JSerra’s girls cross country goes for a fifth straight CIF Southern Section championship Saturday in the CIF-SS finals at Mt. San Antonio College.
The only Orange County school to win five consecutive CIF-SS girls cross country team championships is Corona del Mar, 2004-08.
JSerra is in terrific shape to get a fifth straight section title. The Lions are ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 4 and in CIF-SS State Division 4 by PrepCalTrack.com that provides CIF-SS and state rankings. JSerra won top-division team titles in the Orange County Championships and in the Clovis Invitational.
The top JSerra runners did not run in last week’s CIF-SS prelims at Mt. SAC, with the team aiming for a great day at Saturday’s finals, but the Lions still had runners finish n places 2-7.
JSerra’s girls cross country program also won four straight CIF-SS cross country championships in 2010-13.
Other Orange County schools who lappear to be top contenders for girls team titles are Trabuco Hills in Division 1, Santa Margarita in Division 3 and St. Margaret’s in Division 5.
Several individual girls runners can be expected to be in the mix for championship medals.
Irvine senior Summer Wilson finished first in the girls sweepstakes race at the Orange County Championships and was second in the elite girls runners race at the Clovis Invitational. Trabuco Hills senior Millie Bayles was fifth in the elite race at Clovis and second in the Orange County meet. Santa Margarita junior Carol Dye should be involved in Division 3.
JSerra’s top finisher last week in the Division 4 prelims was junior Hayden Kroger. Given the team’s depth, the Lions have several candidates for their leader Saturday.
On the boys side, Beckman and San Clemente will battle for the team championship in the very deep Division 1 group. CIF-SS rankings have Beckman at No. 1 and San Clemente at No. 2 in the division.
Beckman’s Mason Nguyen, a senior, and junior Ryan Barris finished second and third respectively in their heat in last week’s prelims.
San Clemente juniors Mattheus Dos Santos, Magnus Johansson and Yohan Anderson cruised to a grouped 6-7-8 finish in their Division 1 prelim heat last week.
Woodbridge is No. 1 in the Division 2 boys team rankings. JSerra’s boys are No. 2 in Division 4.
Woodbridge junior Aidan Antonio is a top contender for the Division 2 individual championship. Antonio was first in his prelim heat last week and won the sweepstakes race at the Orange County Championships.
Saturday’s races will be run on the Mt. SAC “rain course” because of anticipated wet weather. The rain course, safer for the athletes, has fewer steep hills than the usual course at Mt. SAC. Last week’s prelims were run on the rain course or “Flat SAC” as some call it.
The finish line is in the stadium.
The first race Saturday is the Division 2 boys final at 7:45 a.m. The final race is the Division 1 girls final at 11 a.m. Awards ceremonies will be held in the stadium for the first- and second-place teams and for the top 15 individual finishers.
Spectator admission is $14 for adults and $7 for students and children of ages 5-13. GoFan.co is the sole source for tickets. Parking is $10, cash only.
The CIF State cross country meet is Nov. 29 at Woodward Park in Fresno.