CIF Finals
Saturday November 19, 2011  at  Mt. SAC

There are 41 points keeping the girls from a trip to Fresno.  No doubt, those are a lot of points.  But, you could construct a scenario where the girls match up with another team and make it.  Sound familiar?

Except this one faces much longer odds.  Harvard/Westlake is not Morro Bay.  Nonetheless, it is good to have a plan and a chance.  Comparing HW’s 7-17-50-69-80 with our 12-52-56-61-83, the big difference is the #2 runner.  Is it possible to compensate for that?  If we have Veronica at 100% and Sara challenges the top third of the field, the combination could make the team competitive with Harvard/Westlake.  It makes the race all the more interesting but there is another aspect to this race.

Alissa is already competitive for State.  The gap between the two 5th-rated teams and the 7th and 8th teams make it unlikely that there will be many top unaffiliated runners coming out of Division 4.  This should make Alissa the 4th-ranked unaffiliated runner in the division and, assuming that she runs a strong race, has a fine chance to move on.

The guys will be back on the heavy terrain on Saturday where they belong.  That won’t make up 67 points but it could help the team move up.

Aside from a higher finish for the team, Peaky should benefit from the hills and stands a good chance of moving on to State. The math can be complicated but the bottom line is this.  If the teams that are supposed to finish in the top 7 actually finish in the top 7, Peaky could take the 5th and final unaffiliated invitation to Fresno.

So, there is plenty on the line and waiting for the race results will be reminiscent of last Saturdays race.