The Durango Fall Classic gets underway at four high schools around Las Vegas today, featuring many of the top teams in the country, according to the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Rankings.
At Durango High School,
Assumption (Louisville, Ky.), last year's fifth-place finisher, will try to bounce back from last week's championship game loss at the Louisville Invitational. The Rockets will play in Pool 3 along with one of California's top teams,
Redlands East Valley (Redlands, Calif.) and Nevada's
Shadow Ridge (Las Vegas).
Anne Cohen and Harvard-Westlake
won last year's Durango Classic.
Photo by Jann Hendry
Durango is also host to
Marymount (Los Angeles), the No. 1 team in the Division 2 rankings in the Southern Section,
Los Alamitos (Calif.), the No. 1 team in the Division 1 rankings in the Southern Section, and
La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.), last year's tournament runner-up and a perennial favorite in the San Diego Section.
At Foothill, no nationally ranked teams will compete but there is still plenty of competition. Last year's Bronze Division champion
Sacred Heart (Louisville, Ky.) and
Lakewood (Calif.) will compete in one pool while California powerhouses
Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif.),
Torrey Pines (San Diego) and
Clovis West (Fresno, Calif.) are the favorites in their respective pools.
The four pools at Bishop Gorman feature many of the top teams in Southern California, including
Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.),
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.),
Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and
Long Beach Poly (Calif.), which finished third at the tournament last year.
Defending tournament champion
Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) will open pool play at Green Valley High School. Other teams to watch at Green Valley include defending Arizona state champion
Xavier College Prep (Phoenix), defending Georgia 5A champ
Walton (Marietta, Ga.) and last year's Silver Division champion
Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.).
Pool play concludes on Friday with tournament play commencing on Saturday morning. The championship matches are set for 6 p.m. at Durango.
