Girls Coundown to XC Day 16: Granada

When a team graduates their top 4 runners and a total of 5 of their top 7 from the previous year's state meet and still makes the preseason countdown, you know it's a strong program! Granada's 5K returning ranking does benefit from racing on some fast courses (Stanford, Pacific Tiger), but there's still more than enough here to know the Matadors aren't going away anytime soon. Depth is certainly going to be a concern after such a large senior class leaves, but this team has shown solid year-to-year improvement (in particular on their home section's 3 mile courses, which are slower than those in the Southern Section and therefore don't return high rankings state wide). In team 3200 results this spring, Granada showed a strong top 4 (all at 12:04 or faster) but a bit of a gap behind them (and Shae Hill looked like the next star #1 from this program after clocking 11:03). At worst, the Matadors project as a contender for the best team in the NCS regardless of division and another top 5 finish at the state meet, and it wouldn't be surprising to see them on the podium again.