Girls Coundown to XC Day 18: Clovis West

This is one of the most intriguing teams in the countdown to me, simply because they were so incredibly young last fall. The Golden Eagles return all seven runners from the team that finished 2nd in the Central Section Division 1 race and 15th at the state meet, including four freshmen and a sophomore at the time. That shows a lot of poise, plus it means they gained extremely valuable experience. They have a very strong front six, posting a 54-second split last year and then following that up by putting 6 under 12:05 in the 3200 on the track. Of particular interest: it looks like Claire Bringetto may have taken a leap forward during the spring season, clocking the team's best time at 11:19. If she can push and support returning #1 Kalei Aoki-Chance, that depth helps take the pressure off everyone in the top 7, which in turn makes the team more consistent.  In my experience, there is a pattern with teams when they first move up to state-level contention. First, there is a big overall team improvement (which happened to the Golden Eagles in 2018), then the team truly contends the following year. I expect this squad to be in the top 10 in Division 1, and then the question is how well they can sustain that success down the line. We could be looking at the second stage in the formation of a new regular state-level program.