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.
Oakdale (SJ/Division III)
This group has a nice returning mix of veterans and youth, all with experience from the program's first Sac-Joaquin Section title and a top-4 finish at the State Meet.
Seniors Caleb Cavanaugh and Dax Daley lead the way. They went 1-2 at the section final and 12th and 28th, respectively, at the State Meet.
Cavanaugh has a 5K best of 15:37.40 and Daley isn't far behind at 15:57.20.
Sophomore twins Jackson and Mason Oliveira, who have both run sub-16:50. Senior Nathan Luca ran a 17:10.40 PR for 5K to place 13th at the SJS Final as the No. 4 scorer there.
Junior Abner Gonzalez ran No. 7 at both section and State meets.
2021 returning times for 5000 meters
| Oakdale (SJ) | ||||
| 1) Caleb Cavanaugh | 15:37.40 | 23 | ||
| 2) Dax Daley | 15:57.20 | 66 | ||
| 3) Jackson Oliveira | 16:49.20 | 262 | ||
| 4) Mason Oliveira | 16:49.90 | 268 | ||
| 5) Nathan Luca | 17:10.40 | 389 | ||
| Average Time: 16:28.82 Total Time: 1:22:24.10 1-5 Split: 1:33.00 | ||||
| 6) Carlos Martinez | 18:12.80 | 782 | ||
| 7) Abner Gonzalez | 18:14.60 | 788 | ||
Scoring is against all returning boys in CA.
Photos by James Leash