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.

Andy Ixtabalan Argueta is the Oakland Section's returning distance runner of the year. He leads a senior-heavy group of scheduled returners including Aman Bereket, Ronan Cavanaugh, and Roman St. Gerard. Bereket placed third at the section final last fall with Cavanaugh eighth and St. Gerard in 10th place as Skyline beat Oakland Tech, 22-45. 

While Skyline graduated two regular scorers, Bereket ran No. 2 at State and Cavanaugh ran No. 4. 

Argueta, who won the section 3200m title on the track and finished second in the 1600m at the OK Finals, placed 52nd at the State XC Finals last November and is a top-21 returner from that D-III race.

The challenge for Skyline will be pulling up the bottom six. There's a big gap between Argueta and Bereket and another gap behind Bereket. The experience from winning sections and competing at the State Meet should bolster this now-veteran group coming into what should be a second consecutive "normal" season. 

Points are against all returning boys teams in the Oakland Section.