No. 8: Santiago Corona (CA)
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Analysis: In an early season clash of some of the best that California has to offer, the Santiago Corona girls backed up their preseason ranking with a dominant effort at the ASICS Cool Breeze Invitational which they won handily with 49 points and a 17:21 average for the 3-mile race. They were led by their star duo of Rylee Blade and Braelyn Combe who finished 1st and 5th last season at the CIF State Championships, which Santiago Corona won by just 1 point over Buchanan.
Returning from that State Championships squad, are six of the top seven runners from last season (minus graduate Madilyn Siana), a group that owns a 5K average of 17:56.92 and finished 19th out of 22 teams at Nike Cross Nationals last season. This is a more seasoned group that should make an even bigger impression in 2024.
COROS MILESPLIT50PRESEASON GIRLS TEAM RANKINGS
*Click on the teams below for analysis
RANK | Team |
|---|---|
| 25 | Champlain Valley Union (Vt.) |
| 24 | Wayzata (Minn.) |
| 23 | Flower Mound (Tex.) |
| 22 | Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) |
| 21 | Timpview (Utah) |
| 20 | Jesuit Portland (Ore.) |
| 19 | East Aurora (N.Y.) |
| 18 | Brentwood (Tenn.) |
| 17 | Lincoln (Ore.) |
| 16 | Downers Grove North (Ill.) |
| 15 | Webb School (Knoxville, Tenn.) |
| 14 | Union Catholic Reg (N.J.) |
| 13 | Barrington (Ill.) |
| 12 | Romeo (Mich.) |
| 11 | Ventura (Calif.) |
| 10 | Lone Peak (Utah) |
| 9 | Bethlehem (N.Y.) |
| 8 | Santiago Corona (Calif.) |
| 7 | Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.) |
| 6 | JSerra Catholic (Calif.) |
| 5 | Trabuco Hills (Calif.) |
| 4 | Niwot (Colo.) |
| 3 | Buchanan (Calif.) |
| 2 | Mountain Vista (Colo.) |
| 1 | Air Academy (Colo.) |
Honorable Mentions: Oyster River (NH), Prospect (IL), Chaparral (CO), Assumption (KY), & North Allegheny (KY)