Division 4: This might be one of those win-win divisions. Sage Creek and Coronado are ranked 1-2 in the team race and Coronado's Teresa Perez and Sage Creek's Skyler Wallace are considered the top two individuals. Perez, No. 4 in San Diego, was impressive at Mt. SAC and in setting the Morley Field course record en route to winning the Western League by 11 seconds. Coronado won this division a year ago and appears stronger but Sage Creek is also loaded, returning all but one of the runners from last year.
Division 5: La Jolla Country Day's Lexi Watkins, the runner-up a year ago, is the clear favorite, especially after defeating Pacific Ridge's Kimberly Cheung by 11 seconds in the Coastal League meet. Most of the top runners here come from the Coastal League so it's a little easier to predict the outcome. Although defending team champion Francis Parker graduated its top two runners, the next five returned and the Lancers are the solid team favorite.
Three Mile Run
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