Boys at or near the top of our returning fifth runner rankings include (from left): Leo Young of Newbury Park, Clem Welsh of Bellarmine, and Joseph Moersch of Dana Hills. (Photos by DeAnna Turner and Pat Rhames)
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Ya gotta score five!
While we may not actually know the targeted fifth runner for most of the state heading into the rescheduled 2020-21 XC season, we can ID the fifth-fastest returner and rank those runners.
For this chart, we searched the database for boys returning from 2019 over 5,000 meters. We pulled up 163 teams and ranked all No. 5 boys with times under 17:31 to get a total list of 62.
Many of these boys were already positioned among the team's top seven and some took the line last November at the CIF-State Championships.
Zen Li, for example, was the fifth runner helping Foothill Tech to the Division IV team title. Phillip Doyle was the fifth runner helping St. Margaret's to second place in Division V. Clem Welsh was the No. 5 runner for Bellarmine, which placed thir...
