State Meet Preview: Division III

Perennial champion Liam Anderson is gone and what is left here appears to be a fairly wide open field of veteran runners looking to make their last CIF test the one they'll remember most.

Fresno Central's Abel Teffra (DeAnna Turner photo above) is most familiar with the course and will have the most rest of any of the top runners. Agoura's Ryan Koepnick, the division leader for 5K from his 15:30.10 at Clovis, is coming off a sub-par performance at the Southern Section Finals. Can he go from 31st on a flat 3-mile course to first on a challenging 5K layout in a week and in what is forecast to be about a 25-degree week-over-week temperature difference? That's a tough ask. 

Other seniors worthy of the runner-to-beat target are Maria Carrillo's Colton Swinth, second in the NCS final while leading his team to the section title. Cathedral Catholic's Max Wilson is coming off an individual and team title run on Saturday in San Diego. Both of those guys rank Nos. 2 and 3 for 5K in the division behind Koepnick. Teffra is fourth with a best of 15:34.15 from the TRAC champs on the Woodward Park course. He then won the CS title going 15:41.40 in a solo effort on Thursday. 

Agoura senior Beau Bordelon went 15:43.10 at Clovis and placed fourth at the Southern Section Finals behind another strong senior, Moorpark's Keith Murray, the CIF-SS D3 champ who posted the 10th fastest time among all boys on the Riverside Course. Murray (Bib No. 915 at right) was fifth last year at State and is the top returner from 2018.

Pasadena sophomore Isaiah Givens was second to Murray in the SS and Campolindo junior Dylan Gunn has only gone 15:52.80 for 5K this year -- the time he ran on the Woodward Park course for 10th place at Rough Rider -- but that was six weeks ago and he's coming off a 15:08.70 3-mile PR and a NCS championship which could be more warm-up than peak. Gunn was 11th at State last year and is the No. 2 returner.

While we're hedging toward the local favorite, Teffra, who was 22nd in 2018, don't be surprised to see a Murray-Gunn battle at or near the top. 

Agoura has been our No. 1 since we launched our rankings around midseason and are coming off a 34-point victory in the Southern Section Finals over six other teams we had among the state's top 10, or thereabouts, in the division. Despite an off race from their usual No. 1, Agoura (Lizette Adams photo above) still produced a 78:12 team time, 15:38 average and 49-second 1-5 gap in an absolutely stacked field. 

Maria Carrillo has been right on their heels all season and Saturday in Fresno should be no different. Partly because both teams know that Campolindo, as well as the Southern Section parade of Royal, Brea Olinda, Moorpark and Palos Verdes, among them, will be looking for a little week-after redemption. And San Diego champion Cathedral Catholic could be ready to pull the shocker. 

Maybe.

But the numbers to this point tell us it's Agoura and Maria Carrillo. If Koepnick isn't right, the NCS champion could take the title. The lads at Maria Carrillo are coming off a section final where they posted 28 points with a 30 second 1-5 split and 15:25 average in a 22-team field. And that was with runner-up Campolindo going 1-3-9-17-23.