Girls Coundown to XC Day 11: La Costa Canyon

If you were thinking that graduation had finally caught up with the Mavericks and they were going to take a big step backward this year, perhaps you should reconsider. Yes, LCC did lose three of their 2018 top 7 with the class of 2019, including stars Kristin Fahy and Jessica Riedman. The rest of that squad, though, was three freshmen and a sophomore, which means this team still has a very strong returning core. And yes, depth is a concern - behind that top 4 there is a big drop-off to the next group, who will have to step up from JV competition to fill out the varsity ranks. I have two reasons to be confident that the Mavericks will reload rather than rebuild, though. First, over the last three years they have been among California's very best at year-to-year improvement, ranking 2nd in the state using 5K times and 14th using 3 Miles (for the 5K, they rank 2nd over a 5-year span and 3rd over 7 years, as well). Second, La Costa Canyon showed significant improvement during the spring season. Kyra Compton led three Mavericks under 11:40, with two more in the low 12's. That front group was just as impressive in the 1600, wither Sydney Weaber and Rebekah Niednagel clocking 5:00 and 5:03. The Mavericks could have only one senior in their top 7 this coming season, which gives them a two-year window to return to state title contention - but don't be surprised if they're already back near the top come November.