Division 3 Girls
Teams to Watch (Full Rankings)
The names change from year to year but the coach in charge remains the same. Dan Gruber has been coaching the Aptos Cross Country team since 2000. His girls have won many section titles as well as four podium finishes at the California state XC meet. They had two 3rd place finishes in 2011 and 2016 and finished on top in 2005 in Division II and in 2015 in Division III. Aptos has now won seven straight section titles with their last non-1st place finish in 2010. Their scores from 2011 to last year have been 34, 35, 19, 20, 20, 32 and 27. They will be favored once again this year and will be led by sophomore Susana Estrada. Their main competition should come from Sobrato and WCAL rivals Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Ignatius.
Athletes to Watch (Full Rankings)
The leading contenders for the individual title will include three sophomores. Live Oak's Audrey Reed finished in 3rd place at last year's meet and will be the leading returner. Jessica Faulk of Sobrato and Susana Estrada of Aptos were the next finishers and will be in the mix again this year. Sacred Heart Cathedral's leading runner will be Sabina House. She will be looking to pace her team to a possible state meet berth by scoring a top 5 finish. Kaileh Zlatunich is another Aptos runner who will be mixing it up with the lead pack as her team will attempt to win their 8th straight section title!