Here's our first glimpse of the 2008 Preseason Team Rankings.  For the most part, these are based on personal bests posted on the Mt. SAC course from the 2007 season.  We may alter them from time to time if new information comes to light (injuries, transfers, training, etc.).  We hope to provide breakdowns and summaries of each squad and what they have returning soon enough.

Top 10 Boys Squads
1. Vista Murrieta (Southwestern)
***Such nice progression in 2007 with a solid postseason.  Noe Ramirez (15:19) is on the cusp of being one of the best in the state after an outstanding track season.  There may only be one other team in the state with as much leg speed as VM.  Juniors Drew Dalton (16:14) and Bryce Rausa (15:47) became a nice pair this past spring, usually within an arms reach of one another and both going under 9:45 for the 3200m.   Senior Anthony Bennett returns as their #4 with a 16:15 effort but watch out for senior Tyler Owen who busted out this past spring, breaking 1:57 (CIF Finalist) and 4:25 on the oval.  Senior Carlos Ortega also made it to the CIF Finals in going under 1:57 in the 800m!  We expect this squad to be ranked #2 or #3 in the CIF Division I Rankings. 
2. Corona (Big VIII)
3. Murrieta Valley (Southwestern)
4. Paloma Valley (Sunbelt)
5. Woodcrest Christian (Big Sky)
6. Roosevelt (Big VIII)
7. Great Oak (Southwestern)
8. Hemet (Sunbelt)
9. La Sierra (Inland Valley)
10. ML King (Big VIII)

Top 10 Girls Squads
1. Murrieta Valley (Southwestern)
2. ML King (Big VIII)
3. Great Oak (Southwestern)
4. Corona (Big VIII)
5. Chaparral (Southwestern)
6. Vista Murrieta (Southwestern)
7. Woodcrest Christian (Big Sky)
8. La Quinta (Desert Valley)
9. Santiago (Big VIII)
10. Valley View (Inland Valley)

Folks, we are back and ready to roll!  In the upcoming weeks, we're going to provide you all with a preview of the upcoming 2008 season with team rankings and breakdowns along with our preseason All-County selections.

This 2008 has so much to live up to considering how 2007, without any dispute, was the most successful season in Riverside County History!  With Murrieta Valley and Vista Murrieta's boys taking 2nd and 3rd at the California State Meet and the Division CIF Finals en route to breaking the all-time course records for Mt. SAC - it was truly a year to remember!  Meanwhile, on the girls' side, Murrieta Valley, Great Oak and ML King's squads shattered records along the way, but still did not make the California State Meet!  We graduated a lot of talent on the girls' side, so we anticipate a new crop of athletes to step into those elite roles for our county.   Keep in mind, 24 of the top 43 times posted on the Mt. SAC Course over the past ten years were from last year!  Simply incredible....   

We have 31 boys that have run or gone below 16:30 on the Mt. SAC course, with five of those being from Vista Murrieta.  (hmm, who's our #1 preseason squad?).  But, do not count our SWL rival Murrieta Valley, who have four returning that have gone 16:15 or below.  Meanwhile, we have 31 girls that have run a 19:45 or below on the same course.  Leading the way will be Murrieta Valley, who had seven underclassmen go 19:50 or below at Mt. SAC! 

Stay tuned and be patient.....but, we are back folks! 

Meanwhile, get out there and run!  And, no excuses - it was much hotter two summers ago!

2007 GIRLS ALL-RIVERSIDE COUNTY TEAMS
Here they are folks!  Our top women for the 2007 season!  In a sport that can be driven by underclassmen on the girls' side, we have more seniors on our 1st and 2nd teams than ever before as ten of our top 14 will graduate.  

Our 2007 Riverside County Female Athlete of the Year was a pretty easy selection.  She initially peaked our interest in Track & Field when she ran a surprising 11:37 in the 3200 meters at the Southwestern League Finals.  But, this summer Chaparral's Sierra Vega simply decided to concentrate more on Cross Country and less on soccer and BAM - we find ourselves with a new county record holder for the Mt. SAC Course and of the greatest improvements we can ever remember!  Inititally believing that her time from the Laguna Hills Invite was a misprint, we came to find that she was truly for real after running the fastest time of the day at the Mt. Carmel Invitational!  She was THE castlyst behind the greatest improvement of any squad in the course of a season that we can remember.  She made the competition in one of the toughest leagues in California looked harmless.  Most of us first got a glimpse of young Ms. Vega as she simply shut down all competitors at the Inland Empire Challenge.  Her fluid strides never seemed to falter throughout the race.  Going into November, Sierra led her Chaparral squad into the tough Southwestern League Finals and her victory helped pave the way to a CIF berth.  They broke 96 minutes but were, unfortunately, left at home with the fastest time to NOT make a CIF Finals ever!  Just when you thought the bubble could burst, Sierra put herself right up front with some of the greatest names in the Californian prep scene.  Undaunted, and with shoelaces that came untied, she took a tough 3rd place (17:17) at the CIF Finals to 4-time CIF Champ, Kauren Tarver and Crescenta Valley's Claire Collison.  Most years - that time wins you a CIF Title.  An virtual unknown going into September and with the weight of the world (seemingly) on her shoulders going into last weekend's State Meet, she finally had an "off day."  They're going to happen and most of us have athletes that would give anything for an 11th place finish and an 18:03 at Woodward Park.  Here in Riverside County, in the fastest year EVER, Sierra Vega shined brighter than any other.  She joins an awesome list of athletes that have received this distinction while this is the fourth year (out of six) that the Southwestern League Champion has gone on to claim this award!  Hmmmm....so just simply concentrating more on Cross Country and less on soccer....that's the answer?  You made it look too easy Sierra - Congratulations!

