By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

The 44th Stanford Invitational is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Stanford Golf Course. Here are 10 storylines to follow at the one of the most prestigious high school and college invitationals in the country:

Another stellar seeded showcase

The collection of talent assembled each season in the boys seeded race is among the best in the country, and following a one-year hiatus, the lineup scheduled to compete Saturday should continue that trend.

In what is expected to be the lone regular-season showdown involving the returning Nike Cross Nationals All-Americans, Redwood Larkspur CA senior Liam Anderson and Jesuit CA junior Matt Strangio, the elite talent in this race is again impressive.

Anderson is scheduled to make his season debut, with Strangio yet to face a significant challenge in any of his four races, although he did take second place in a controlled effort Wednesday in the Delta League opener.

Anderson won the Division 3 state cross country championship last year and placed third at NXN. Strangio, who took 15th at NXN, captured the state 3,200-meter title in June.

Whether it was Cooper Teare of St. Joseph Notre Dame CA, Michael Vernau of Davis Senior CA and Callum Bolger of San Luis Obispo CA in 2016 or Phillip Rocha of Arcadia CA, Luis Grijalva of Armijo CA and Vernau in 2015, the battles for seeded supremacy have produced a total of nine sub-15 performances in the meet’s past five editions.

Bakersfield Stockdale CA senior Marcus Mota, who placed third in the Woodbridge Classic sweepstakes, is also scheduled to compete in the seeded race, along with Colin Peattie of Bellarmine Prep CA, Owen MacKenzie of Los Altos CA, Connor Livingston of De La Salle CA and Henry Saul of Palo Alto CA.

Pac-12 preview

In addition to Stanford participating in the men’s 8-kilometer and women’s 6-kilometer races, UCLA, Arizona State, Colorado and the Washington women are also scheduled to compete at the same venue that will serve as host Oct. 26 for the Pac-12 Championships.

For the Stanford women, veterans Christina Aragon, Elise Cranny, Fiona O’Keeffe and Catherine Pagano are expected to race, along with the debut of freshman Rebecca Story.

Washington has Oregon transfer Katie Rainsberger, along with Emily Hamlin, Allie Schadler and Kaitlyn Neal among its entries. Also scheduled to race for the Huskies is freshman Olivia O’Keeffe, Fiona’s younger sister, in her second collegiate competition.

UCLA has Cassie Durgy, Erika Adler and Claire Markey among its entries, with Arizona State led by Alexis Nichols, Daan Haven and Courtney Lewis.

In the men’s race, Stanford is scheduled to have Grant Fisher, Alex Ostberg, Blair Hurlock, Callum Bolger and Michael Vernau compete, along with freshman D.J. Principe.

UCLA has Garrett Reynolds, Colin Burke, George Gleason and John Carter Blunt among its entries, along with Robert Brandt competing unattached. Arizona State is led by Jackson Lewis and Erik Gonzalez.

Colorado is sending a limited squad, with most of its top runners scheduled to race Friday at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Wisconsin.

An opportunity to pull rank

Adams State enters the meet boasting the top-ranked men’s and women’s teams in NCAA Division 2, looking to challenge itself against Stanford, UCLA, Washington and several other quality Division 1 programs such as Cal Poly, San Jose State and UC Santa Barbara.

Sydney Gidabuday, Kale Adams, Joshua Joseph and Elias Gedyon are scheduled to compete for the Grizzlies in the men’s competition, which also features Simon Fraser of British Columbia, ranked No. 14 in Division 2.

In addition, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, ranked No. 19 in Division 3, is also entered.

Junior sisters Eilish Flanagan and Roisin Flanagan lead Adams State in the women’s race, which also includes No. 9 Simon Fraser. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, ranked No. 7 in Division 3, is also expected to compete, along with No. 15 Pomona-Pitzer.

Three of California’s strongest two-year college programs, Mt. San Antonio College, L.A. Harbor College and San Bernardino Valley College, will also look to test themselves against their four-year opponents.

Salvador Capetillo of Mt. SAC and Brenda Rosales-Coria of L.A. Harbor, favorites to win the California Community College Athletic Association state individual titles, are scheduled to compete.

Dissecting California Division 2 dominance

Whether it’s St. Francis Mountain View, Claremont and La Costa Canyon in the boys seeded race or Claremont, La Costa Canyon and Granada in the girls seeded race, several of the elite programs in California Division 2 will be on display.

