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.
La Costa Canyon (SD/Division 3)
The Mavericks were very young a year ago and their No. 1 runner, section championJacob Niednagel(15:16.6), was not healthy for the State Meet, gamely finishing 88th behind nine runners he handled just a week earlier.
Niednagel (pictured) came back to run 4:25 and 9:20.5 in the 1600-3200 duo and those teammates who were so young a year ago are now ready to step up. They include juniorsHudson Shaver(10th in the section at 15:55.6),Austin Young,Grant Marcucci,Ethan Gordon,Luke Stephens, and another Niednagel,Isaac, an 11th grader.
It isn't unusual among the boys for those who buy into the training to make dramatic improvements between their sophomore and junior years. That's the goal of the Mavericks.
Steve Brand is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to MileSplit.
Photos by Phil Grooms
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.
