Jesuit's Matt Strangio (left) won CIF-State 3200m and 1600m titles the past two years. Big Bear's Caleb Webb (right) won the State 3200m crown in 2015. (Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport; Regan Rhames)
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Matt Strangio and Caleb Webb, two former CIF-State 3200-meter champions, have been voted into the final matchup of MileSplitCA's Greatest Boys Combination Distance Runner of the Decade poll tournament.
Voting (at the bottom of this page) closes Wednesday at midnight.
Webb, a 2015 graduate of Big Bear (SS), was a decisive semifinal winner over Liam Anderson (Redwood/NC/2019). Strangio, a senior at Jesuit (SJ), was the voter's choice in his semifinal with Cooper Teare (St. Joseph Notre Dame/NC/2017).
Webb, who won the 3200m title in 2015, received 63.11 percent of the votes in his matchup with Anderson, a five-time State Meet medalist an 2018 champion for 1600m. Webb advanced by 189 votes.
Strangio, who won the 3200m title as a sophomore in 2018 and the 1600m title last spring, received 62.05 percent of the votes in his matchup with Teare, the State 3200m champion in 2016 whose converted time for 1600m ranks No. 2 in state history. Strangio advanced by 115 votes.
In reaching the final of this two-week poll event where reader votes determine who advances, Strangio, one of the seeded favorites, had previously advanced past Michael Vernau, Eduardo Herrera and Jason Gomez. Strangio has averaged 366.0 votes per round entering the final.
Webb, a longshot in seeding of the initial 32 boys, has received tremendous voting support in advancing past Callum Bolger, Robert Brandt and Nico Young while averaging 312.50 votes per round entering the final.
Tournament Parameters
This poll tournament began with 32 of the best boys distance runners in California between 2010 and 2019. This is based on track times and results without regard to XC. Runners were selected based on top 800/1600, 1600/3200 and 800/3200 combined rankings within the decade, as well as State Meet results. Single-distance-event specialists that do not rank among the top tier of either of the three combined event PR options, were only considered to fill out the 32-runner bracket. As a result, all 1600m and 3200m State Meet champions in the decade are included but not all 800m champions. The final cut to 32 was subjective.
Boys were placed in ranking groups of four based primarily on their combined rankings. Results at the State Meet were also strongly considered. Once in groups, boys were ordered alphabetically. Strangio and Teare were in the top group, Anderson was in the third group and Webb was ranked in the seventh group.
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CHAMPIONSHIP BIOS
(Listed Alphabetically)
Matt Strangio (Jesuit/SJ/2020) -- State 1600m champion in 2019 (4:08.07) and 3200m champion in 2018 (8:56.18). Placed third at State for 3200m in 2019. Combined 16/32 time of 12:56.04 ranks seventh in the decade. PR of 8:47.92 converted for 3200m ranks eighth in the decade.
Caleb Webb (Big Bear/SS/2015) -- State 3200m champion in 2015 running 8:47.30 PR that ranks seventh in the decade and 18th in state history. Also was a 3200m finalist in 2014. Two-time Southern Section D4 champion for 3200m. Also won CIF-SS D4 title for 1600m in 2015 with 4:11.72 PR.
CHAMPIONSHIP VOTING
(Voting closes Wednesday at midnight)
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Photos by Jeff George, James Leash, Kirby Lee/Image of Sport, Regan Rhames.
