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 (CS/Division I)

Christopher Caudillo, a distance running standout in both cross country and track for Clovis High, enters his final high school year with some unfinished business. 

Clovis will seek to win the Tri-River Athletic Conference (TRAC) cross country title and Caudillo appears to be the favorite to win the individual title in 2022. Caudillo was second in the 2021 TRAC final with a time of 15:24.88. He was runner-up to Clovis teammate, Nathaniel Avila, who has graduated.

Caudillo followed it by running a 15:18.44 to win the individual CIF Central Section Division I title -- Avila was second -- and finished sixth place in the CIF State Division I Championship race in 14:59.20. All races were at Fresno's Woodward Park.

Caudillo, who was the 1600-meter State track champion this past May as well as a Masters and TRAC 1600-meter winner, is a lock as the No. 1 runner for Clovis this fall.

Despite losing Avila to graduation, Clovis has a solid up-and-coming group to complement Caudillo. Cole McNeal, a junior, returns after finishing 18th in the section final (16:11.40). Isaiah Watkins enters his senior year after solid 28th-place showing in the section race (16:28.75). Josiah Delgadillo, a junior, was 34th (16:33.95). Jalen Morales, a junior, was 49th in the section final (17:23.03). Senior Joaquin Mcgee rounds out the returning seven. His best 5000 time last year was a 17:00.00 at the Clovis Invitational in October.

2021 Returning times for 5000 meters

Scoring is against all returning boys in CA.