It's now officially August. Within five weeks, the first weekend of racing will be in the books. It must be time to find a pencil and paper and start writing previews.

This year, we'll start with 3A. Since the 3A previews are the most difficult for me to try to write in an objective fashion, I get the worst part over by doing them first.

Individually, this one is wide open. Ryan Poland and Amos Bowen won't be dominating the field this fall. That honor will fall to someone else. Standing at the front of the line for that honor are Josh Noriega (Salida), Josh Simkins (The Classical Academy), Lukas Garcia (Salida), and Conner Roper (Basalt). Each returns off a top-ten finish from last year's state meet. If last spring's state track results mean anything, then Sam Yeager of Faith Christian has also promoted himself onto this list. Also based on state track results, Evan Fortney and John Cusick have the potential to join this group if their off-season progression has continued on pace.

Josh Noriega is the top returner from last fall's state meet. Noriega is a grinder who excels in longer races. The 5K distance and uneven terrain of cross country seem ideally suited to his style.

Josh Simkins is a finisher who just missed state track titles in both the 1600 and 3200. Lukas Garcia ran in Noriega's shadow all last fall, but may be capable of breaking out of that shadow this fall. Conner Roper enjoyed a lot of time out in front of last year's race and has to be thinking it would be nice to be out front at the end rather than the beginning. Sam Yeager established himself with a solid 800 at the state meet. While Yeager's strength may lie in shorter distances, don't be hasty to count him out in cross country.

Probably nobody in Salida wants to hear me say this, but when you graduate only your third runner off a state championship team, that more or less puts you into the favorite's seat entering the next campaign. The Spartans are smart, well-coached, and have the necessary talent up front to repeat. The big need for Salida will be to solidify positions three through six.

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