1st Team All-County
-Ashley Beechan (Hemet)
-Carissa Bowman (ML King)
-Abbey Gallaher (Great Oak)
**Tarra Rarick (Paloma Valley)
**Kelsi Tippets (ML King)
**Sierra Vega (Chaparral)
-Caitlin Villareal (Norco)

2nd Team All-County
-Mila Alvarez (JW North)
-Megan Arias (Riverside Poly) 
-Jessica Barnard (Great Oak)
-Vianna Hochstrasser (Chaparral)
-Nicole Matera (Vista Murrieta)
***Hayley Mushashi (La Quinta)
-Taryn Pastoor (Murrieta Valley)

3rd Team All-County
*Malaysia Alexander (Corona)
**Amber Collier (Woodcrest Christian)
**Breean Collier (Woodcrest Christian)
*Ashley Evans (Corona)
**Stephanie Guiton (Murrieta Valley)
*Anna Schwab (Murrieta Valley)
-Kristina Taylor (Vista Murrieta)

All-Senior Team: Megan Arias (Riverside Poly), Jessica Barnard (Great Oak), Ashley Beechan (Hemet), Carissa Bowman (ML King), Abbey Gallaher (Great Oak), Vianna Hochstrasser (Chaparral), Caitlin Villareal (Norco)
All-Junior Team: Malaysia Alexander (Corona), Alex Blake (Great Oak), Kendell Dye (Murrieta Valley), Ashley Evans (Corona), Hannah Guertin (Santiago), Anna Schwab (Murrieta Valley), Heather Wilson (Great Oak)
All-Sophomore Team: Amber Collier (Woodcrest Christian), Breean Collier (Woodcrest Christian), Stephanie Guiton (Murrieta Valley), Kylee Martin (Murrieta Valley), Tarra Rarick (Paloma Valley), Kelsi Tippets (ML King), Sierra Vega (Chaparral)
All-Freshman Team: Nina Alvarado (Chaparral), Katie Johnson (Great Oak), Christina Ledesma (Corona), Brooke McCandless (Murrieta Calvary Chapel), Hayley Mushashi (La Quinta), Amanda Reynolds (Murrieta Valley), Kristine Ustariz (Riverside Poly)

2007 Boys' All-Riverside County Squads

What a season for the boys!  Overshadowed by the depth of the girls' squads here in 2007, Murrieta Valley and Vista Murrieta really stepped it up beyond initial expectations.  Also showing great improvement was Corona while Woodcrest Christian's boys won a 3rd straight State Title!  In 2007, we saw seven boys break 15:20 on the Mt. SAC course.  Meanwhile, 17 boys broke 15:50 (easily a county record)!  It was much tougher to get onto the All-County squads this season than in the past..for the first time, we have one squad with THREE 1st Team All-County selections as Vista Murrieta trio really put together an incredible November!  Five of our seven pre-season 1st Team squad remained while the other two were just off the cusp.  Murrieta Valley claimed four athletes on our 1st and 2nd teams with all SEVEN amongst the top 21 in the county! 

We had some awesome stories come to life here in 2007.  But the most impressive of all was that of Mr. Patrick Gonzalez of ML King!  While most of our selections below were in the midst of some of their toughest training in August, Patrick was on a different path.  On August 23rd, he had surgury to remove a tumor in his brain. Not knowing what would become of his running career, family and friends were just happy that it was successful and he was on his path to becoming 100% healthy again.  Well, in a nutshell, Patrick worked his way back to being ML King's #1 runner.  Satisfied? - not quite.  He finished 3rd at the Ivy League Finals to be a 1st Team All-League athlete!  Satisfied?  not quite.  He went on to run a 16:00 at Mt. SAC and almost set the King school record!  Brain surgery in late August and accomplishing all of this in less than three months afterwards.... absolutely incredible!  Patrick will continue to be an inspiration to all of us and calling this a story of perserverance is an understatement!  In so many ways, Patrick should be considered our Athlete of the Year.  We'll officially award that to somebody else, but Mr. Gonzalez - thank you for reminding us about what teenagers are capable of and what true determination really is! 

