By Michael Bower

The Poway High and Rancho Bernardo girls cross country teams know the chance of beating out La Costa Canyon, the third-ranked team in the state, for the Division II section crown is slim to none.

But both the Titans and the Broncos are more than capable of earning a top-four finish and qualifying for the state meet at Saturday’s CIF San Diego Section championships at Morley Field.

“LCC is the top team and there is no getting around that,” Broncos coach Terry Dockery said. “Westview, Poway and us are all right there after them. But the team that really scares me is Valhalla.”

All five squads along with the rest of the teams in Division II are slated to start at 9:05 a.m.

The Titans, led by Sophie Smith, Hannah Schwartz and Alex Calegari, edged the Broncos by seven points for the Palomar League title at Saturday’s North County Conference meet.