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.
Jesuit (SJ/Division 1)
Coach Walt Lange's perennial Sac-Joaquin Section power (13 D-1 titles in the SJS) graduated its No. 1 from a fifth-place finish at the State Meet but returns three scorers and four of the seven who took the line last November at Woodward Park.
Braden King, who placed 10th at the State Meet, is off to Yale, but the next men up to challenge for the Marauders' No. 1 spot are seniors Jacob Swanson (photo on the banner) and Brandon Moreno (pictured above). Swanson, who has a 5K best of 15:37.60, placed 28th at State as Jesuit's No. 2 last fall.
Moreno (15:41.88), ran No. 4 at State, placing 49th among scorers. On the track in the spring, Moreno went 9:12.16 for 3200m and ran his 1600m PR of 4:12.58 to earn a sixth-place medal at the State Meet.
Rising sophomore Chase Cressman (16:21.70) ran No. 5 for the Marauders as a freshman.
With a solid three returners up front, the question is who fills the open spots in the back. Junior Jonah Reynolds ran No. 6 at State, sophomore George Srabian ranks fifth on the team when filtered for 3200m (10:53.38).
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| Jesuit (SJ) | ||||
| 1) Jacob Swanson | 15:37.60 | 24 | ||
| 2) Brandon Moreno | 15:41.88 | 32 | ||
| 3) Chase Cressman | 16:21.70 | 145 | ||
| 4) Jonah Reynolds | 16:44.08 | 230 | ||
| 5) Robson Fuentes | 18:04.60 | 734 | ||
| Average Time: 16:29.97 Total Time: 1:22:29.86 1-5 Split: 2:27.00 | ||||
| 6) Benjamin Brott | 18:30.60 | 899 | ||
Scoring is against all returning boys in CA.
Photos by James Leash