It's time to get fired up for cross country! Our traditional XC countdown is back, although it may look a little different this time around - our longtime data analyst Jeff George has moved on, leaving this energizing project to the MileSplit team in CA. Our collective goal is to briefly highlight 30 boys and 30 girls teams that we think will have an impact this fall. We will spotlight one team per gender per day over a 30-day period. Similar to past countdowns, we will provide a cross-sampling of teams from all 10 sections without regard to statewide or even division ranking (those will come later, as will articles previewing each section, and returning athletes to watch). As always, if you catch an error or have updated information for us, email CA state editor Jeffrey Parenti (jeffrey.parenti@flosports.tv) and we'll make the corrections.
Torrey Pines (SD/Division I)
The loss to graduation of Annika Salz (16th in the state) is major but the Falcons return most of the entire rest of the club, led by junior Scarlett Taylor (17:35.2 in the section finals), who actually beat Salz in the section championship, placing third overall. Taylor went on to scorch a 10:54.96 for 3200 in the section championships and figures to among the top 10 in the state after placing 18th a year ago.
In 2021, the big story was the transfer of Emma George from Rancho Bernardo and the Dorostkar twins, Sammi and Nikki, from Canyon Crest. George, who placed eighth in the San Diego Section finale (18:20.6), has reportedly moved to Texas. As for the Dorostkars, more is expected from them now that they're settled in. Add in junior Natalie Wang (19:05.3 in the section finals) and Marissa Gaut (19:27.1) to give the Falcons plenty of depth.
An improvement on a seventh-place finish at State in this tough division is expected.
| Torrey Pines (SD) | ||||
| 1) Scarlett Taylor | 18:06.30 | 31 | ||
| 2) Marissa Gaut | 19:21.20 | 178 | ||
| 3) Emma George | 19:22.30 | 180 | ||
| 4) Natalie Wang | 19:22.70 | 181 | ||
| 5) Sammi Dorostkar | 19:38.70 | 222 | ||
| Average Time: 19:10.24 Total Time: 1:35:51.20 1-5 Split: 1:32.40 | ||||
| 6) Talia Betino | 20:26.00 | 396 | ||
| 7) Nikki Dorostkar | 20:38.50 | 460 | ||
Scoring is against all returning teams in CA
Steve Brand is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to MileSplit.
Photos by Angel Pena