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.
Steele Canyon (SD/Division II)
This could very well be Otay Ranch, the Division I champ from a year ago, but graduation decimated the Mustangs, leaving only the Shorey brothers, Jake (10th at 15:54.6) and Zach (44th at 16:45.1) plus Jacob Juden (13th at 15:58.1) back for 2022.
Steele Canyon is in a little more favorable division and has more coming back with Dominic Rizzo (7th in 15:54.3 at the San Diego Section meet) and Bradley Bell (10th at 16:02.6) providing a solid 1-2 punch. There is a drop-off but senior returning varsity runners-seniors Juan Pablo Arredondo (27th at 16:45.9) Juan Guzman (30th at 16:49.4) and Paolo Katachi (39th at 17:08.1) plus soph Micah Senn (41st at 17:10.3) should give the Cougars a running start.
They should definitely be motivated as the team missed the State Meet, losing by three points to Scripps Ranch, which returns five of its seven. Being in the same league with a strong Grossmont returning team will definitely provide high-quality competition.
| Steele Canyon (SD) | ||||
| 1) Dominic Rizzo | 16:28.80 | 18 | ||
| 2) Bradley Bell | 16:39.80 | 28 | ||
| 3) Juan Pablo Arredondo | 17:20.40 | 79 | ||
| 4) Micah Senn | 17:58.00 | 139 | ||
| 5) Paolo Katachi | 18:20.30 | 179 | ||
| Average Time: 17:21.46 Total Time: 1:26:47.30 1-5 Split: 1:51.50 | ||||
| 6) Joseph Gaytan | 18:37.00 | 217 | ||
| 7) Juan Guzman | 18:41.00 | 222 | ||
Steve Brand is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to MileSplit.
Photos by Angel Pena