BOYS RUNNER OF THE YEAR
MATT STRANGIO (Jesuit, Jr.) -- There now seems to be a pattern for Strangio. He comes out of the gate in a flurry. He takes time off while he mends from an injury. He returned in less than spectacular fashion and then on the biggest stage, Strangio rolls to state championship victories. This past season, Strangio started out strong, took time off and on November 24th, he rolled to the California state Division I title to match the other title he garnered in the spring in the 3200m. At NXN, Strangio was less than a 100% but still managed an impressive 8th place finish and with Liam Anderson safely at Stanford next year, Strangio will be one of the favorites to roll to the individual title in the 2019 NXN meet.
GIRLS RUNNER OF THE YEAR
RILEY CHAMBERLAIN (Del Oro, Fr.) -- It's not unusual for freshmen girls to make an impact from their first high school cross country experience. It's a bit more unusual for a freshman girl to vie for the coveted fastest girl in California. This past season, Del Oro freshman Riley Chamberlain rolled to 11 meet/invitational victories with her lone loss in California to Tori Gaitan at the Clovis Invitational. Chamberlain got her revenge (sort of) at the state meet by posting the fastest time of the day. She got valuable experience at NXN and will be a force to be reckoned with during the upcoming Track and Field season.
BOYS TEAM OF THE YEAR
PLACER -- There were a few candidates for SJS boys team of the year but in the end, the lone male team to make it to the podium at the State Meet is our team of the year. At the mile mark, the Placer Hillmen (good XC mascot!) were in seventh place and seemed out of reach of a podium finish. They moved up nicely during the second mile to put themselves into third place behind Laguna Beach and Sir Francis Drake. They finished in third place to score their first podium finish in school history on the male side. Their girls won the 2004 Division IV state title.
GIRLS TEAM OF THE YEAR
ST. FRANCIS -- The team of the year for the girls in the Sac-Joaquin Section is self admittingly a tough pick. The always tough Davis girls rallied to finish the season on a really high note with a very solid 5th place finish in the always rugged Division I race. The Vista del Lago girls won the Division III state title which is an incredible achievement in any division. My choice for the girls team of the year will go to the St. Francis girls. They were the best team in the section throughout the season. Although they finished in 8th place in Division II at the state meet, they still posted the fastest team time of any SJS school and finished in 11th place when you combined all the races.