La Costa Canyon has moved up this year from Division 3 and is a legitimate contender to challenge for Division 2 state championships in both genders.

St. Francis Mountain View is the reigning Division 2 boys champion and Claremont finished fourth last year after capturing the boys team title in 2016.

Colton Colonna and Eric Eng will lead the way for St. Francis, with Aaron Reyes, Vicente Huerta and Ryan Cowgill sparking Claremont. La Costa Canyon features senior twins Jacob Stanford and Garrett Stanford, along with junior Caleb Niednagel.

Claremont is the two-time Division 2 girls state champion, with Granada placing third last year. La Costa Canyon finished third in Division 3 last season.

La Costa Canyon features seniors Kristin Fahy and Jessica Riedman.

Claremont is led by seniors Sydney Hwang and Kalinda Reynolds, along with junior Azalea Segura-Mora.

Although Granada will be competing without senior Kalea Bartolotto, the Matadors still feature seniors Colleen McCandless, Savannah Maselli, Gracie Dupuis and Kinga Bihari.

Fahy seeks rare feat

The lone career trip for La Costa Canyon CA standout Kristin Fahy to race on the 5-kilometer Stanford course could be a memorable one, with the senior looking to become only the fifth prep female athlete to break the 17-minute barrier.

In addition, she is looking to join older brother Darren Fahy, who captured the boys seeded title in 2011 during his senior year at La Costa Canyon.

Kristin Fahy ran 14:59.1 on the 2.7-mile Morley Field course at Balboa Park in San Diego at the ASICS Mt. Carmel Invitational in her Sept. 15 season opener.

She is looking to join former Davis Senior CA star and current Stanford All-American Fiona O’Keeffe, Glacier Peak WA graduate and former Washington All-American Amy-Eloise Neale, Campolindo CA graduate and Colorado talent Carrie Verdon, along with Santa Cruz CA graduate and Cal Poly junior Cate Ratliff in producing such a significant achievement.

O’Keeffe set the meet record in 2015 during her senior year at Davis by clocking 16:32.1 after Ratliff had run 16:49.7 in a varsity race earlier in the day. O’Keeffe also ran 16:39.8 in 2014.

Neale repeated as seeded race champion in 2012 in 16:51.4, after Verdon was the first female athlete to break 17 minutes by clocking 16:58.8 in a Division 3 race in 2011.

Pursuing significant placement

From the 2016 girls seeded race, only one athlete in the top 20 – Sophia Lodigiani of Davis Senior CA – returns to compete Saturday. In addition, only four individuals from the top 40 are back, with Davis Senior twins Annie Mitchell and Ruthie Mitchell joining Lodigiani, along with Healdsburg CA senior Gabrielle Peterson.

That leaves a large window of opportunity for several athletes to make big strides in an attempt to build momentum for the second half of their seasons.

Oakland Tech CA senior Caroline Garrett placed fifth in the Division 1 race two years ago in 18:16.8, but is primed for a strong performance after finishing 10th at last year’s Division 1 state final.

Another Oakland Section standout, Skyline junior and Division 2 state finalist Eleanor Wikstrom, is also entered in the seeded race in her Stanford debut.

Lincoln OR senior Kyla Becker has accumulated four victories in five races this season, but is looking for a big breakthrough against an elite field to prepare her for the Oregon 6A state final and Nike Northwest Regional in November.

Sage Creek CA junior Skyler Wallace placed ninth in the Division 4 state final last year, but is coming off back-to-back sub-17 performances at the Woodbridge Classic and Dana Hills Nike Invitational, demonstrating she is more than capable of competing with any of the top seeded contenders.

Mayfield CA sophomore Audrey Suarez finished third at the Division 4 state championship last year and also advanced to the state 1,600-meter final in June, but has raced only once this season. Suarez will look for a strong performance to springboard her toward more postseason success.

Monte Vista CA junior Kelli Wilson finished 15th at the Division 2 state final last season and has the potential for a significant improvement after running 19:25.9 at the meet as a freshman.

A well-rounded event

In addition to the abundance of California talent assembled, prep athletes from 18 schools representing Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington are expected to compete.

Frontier Academy CO, Lincoln OR and Snohomish WA are entered in the seeded races in both genders. Henry Jackson WA and Olympia WA are scheduled to compete in the seeded boys race, with Lincoln WA and Steamboat Springs CO entered in the seeded girls race.

