Monday, October 22, 2018

2018 Mid-Season Northern California Top 10 Cross Country Teams (Boys and Girls)

Updates after this weekend?

BOYS

1) Dublin (NCS) Division I
2) St. Francis, Mt. View (CCS) Division II
3) Bellarmine (CCS) Division I
4) Granada (NCS) Division II
5) Amador Valley (NCS) Division I
6) Davis (SJS) Division I
7) Jesuit (SJS) Division I
8) Maria Carrillo (NCS) Division III
9) Sir Francis Drake (NCS) Division IV
10) De La Salle (NCS) Division II
10) Campolindo (NCS) Division III
10) Placer (SJS) Division IV

GIRLS
1) St. Francis, Sacramento (SJS) Division II
2) Granada (NCS) Division II
3) Vista del Lago (SJS) Division III
4) Amador Valley (NCS) Division I
5) Davis (SJS) Division I
6) Monte Vista (NCS) Division II
7) Carlmont (CCS) Division I
8) Oakland Tech (OAK) Division I
9) Menlo (CCS) Division IV
10) San Ramon Valley (NCS) Division II
10) Maria Carrillo (NCS) Division III

Here are the CCS rankings as voted on by a select group of coaches:
http://lynbrooksports.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/XC/2018/ccs_rank.txt

Feel free to comment below. I tried my best to rank teams that haven't raced each other this season. If you feel like I left a team from the above list that belongs, go ahead and comment on their season below.

41 comments:

Jared said...

Scotts Valley has been very dominant this season and have a close 1-5 split. I would almost replace them with Placer based on how they raced at Clovis. Tough call.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that Campo is listed above Placer when Placer beat them head to head at Capital Cross. Placer held out a scorer at Clovis as well

Anonymous said...

I believe St Francis Sac is D2.

Albert Caruana said...

Campolindo has been missing one of their top runners as well. They are both at 10 so no preference at this point.

St Francis is in Division 2 and that has been corrected.

Anonymous said...

Campo is actually missing 2 of its top 3. I do not think they are going to get both back this season. However, even if they get one back, they have a chance of getting 5 guys under 16 at NCS.

Daniel James said...

Been really impressed by the St. Francis girls. They have been really focused on keeping a tight scoring unit and building up the confidence of the 4,5,6 runners to know that they can run with the top girls. Realistically they are a year off from really making some noise as they have an incoming freshman who is going to be a force to be reckoned with from the get go. Obviously not in Great Oak's class, but who is? I could see them really surprising some people come state and being one of the top teams there. I think they are still a long shot for a NXN invite this year, but won't be surprised if they make it close.

Anonymous said...

don"t overlook Dougherty Valley girls. Just beat SRV at mariner & are clear #2 behind Amador Valley in div 1 ncs

Anonymous said...

On the girls side, Oakland Tech had better team times at Mt. Sac than Monte Vista and Davis, and were just behind Amador Valley.

Anonymous said...

St Francis deserves a high rank but when you merged all the teams from the Bronco Invitational, Vista Del Lago did beat St Francis on team time by about a minute. And Vista ran later in day.

Unknown said...

Davis girls didn't run their A team at Mt. Sac..

Anonymous said...

CIFSJS knew what they were doing when they had Vista Del Lago stay at D3 despite having 1850+ students. Why have St Francis win D2 State Championships with Vista Del Lago come in 2nd, when they can have two first place finishes, D2 1st place Girls, and D3 1st place Girls at State.

The SJS needs good performances at CIF State to save spots in each division to qualify for state. Why has no one complained about holding Vista Del Lago back in D3? I hope it catches up to them and the SJS with sanctions and loss of berths at the state qualifiers.

There needs to be a check and balance system, not just leave it to the AD. The CIF appears lazy, they simply need to hire someone to call school districts and check attendance numbers, bypassing dishonest AD's who keep their teams in a lower division to win.

Anonymous said...

To 10:02 - technically true but SF ran their #2 girl F/S. Likely she would have made up the minute difference and then some.

Anonymous said...

What happened to Willow Glen? They used to be on this list year after year.

Anonymous said...

@11:24. I also thought what you were stating about school size, but the reporting numbers are based on previous years enrollment. Vista Del Lago was just under 1800 last year so their numbers are consistent. Now if they remain at D3 next year then your argument holds water.

Your other point about St Francis winning state is ridiculous. I doubt they will podium since the top two teams are NXN caliber (Claremont, La Costa Canyon) and the currently 3rd state-ranked team in D2 (Granada) is just starting to peak.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't lock in the St Francis girls #1 at state just yet. La Costa Canyon is D2 this year.

Anonymous said...

I believe Claremont is D2 also. St Francis has its work cut out for them.

Anonymous said...

St Francis ran their #2 and #4 as frosh/soph, they would have beaten VDL on time and Buchanan in the race had they not. They also already beat VDL at CXC and they were pack running at that meet. Fortunately for VDL they are not in the same division.

Albert Caruana said...

So you are saying the Sac Joaquin section is favoring certain teams by allowing them to stay in lower divisions??? Really?

I think all sections outside of the southern section have a tough time balancing their teams in order to have fair competition at their section final and still allow those teams to compete against like-sized schools at the state meet.

