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.
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Senior Maizy Allred (855) and junior Olivia Robertson (860) are among seven returners who competed at the 2021 CIF-State Cross Country Championships last November for Las Plumas High. (DeAnna Turner photo)
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Las Plumas (NS/Division IV)
When trying to decide which girls cross country team in the Northern Section to profile as part of this series, the choice was not obvious.
Chico, which competes in D-3, is a perennial power. Although graduation took away five of the seven who took the line at the State Meet, the program is consistently strong and universally one to watch.
Pleasant Valley, in D-3, returns five from the Northern Section Finals. Orland, in D-4, also returns five.
However, when scoring out just returning girls from the all-division NS Championships last November on the 3-mile West Valley HS course, Las Plumas earned the low stick.
Any one of these four teams has a legitimate argument warranting this profile, but the fact that Las Plumas returns all seven from the State Meet was the final factor in this decision. (We will have more on the Northern Section cross country season later in August.)
Juniors Madalyn and Olivia Robertson lead the Thunderbirds, located in South Oroville. Madalyn placed 11th overall at the Northern Section Finals -- a meet run with all divisions in the same race. She is the No. 7 returner from that race. Olivia Robertson placed 16th overall just ahead of rising senior Maizy Allred, who was 17th.
Other returners at juniors Isabella Morgado, Avielle Worden, and Ava Celentano, and sophomore Bella Montano. Morgado ran No. 4 at both the section and State meets, and Montano ran No. 5 at both.
| Las Plumas (NS) | ||||
| 1) Madalyn Robertson | 20:41.21 | 3 | ||
| 2) Olivia Robertson | 21:23.01 | 6 | ||
| 3) Maizy Allred | 22:19.00 | 8 | ||
| 4) Isabella Morgado | 23:48.00 | 14 | ||
| 5) Bella Montano | 26:51.00 | 29 | ||
| Average Time: 23:00.44 Total Time: 1:55:02.22 1-5 Split: 6:09.79 | ||||
| 6) Avielle Worden | 28:33.10 | 34 | ||
| 7) Ava Celentano | 30:00.00 | 37 | ||
Photos by DeAnna Turner