Storylines to Watch in the Central Section

2019 XC Season Preview

Aug 19, 2019

FIVE BOYS STORYLINES IN THE CENTRAL SECTION

1. Ridgeview Moves to D2

The Wolf Pack routed the competition at the D3 level. But D2 at the state level figures to include the likes of Newbury Park, La Costa Canyon, Claremont, Los Angeles Loyola, and Mountain View St. Francis, 1-5 at State last year (the Southern Section division alignment is released in October). The section level includes a San Luis Obispo crew that was runner-up in D2 last year and returns four of its five scorers from the section final. Bakersfield Liberty, the 2018 D2 team champion, is now in D1.

2. Top Returning Section Finalists

Alex Cuevas (Ridgeview) won D3 (after placing seventh as a sophomore), Cameron McFarlin (Coalinga) won D4 (after placing 14th as a soph), and Michael Eggert (Chowchilla) won D5 (after placing fourth as a soph). They all return and they all move up a division. Three of the top five from D1 return in Damian Gavilan (Paso Robles) a senior who was second to graduated two-time champion Marcus Mota (Stockdale), Isaiah Galindo (Clovis North) is a senior who placed third (he was second as a sophomore), and Adham Maher (Stockdale) placed fifth behind his teammate as a junior.

3. Top Boy In the CS?

It's hard not to go with Clovis North senior Isaiah Galindo. That's our pre-season pick. We could apologize for the bull's-eye but truth be told, Galindo did it to himself with his stellar 15:12.60 performance for seventh place in the D1 race at the State Final last November. Mota was the No. 2 finisher in that race from the CS, nearly nine seconds back. Galindo is the No. 3 returner in D1 from State behind only champion Matt Strangio of Sacramento Jesuit (SJ) and Mateo Joseph of Temecula Great Oak (SS). Who was the second-fastest at State among the CS returners? That would be Gavilan, who beat Galindo in the CS final. Gavilan went 15:23.00 that day at Woodward Park, more than 10 seconds behind Galindo. Galindo solidified his ascension by winning the 3200 on the track at CS Masters and placing seventh at State, adding two points as part of Clovis North's team title.

4. Keep An Eye Out For ...

Incoming freshman Christopher Caudillo, who will attend Clovis High (4:44.52 for the 1600 and 10:38.29 for the 3200) and Noah Ray (Buchanan) has gone 4:46.37 and 10:33.37 on the track.

Junior Yair Torres of Santa Maria was fourth in CS Division 2 final and is the the top returner (but now gets to challenge the likes of Cuevas and the rest of the Ridgeview juggernaut moving up).

5. Battle At The Top

Paso Robles is the defending D1 section champion, beating Clovis North by seven points and Buchanan by 20 at the 2018 final. In addition to Gavilan, PR also returns junior Jason Scruggs, senior Michael Hernandez, senior Caelan Casa, and junior Ethan Short from the seven who took the line at the section final. In addition to Galindo, CN returns senior Joshua Ochoa, senior Nick Carter, senior Thomas Allen, sophomore Spencer Mueller, and junior George Yamashita. Buchanan's top returners are senior Kelly Brewer, junior Bo Olsen, junior Sebastian McGehee, junior Agustin Banuelos, and senior Ronnie Barrett from the group that took the line at section finals.

Central Section Boys Teams In the Countdown To XC Top 30: