PCAL cross country finals

 Normally placement is critical in championship meets. And it still is.
 Yet, because two divisions will be running in the same race, time becomes the target rather than the opposing uniform Saturday at the Pacific Coast Athletic League divisional finals at Toro Park.
 Scheduled to run together are the Gabilan and Cypress Divisions while the Mission and Santa Lucia Divisions will run in a separate race.
 There's little doubt who the class of the Mission Division is in the boys division and that's King City, who has swept all three Center Meets and will challenge for supremacy in the section finals.
 At the last Center Meet, King City put five runners in the top nine, with Esteban Deniz, Mario Avila and Fausto Medina all coming in together for third place.
 As for individual honors, just one runner from all four divisions has dipped under 16 minutes all year at Toro Park and that's reigning league champion Christopher Plascencia of Marina.
 No race will be tighter than the boys Gabilan Division finals, where seven points separated reigning champion Alisal, Pacific Grove and San Benito at the last Center Meet.
 Will Stefanou won the last two Center Meets for Pacific Grove with teammate Jake Alt cracking the top six.
 Do the Breakers have enough depth to overtake the Trojans, who are led by Peter Maciel and Jose Velazquez.
 Gonzales won the last Cypress Division Center Meet with five runners cracking the top 10, including Miguel Mendoza, who took second.
 Behind Center Meet champion Michael Julian, York had three runners in the top four. This meet will come down to the fourth and fifth runners from both teams.
 Salinas and North Salinas flip-flopped Mission Division girls Center Meets wins, with the Cowboys prevailing in the last one two weeks ago.
 The best race of the morning may come down to North Salinas' Sofia Camacho and Salinas' Nicole Gorczyca, who finished less than a stride apart in their last meeting.
 Seaside displayed its depth in capturing the last Cypress Division girls Center Meet behind Patricia Santos.
 Watsonville will pose the biggest challenge to the Spartans behind sophomore Layla Ruiz, who is the class of the division, having run 19:38.
 While Gilroy is the heavy favorite in the Gabilan Division, Carmel's Colleen Lang has won the last two Center Meets, blistering the Toro course two weeks ago in 19:30.