Boys 3200 meters (9:17 pm)
Meet Record: Ryan Hall, Big Bear (2001) 8:55.90Break into Top 10: 9:04.89
We conclude the evening with an epic battle of who's who on the California distance scene. With many of the boys coming back to face one another after breaking 9:30 last weekend, this star-studded event has no clear-cut favorite. Six boys that were amongst the top 10 at the California state XC championships are entered as 15 altogether broke 15:40 on the storied Woodward Park state meet course last November.
While the Great Oak and Roosevelt squads represented California at NXN, we have several individuals that also qualified to both that meet and the Footlocker National meet. State 3200 finalist Carlos Carvajal of Great Oak leads the field along with teammate Gavin Korby (both coming off sub 9:20 efforts last weekend). The University of Florida-bound Carvajal broke 9:08.54 last year while taking eighth place at the California state meet for the 3200. But, confidence flowing, Korby is coming off of huge victories against elite competition in both the 1600 and the 3200 the past two weekends. Staying within Riverside County, the Roosevelt senior duo in Raymon Ornelas and Tyler Spencer both come in with sub-9:09 credentials. Ornelas is a two-time Masters Meet qualifier while Spencer qualified for the California state meet in 2017. Coming out of the same league as Roosevelt, Centennial senior Trevor Woodward is as tough as they come. All three in this league qualified for the Southern Section Masters Meet a year ago while the UC Berkeley-bound Woodward broke 9:14 in this race last year (albeit with only one shoe for most of the race).
Footlocker cross country finalist Rancho Cucamonga's Darius Riley will also look to dip under 9:10 surrounded by this impressive field of who's who. Coming down from Central California, Stockdale's Marcus Mota rolled to a 9:09 as a sophomore while placing seventh at last year's state championships for this event. Ayala's Zach Arias has a personal best of 9:12 and opened up his season with a 9:26 a month ago. His teammate, junior Alex Martinez, opened up the season with a 9:21 in that same race. With a 4:17/9:19 resume, Crescenta Valley's Colin Fitzgerald (Ben Crawford photo) is continuing to build off his 40th-place finish this past fall at the NXN meet after taking second place at the California Division I state championships.
Another SS Masters Meet qualifier and fellow NXN invitee, Rubidoux junior Kevin Ramos (9:14 as a sophomore), was disappointed with his 9:23 performance from last week and looking to rebound. A state meet qualifier as a sophomore and just missing it as a junior, Dana Hills' Jack Landgraf is the seasoned veteran of the group. He is working his way back to that 9:04 personal best he ran in 2016. Great Oak junior Tyler Tickner and sophomore Gabriel Abbes along with Tesoro junior Bryson Crites all broke 9:24 last weekend. In the rated race, we have boys a group of boys that have gone below 9:25! The pup in the group is J Serra sophomore Anthony Grover (9:24 last weekend) who is coming taking the Div. IV individual state title this past fall. In the rated race, Buena's Brett Beattie and Palo Alto's Henry Saul headline a field littered with sub-9:30 talents. Depth galore for these late night 3200's....!