Girls Coundown to XC Day 15: Westlake

If you believe team results during track season can be highly predictive of cross country success (as I do), then Westlake could be the breakout team of 2019. The Warriors advanced to the state meet last fall from the Southern Section Division 2 race, arguably the toughest team race in any section, then finished 9th in Clovis. They did lose three seniors from that squad to graduation, and you can see that in their returning cross country rankings (big gaps after their 4th and 6th runners). However, Westlake returns their top three from last year, and they put in some eye-opening times on the track. Led by a 5:00 from Rebecca Schultz, the Warriors put 5 girls under 5:18 this past spring, a feat that only two other teams can claim (and a third came very close). Schultz also clocked 10:35 in the 3200, pacing the same five runners under 12 minutes. The bad news is that this team still showed a drop-off after their impressive top 5, which will need to be addressed during the summer. If that depth issue is resolved, however, Westlake profiles as a top 5 team in Division 2.