California Girls Cross Country 2023 Super Seven

2023 CA Countdown to XC
Mark Gardner


If we were to take California's top returning high school girls cross country runners to compete for state bragging rights against the best from other states, what super seven returning girls would be on the line to represent the Golden State?

We asked Mark Gardner to select this fall's MileSplitCA Super Seven Girls XC Team. Mark is a longtime former coach, popular XC/T&F announcer, and a regular contributor to MileSplit.

Here are his selections ranked 1-7: 


1. Sadie Engelhardt (Ventura/SS/Jr.)


Sadie is the defending CIF-State Cross Country champion in Division II (16:57.9) and she heads into her junior season with the top time on the Woodward Park 5K course while also rolling to a 16:38.8 on the Mt. SAC course. Sadie won the Woodbridge Classic (15:42.6, meet record) and placed 10th at the 2022 Champs National in San Diego. She is coming off an outdoor season where she completed an historic 1600m-800m double while defending her 1600m title in State Meet record and U.S. No. 1 time (4:33.45). 


2. Payton Godsey (Oaks Christian/SS/Sr.)


Payton comes into her senior season as the defending CIF-State Cross Country champion in Division IV (17:00.1), defending champion at the Garmin RunningLane Nationals (17:28.3), and the defending CIF-Southern Section champion in Division 4 (16:54.2 at Mt. SAC). Payton is coming off an outdoor season where she showed marked improvement (4:42.57 and 9:57.70).


3. Hanne Thomsen (Montgomery/NC/Jr.)


Hanne is a two-time CIF-State Cross Country champion in Division III (17:12.8). She also won the Clovis Invite (17:04.2). Hanne was the top Californian at NXN with her 16th place effort, Thomsen also shined with a 16:49.3 win at the Nike Portland Invite. She is coming off a 4:43.63 and 9:55.31 track season.


4. Tessa Buswell (Poway/SD/Sr.)


Tessa enters her senior XC season as the defending Division I CIF-State champion (17:25.0) and CIF-San Diego Section D-1 runner-up. She earned an NXN berth where she placed 100th overall. She also placed second at the Mt. SAC Invite (17:38.0) and is coming off an outdoor season where she ran 2:08.30 and 4:48.76.


5. Chiara Dailey (La Jolla/SD/So.)


Chiara (Key-R-Uh) was the Division IV runner-up at the 2022 CIF-State Cross Country Championships, and the San Diego Section D=4 champion, running 17:14.6 at Morley Field. She was the highest-placing freshman at the Champs XC Nationals where she placed 14th. Chiara is coming off a 4:42.43 and 10:24.48 standout track season.


6. Gioana Lopizzo (La Costa Canyon/SD/Sr.)



Gioana was the Division III runner-up at the 2022 CIF-State Cross Country Championships (17:41.5). She has a lifetime best of 17:28.0 on the Woodward Park 5K course. Lopizzo won the CIF-SD D-3 title with the fastest time of the day and later placed 29th at the Champs Nationals. She is coming off a 4:45.94 and 9:59.08 track season and placed third at the State Meet in the 3200 meters.  


7. Rylee Blade (Santiago/SS/Jr.)


Rylee earned an NXN individual berth after placing third at the CIF-State Division I race, running 17:36.5, a full minute faster than in 2021. She is coming off an undefeated track season, winning the 3200 meters (10:02.19) at the State Meet.  Blade's stock improved more than anybody else this past year!



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Photos by DeAnna Turner, Jeffrey Parenti, Raymond Tran, and Dan Tyree.