30 Boys XC Teams to Watch this Fall: Clovis West (CS)

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.

Clovis West (CS/Division I)

The competition in the Tri-River Athletic Conference (TRAC) is more than enough to sharpen a team's preparation for success in invitationals, special meets and, of course, for November's CIF postseason dates.

That said, when looking at teams with potential, one could flip a coin to determine who to spotlight as there is quality and quantity among each of the TRAC league programs.

Choosing just one is hard, but there is just something favorably appealing about Clovis West. The Golden Eagles were TRAC finals runner-up, edged by Clovis North, but then flipped the script as the top league team in the Central Section Division I final. Clovis West was 15th in the State in 2021.

But Clovis West has two returners who can share and handle the lead role, thus having depth at the top spot, a 1-2 punch, and some excitement from runners on the rise.

The Golden Eagles have senior Nathaniel Nodal and junior Sam Dresick to lead the way in 2022. Their personal-best times for 5000 meters are on the chart below and the two went back and forth late last season when it counted most. 

The postseason saw Dresick finish sixth in the TRAC Finals and Nodal was ninth. The next meet, the CIF Central Section Division I race, Nodal was eighth and Dresick 10th. Dresick was 58th (44th in scoring) and Nodal was 64th (47th) in the State meet.

Nodal's PR in the 5000 actually came the week after the State meet in the December 2021 Garmin RunnersLane Cross-Country Invitational.

The hope now is that Clovis West's other returning runners step up following the graduation losses of Benjamin Reyes, Gabe Gomez and Collin Galaviz.

The top returning candidates are sophomores Nico Palavicini and Kaleb Chapa. Palavicini's 16:52.70 counted fifth in Clovis West's State team scoring. The Golden Eagles have depth options in junior Andrew Jones, sophomore Luis Rodriguez and senior Tamoya Ryan.