After considerable thought, our 2007 Riverside County Boys' Athlete of the Year is Vista Murrieta's David McDonald.  The final determining factor came down to how valuable he was to his team in Vista's record setting season where they finished 2nd at the Division I CIF Finals and 3rd at the California State Meet!  David led a squad that finished 11th place at the 2006 CIF Finals while grasduating two of their top three.  This was a squad ranked #9 in the preseason and went on to be runner-up!  McDonald posted a 15:01 on the Mt. SAC Course (5th fastest in county history) and a 14:44 at the Woodbridge Classic (4th fastest in county history).  Still expecting his squad to be 2nd in the county, we did not forsee the incredible emergence Vista Murrieta displayed at the Southwestern League Meet #2 and the Mt. SAC Invitational where they almost beat Murrieta Valley.  At the CIF Finals, David led his squad to the fastest team time in county history for the Mt. SAC course and was very consistent the last month of the season!  It was a tough call considering how Santiago's Steven Crum outleaned him at the California State Meet as both were clocked in 15:29.  But, on top of all of David's personal accomplishments, he was equally vital in leading his squad to be one of the greatest squads in Riverside County History.  Great job David - not too shabby for a kid that was the starting center on the freshman football team three years ago.  Since joining Cross Country, he has taken the ball and run with it! 

1st Team All-County 
-Steven Crum (Santiago)
-David McCutcheon (Murrieta Valley)
-David McDonald (Vista Murrieta)
*Emmanuel Ngula (Vista del Lago)
-Steven Norton (La Sierra)
*Noe Ramirez (Vista Murrieta)
-Chase Welch (Vista Murrieta)

2nd Team All-County
-Raul Arcos (Corona)
***Michael Gauger (Corona)
*Jake Jeanson (Woodcrest Christian)
-Ankur Joshi (Indio)
*Chris Kincade (Murrieta Valley)
*Daniel Knauer (Murrieta Valley)
-Angel Sigeti (Murrieta Valley)

3rd Team All-County
*Kyle Dickerson (Great Oak)
*Ray Dominguez (Paloma Valley)
*Jared Drinkard (La Sierra)
-Patrick Gonzalez (ML King)
-Ian Pearce (Murrieta Valley)
**Bryce Rausa (Vista Murrieta)
-Jadden Resendiz (Murrieta Valley)
-Anthony Sanchez (Murrieta Valley)

All-Senior Team: Raul Arcos (Corona), Steven Crum (Santiago), Ankur Joshi (Indio), David McCutcheon (Murrieta Valley), David McDonald (Vista Murrieta), Steven Norton (La Sierra), Chase Welch (Vista Murrieta)
All-Junior Team: Ray Dominguez (Paloma Valley), Kyle Dickerson (Great Oak), Jared Drinkard (La Sierra), Jake Jeanson (Woodcrest Christian), Chris Kincade (Murrieta Valley), Daniel Knauer (Murrieta Valley), Emmanuel Ngula (Vista del Lago), Noe Ramirez (Vista Murrieta)
All-Sophomore Team: Adam Arroyo (Valley View), Alan Cuevas (Corona), Drew Dalton (Vista Murrieta), Michael Herpy (Paloma Valley), Josh Massey (Santiago), Bryce Rausa (Vista Murrieta), Jonathan Sanchez (Murrieta Valley)
All-Freshman Team: Michael Gauger (Corona), Mueen Ghoury (Rubidoux), Trevor Henson (Paloma Valley), Nick Lopez (Hemet), Bryan Mercado (Murrieta Valley), Myles Scarnano (Woodcrest Christian), Lane Werley (ML King)

We're working to find time to provide you ...

Sunbelt League Meet #2

Southwestern League Meet #2

Inland Valley League Cluster #2

Vega and Norton; Murrieta Erupt at Inland Empire Challenge

Sunday, October 7
Clovis Invitational Results

Thursday, October 4
Mountain Pass Cluster Meet #1

Thursday, October 4
Big Sky League Cluster #1

Week #4 Updates

Yucaipa Invitational Results

Hemet Bulldog Invitational (Merged Top Results)

Dana Hills Invitational Results

Southwestern League Meet #1 Results

Desert Valley Cluster Meet #1

Woodbridge Classic Results

Mt. Carmel Invitational Results

Rim Run (Rim of the World Invitatational) Results

2007 Laguna Hills Invitational

2007 Long Beach Invitational

2007 Fastback Shootout

2007 Boys' Preseason All-County Squads

Southern Section CIF Divisions for 2007

2007 Girls' Preseason All-County Squads