In CCS, their divisions are solely based on having equal number teams in all divisions. In NCS, they have moved all teams down in order to match up against the bigger sections in Divisions 2-5. I believe the SJS has adjusted their divisions to allow more teams to compete fairly at the state meet.

Anonymous said...

Oakland tech would lose to monte vista in the Mt Sac race by about ten points. Team times are an indicator but individual times and placement of top five determine who fares better. Just an FYI.

Albert Caruana said...

Team times can be very deceiving especially if one team has a really fast lead runner.

Anonymous said...

CCS is the only section screwing themselves while other sections actually help their teams.

Albert Caruana said...

CCS wants viable competition throughout each division which is why the breakdown of schools is as you find it today. The problem is that there are not many large schools in CCS which means smaller Division 2 schools are pressed up to Division 1 to make up for the lack of those large schools.

Anonymous said...

We have established the fact that the CCS board does not care about XC and Track, and that they will do nothing to help their teams to be more competitive. Move on, dead issue.

Albert Caruana said...

I disagree. I have been to both XC and TF section meetings and they do want what is best for both sports.

Albert Caruana said...

And, the board of managers consists of school principals which means any bylaw changes have to run through them. If you are going to blame CCS, then you should be also blaming school administrators. Fair is fair.

Anonymous said...

I blame them too. Doing nothing as our kids and schools are disadvantaged compared to other sections is incompetence at best.

pmccrystle said...

I do understand the tensions and frustrations of all involved in this issue, and I appreciate Albert weighing in as a first hand observor/particpant, and not the dreaded 'anonymous.' My wish is that we the CCS would go to an NCS style division alignment, which would reflect CBEDS along SS lines, and not 4 equal 25 school per divisions and D 5 (in fact, I wish D5 was up to 600, ala the Southern Section.) But that probably will not happen, and I think the main reason is the lack of someone who can/will/is willing to pitch that realignment in a way that would be clear, comprehensible and explanatory. I do think that coming from the WCAL it might not gain traction. As the biggest school in CCS, BCP will always be DI, so we have nothing to gain, and there are no other DI WCAL schools that might ostensibly gain from moving down to lower divisions--they are already DII or DIII.

On the other hand, it may be that the majority of coaches and ADs like the current set up--obviously, I do not--and so it probably doesn't matter what i think. But, if there were a majority of programs in the CCS that favored CBED aligned divisions in XC, then i think that should outweigh what the board of directors or school admins think, because this is a sport specific issue and would not affect other sports.

Go Red Sox!!!!!!!!!!

Albert Caruana said...

I have lost count the number of times I along with other coaches have brought up restructuring the divisions for CCS. I agree with Patrick that CCS needs to put a limited amount of teams in Division I and then balance the rest of the teams in Divisions II-V. That will allow more teams to compete against like-sized schools at the state meet.

Anonymous said...

Save your breath. The CCS board doesn’t care. Let’s move on. This navel gazing we do each season makes me ill.

Hank said...

You think the CCS Board cares one way or the other? Now you're being naive. CCS does what the BOM wants them to do, that's who the CCS's boss is - no one else. So until the principal's of CCS schools want XC to be competitive at State ... Nothing's going to happen. Now if it was football ...

Hank

Anonymous said...

We have established long ago that the CCS board not only doesn't care about XC and track, they have also set up a process where it is nearly impossible to make significant, thoughtful changes. They meet once a year where they will accept proposals that get no broad exposure and only the briefest of hearings. I implore everyone on this thread to move on, stop talking about this topic, nothing will happen to make anything better, and that is on purpose. Fin

Albert Caruana said...

As long as I am a league rep, I am going to continue to bring it up at the section meetings. We teach kids to keep fighting and battling so only right that we continue to fight the good fight as adults.

Anonymous said...

didn't realize this was a CCS complain session. can we move on?

Albert Caruana said...

It's very therapeutic. :D

Anonymous said...

Latest National Girls rankings out:
http://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=544767

Granada (#18) jumped past La Costa Canyon (#21) but still a ways back from Claremont (#4) and Great Oaks (#1). Maybe an at-large NXN possibility?!?

Albert Caruana said...

It is very difficult to make NXN as a team and this year seems to be an especially strong year for California (both boys and girls). Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

California has 6 boys teams ranked in the top 26, with 4 in the top 15. Do you think we could see 2 at-large bids for Cali on top of the 2 auto qualifiers?

Anonymous said...

You all are crying for 1-2 teams. The other 123 like it and to be honest I don’t think St. Francis should be D3. The best should race the best. If anything you should have an open division. Top 20 teams race. CCS gets 12 spots D1-4? Top 12 go to state. Reseed from there based on enrollment.

Anonymous said...

Yes

Anonymous said...

I remember one year when California got both at-large bids

Casa Parent (trying to be unbiased) said...

Thank you for this. I really appreciate the time and effort that you put in to making this list. I only wish there the list went to maybe 20 or 25 schools (I was wondering if Casa Grande boys were going to creep into the rankings).

I suspect the Casa Grande boys are just outside the bubble but they do have a group of sophomores that ought to make some noise in the next couple years. They beat Maria Carrillo head to head in a 2-mile meet at the beginning of the year and are running the table in their league so far (league final is Nov. 10 at Spring Lake). Looking at the season bests I think it is fair to say they do have a shot of top 4 at D3 NCS in Hayward this year.

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