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.
Among the returning standouts for Oak Ridge, one of the state's elite girls cross country teams, is junior Samantha Liaty, who ran No. 2 for the Trojans at the CIF-State Meet. (Patrick Corsinita photo)
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Oak Ridge (SJ/Division 1)
One of the top teams in the state, returning five of its starting seven from a year ago when it won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 title with 30 points, placed third at the State Meet, and eighth in the elite (Gold) race at the Garmin RunningLane Nationals.
Senior Quinn Walker (17:45.71), junior Samantha Liaty (17:51.90), and senior Brooke Butler (17:55.00) make for an extremely strong trio up front. While there is a drop-off in 5K PR times from the top three, Oak Ridge still returns five of the top 20 in the SJS.
Sophomores Fiona Gordon (18:58.30) and Addison Clinton (18:58.70) are next up among returners with senior Lauren Olson (19:06.30) also figuring in the mix.
Walker ran No. 2 at RunningLane behind graduated senior Ava Maier, with Liaty next and Butler crossing fifth as Oak Ridge gapped at 1 minute, fourth best among the nation's elites.
Liaty ran No. 2 at State behind graduated senior Kayla Rutz with Walker fourth and Butler fifth.
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| Oak Ridge (SJ) | 287 | |||
| 1) Quinn Walker | 17:45.71 | 14 | ||
| 2) Samantha Liaty | 17:51.90 | 20 | ||
| 3) Brooke Butler | 17:55.00 | 25 | ||
| 4) Fiona Gordon | 18:58.30 | 113 | ||
| 5) Addison Clinton | 18:58.70 | 115 | ||
| Average Time: 18:17.92 Total Time: 1:31:29.61 1-5 Split: 1:12.99 | ||||
| 6) Lauren Olson | 19:06.30 | 134 | ||
| 7) Laney Roth | 21:50.70 | 740 | ||
Jeffrey Parenti is the California State Editor for MileSplit
Photos by Patrick Corsinita and James Leash