Division II
Girls - (Top 4 teams advance to state meet):
1. Granada
2. Redwood
3. Monte Vista
5. College Park
The Granada girls have won 7 section titles this decade including the last 4 in this division. They were a senior-heavy team last season but good teams don't just rebuild, they reload and contend without fail. This season, the Granada girls will be back in pursuit of another section title. They won the EBAL title over a formidable field and showed that they are truly the team to beat here. Their main challenge should come from a team that just returned to Division II and is under a new coach in Nicole Graydon. The Redwood girls have proved to be a leading contender following their win at the Phil Wilder Mariner Invitational, as well as the MCAL championship, meet. The Monte Vista girls finished right behind Redwood at the Mariner and finished tied with Dougherty Valley at the EBAL final. The teams battling for the last state meet spot should include San Ramon Valley and College Park. Both programs have been state contenders for many years and it should be no different this Saturday.
The favorite to win the individual title will be Monte Vista senior, Kelli Wilson. She rolled to the EBAL title on the Hayward HS course with a winning time of 17:23.3. She was followed by Granada junior Shae Hill in 17:45.7 and could finish right behind Wilson here as well. Other girls in the mix should include Sofia Tavella of San Ramon Valley, Elizabeth Melchor of Granada, Isabella Alviz of College Park and Helena Janku of Redwood. One more runner that should not be overlooked is Vintage junior Mary Deeik. She finished in 3rd place last year's Division II race and will be racing up front once again in 2019.
Boys - (Top 4 teams advance to state meet):
1. Granada
2. De La Salle
3. Monte Vista
4. College Park
5. Liberty/Redwood
The Granada boys absolutely dominated this division last year scoring an impressive 31 points to win their first section title since 1999. The wait for the next section title should not take as long as they are the slight favorites here after they won the 6th man tie-breaker at the EBAL final with Amador Valley. De La Salle was well within striking distance of Granada at just 12 points back which means that this team title should go to one of those two schools. The last two state meet spots should go to either Monte Vista, Liberty or College Park. Monte Vista had an impressive pack at the EBAL final to finish in 5th place. The Liberty boys won the BVAL title while College Park finished in 2nd place at the DAL final behind a strong Campolindo team.
The slight favorite to win the individual title here will be Granada senior, Anthony Guerra. He finished in 2nd place behind Dublin's Christopher Middleton-Pearson and just in front of De La Salle junior Patrick Currula. Now that the Liam Anderson is attending Stanford classes, their lead runner is junior Hudson Grace and he just corralled his first individual title in the MCAL. Other runners of note are De La Salle's Kieran Brown as well as Mission San Jose's Arnav Arora, the BVAL champion. Santa Rosa junior Andrew McKamey finished right behind the Maria Carrillo juggernaut at the NBL final and won the Castro Valley Invitational.