Girls Sweepstakes Preview
In our Orange County team rankings, we have four squads all projected within 12 points of one another! As of now, not too much differentiates the girls of Fountain Valley, Mission Viejo, El Toro and Canyon. Those last three are some of the catalysts making for an ultra-competitive Div. II race next month at the sectional finals. Meanwhile, all four could very well finish in our Southern Section Top Ten by the end of November!
In 2017, El Toro's girls won in one of the closest meets in meet history with a slim 81-85 decision over Capistrano Valley! Mission Viejo outlasted Dana Hills and Fountain Valley for third with only eight points dividing the trio (117-123-125). Two of the finest in Orange County history that have now graduated, Capo Valley's Haley Herberg (now at Oklahoma) held off Canyon's Sara Leonard (now at Utah), 17:16-17:24 for the individual title.
Seven of the top 11 from last year's affair have graduated, leaving Mission Viejo's Kelli Hines as the top returner (17:41). With that, the Diablos are our favorites going into the 2018 edition as Hines has run the fastest time in the county this year (16:49 @ Woodbridge XC Classic). The senior-laden squad has chosen their battles wisely thus far and now welcome back Ashley Johnson, who placed fifth a year ago with a time of 17:55. She looks to join one of the most improved girls in the county in Emma Hicken (17:07 @ Woodbridge). Morgan Calcagnie rejoining the team after two seasons off has also made a huge influence in their success! Head coach Chase Frazier has waited until Johnson was 100 percent healthy in what will be her first race of the season. The Diablos are gearing for a run at the podium at this year's state championships, putting to rest the disappointing 11th place finish from last year.
Trust us when we convey that El Toro is NOT ready to relinquish last year's title! Despite the graduation of Ashley Messineo (4th place, 17:53), the Chargers feel that their squad is even better here in 2018. Alexis Neuville (6th, 18:02 last year) will not only look to finish higher this year, but now has a quartet that can finish within 30 seconds of her! Freshman Kasey Lynd has joined veteran Grace Griffin up toward the front to give them an additional unforeseen weapon this year. Meanwhile, team captain Taylor Slouka along with Jessica Martinez have both shown tremendous improvement and cemented those last two scoring slots in impressive fashion thus far this season. El Toro's girls took 5th place at the Division I State Championships last year and obviously looking to capture that same success in Division II next month!
The one squad we're anticipating the most will be the Barons of Fountain Valley! After impressing during the opening weekends of the season on courses less than three miles, their coaches told us that they were 'stay low key' until the.... Orange County Championships! Ashley Faller took 9th here last year (18:12) while Sara Feitz was 16th place in 18:28. They return their entire crew while also welcoming a freshman, Ashlee Gallegos, into the scoring five. This will be their first 'real' competitive race of their season. They are slated to make the state meet this season as this is their best squad in the past 15 seasons.
Including new freshmen into the varsity group is always welcome, but Canyon of Anaheim has truly been blessed this year as Emma Hadley as assumed the throne vacated by the graduated Leonard. Coming in with an impressive resume from competing at the club level, Hadley is one of the best freshmen in the state as she ran a 16:55 at the Woodbridge XC Classic last month. We have her slated to finish in the top five this Saturday but fellow Class of '22 teammate, Isabella Frisone has also made an immediate impact. Veterans Ashling Carr and Sara Paino held down the fort until the newcomers arrived and Canyon is now one of the top ten squads in the entire Southern Section.
As mentioned before, there is not much that separates these four squads. This will be an epic team battle where we would not be surprised to see all four finish within 20 points of one another!
Two other squads have made it a tradition of being amongst the best for quite some time now. The 2017 runners-up, Capistrano Valley is back and led by Carly Corsinita (pictured), who has made a huge jump since this time last year! Trying to replace two of the OC's best has been the challenge but this new version of the Cougars is still rounding into form and has not run their best race yet. Sophomore Shannon Trueman had a breakthrough performance last weekend at Clovis. If she and her teammates join her at that same level, they could very well challenge the aforementioned four powerhouses already featured!
Coming off of their best performance of 2018, Dana Hills was not too far off from Capistrano Valley, when we completed our Southern Section-only merge from Clovis. Marisa Gaitan led the Dolphins as have this squad back into the thick of qualifying for the state meet out of Division I once again. They finished in 10th place at last year's State Meet.
San Clemente will be led by Hana Catsimanes who has now shown that she is more than just a 'miler' as evidenced by her 16:50 performance a month ago at Woodbridge. They could very well be a sleeper in this deep field of talent! JSerra's Nadia Tabrizi is coming off her best effort (18:10.8) on the Woodward Park course last weekend and projected to finish in the top five here.
We have included our own personal, subjective team rankings below. These are based on all performances, taking into consideration the variety of courses and efforts displayed by the top squads in the county.
MileSplitCA Orange County Girls Team Rankings
1) Mission Viejo
2) Fountain Valley
3) Canyon
4) El Toro
5) Capistrano Valley
6) Dana Hills
7) Laguna Beach (not competing)
8) San Clemente
9) Los Alamitos
10t) Tesoro
10t) St. Margaret's (competing on Friday)
Others: Brea Olinda, Foothill, JSerra, Santa Margarita, Woodbridge, Yorba Linda