The last individual boys seeded winner from outside California was John Dressel of Mt. Spokane WA in 2014. Dressel is currently a redshirt junior at Colorado.

The last individual girls seeded winner not representing a California school came in 2016 with Boise ID standout Eve Jensen, currently a senior for the Braves.

Jesuit OR is the last girls team to secure a seeded championship at Stanford in 2010. The Crusaders also won in 2007, the lone year California was shut out of capturing a seeded team championship, when Crater OR secured the boys title.

Stepping up in class

Although the boys and girls seeded races are dominated by larger schools, several Division 4 programs and a couple of Division 5 standouts are also entered, looking to measure themselves in one of the biggest invitational competitions of the year.

Healdsburg CA senior Gabrielle Peterson, one of the leading contenders for the Division 5 state title, is scheduled to compete in the girls seeded race, along with returning Division 5 state finalist Lauren Harper of Trinity CA.

Bishop Amat CA and Sage Creek CA have teams entered in both seeded races. In addition, Palma CA, Sir Francis Drake CA and Terra Nova CA are all scheduled to compete in the boys seeded race, with Mayfield running in the girls seeded race.

Stars of the future

Several talented ninth-graders didn’t get to compete at Stanford last year because of the meet’s one-year break, but many promising freshmen are scheduled to participate Saturday in Palo Alto.

No California freshman female athlete has been more impressive thus far than Riley Chamberlain of Del Oro, who is unbeaten in four races.

Chamberlain is not entered in the girls seeded race, choosing to compete with her teammates in Division 3 instead.

Sofia Abrego of Granada Hills CA, the rated race winner at the Woodbridge Classic, is scheduled to compete in Division 1.

But there will be several strong freshmen entered in the girls seeded race, including Stormy Wallace of Sage Creek CA, Maddie Coles of Claremont CA, Kyra Compton of La Costa Canyon CA, Annika Salz of Torrey Pines CA and Riley Cash of Lincoln OR.

Andres Chavez of Roosevelt CA, Moises Benito of Palma CA, Bryce Gilmore of Sage Creek, Jackson Schalow of La Costa Canyon, Johnathan Hidle of Torrey Pines, Austin Ledgerwood of El Camino Real CA and Spencer Mueller of Clovis North CA are among the rising freshmen entered in the boys seeded race.

Best of the rest

Several elite athletes not competing in the seeded races have still managed to produce some of the most memorable moments in meet history, most recently in 2015 with St. Joseph Notre Dame CA standout Cooper Teare clocking 14:52.7 in the Division 5 boys race and 2016 with Paso Robles CA standout Trad Berti running 14:57.7 in the Division 3 boys race.

There have also been several strong efforts by top female athletes in divisional races, perhaps most notably in 2015 when Cate Ratliff of Santa Cruz CA ran 16:49.7 to win the Division 4 competition.

St. Joseph Notre Dame senior Emily Perez, last year’s Division 5 state runner-up, is scheduled to compete with her team in a divisional race after previously competing Sept. 15 in the sweepstakes race at the Woodbridge Classic.

Tevah Gevelber of Castilleja CA, Angela Leavitt of Notre Dame Salinas CA and Jenna Lange of Nueva School CA – the top three finishers in last year’s Central Coast Section Division 5 finals – are scheduled to join Perez in the Division 5 race.

Lindsay CA senior McKaylie Caesar, the reigning Central Section Division 4 champion, is scheduled to compete in the Division 3 girls race in an anticipated matchup with Del Oro freshman Riley Chamberlain and University City CA senior Isabelle Shepherd.

The Division 4 girls race features Menlo School CA juniors Kyra Pretre and Charlotte Tomkinson, along with Santa Cruz CA senior Lila Roake and Coronado CA senior Teresa Perez.

The Division 2 girls race includes San Ramon Valley CA senior twins Kate Tavella and Emma Tavella, Redwood Visalia CA junior Chloe Schultz, along with Vacaville CA seniors Jaxin Woodward and Gabby Hernandez.

In the boys Division 5 race, senior Andre Williams of Sonoma Academy CA – fourth at last year’s state meet – is expected to square off against juniors Clay Mills and Charlie Kennedy of San Francisco University CA, along with senior Garrin Schaap of Central Valley Christian CA.