State Meet Preview: Division I

Great Oak's Tori Gaitan has placed first in all but one race of significance this season. (Jeffrey Parenti photo)

• Runner to beat: Tori Gaitan (Great Oak)
• Team to beat: Great Oak

Individual competition

We picked Tori Gaitan as the runner to beat based on the fact that the Southern Section champion has only lost one meet of consequence all season (to Kristin Fahy at Mt. SAC), and that she defeated defending D-I champion Corie Smith of Buchanan head-to-head at the Clovis Invitational, held at Woodward Park, site of the State Championships and Smith's home course. Both Gaitan and Smith (DeAnna Turner at right) have elite teammate support at the front to help the push. Great Oak senior Fatima Cortes was third at the SS final after winning it as a junior. Buchanan senior Meagen Lowe was runner-up to Smith at the Central Section final and at last year's State Final. Also expecting to be in the mix at the front, Walnut senior Chloe Arriaga (top ten the past three seasons), Granada Hills freshman Sofia Abrego, the LA City Section champion, Canyon Crest junior Carlie Dorostkar, the San Diego Section champion, Cosumnes Oaks sophomore Natalie Harper, the Sac-Joaquin Section champion, North Coast Section champion, Hope Bergmark of Amador Valley, as well as top Southern Section runners: Chino Hills sophomore Jacqueline Duarte, the Vista Murrieta duo of senior Paige Haynes (12th last year) and freshman Devyn Candaele, Ayala senior Mikaela Ramirez, and Great Oak junior Arianna Griffiths, among the list.

Great Oak is the perennial champion and one of the top-ranked teams in the nation. The Wolfpack's top competition very well could come from their own league. Southwestern League foe Vista Murrieta appears to be peaking and packing at just the right time. Is it enough to pull the upset? That's why they run the races.   When Great Oak was upset at the Bob Firman Invite, their achilles heal was exposed in the lack of a strong fifth scorer.  But, that has since been remedied in the name of Aubrey Nex, who continues to draw closer to their fourth, Audrey Dang.  Meanwhile, patiently allowing Paige Haynes and Makayla Fick to heal, they were unveiled just for the postseason.  They join Devyn and Peyton Candaele, Emily Bourque and Aniya Pretlow as these two squads will push one another to the top of the NXN headlines by the end of the race.   
Buchanan, the "home" team that uses Woodward Park for training, was second last year. Smith and Lowe will score low but the other three will determine just how close to the top Buchanan can get. In scoring 24 points in winning the Central Section title, freshman Kaylee Elliott was fifth, junior Mia Jauregui was seventh and sophomore Morgan Hutchison was ninth.

But that's hardly the State Meet field.  Southern Section powers look to dominate the top ten squads as Mira Costa (8th last year) are led by freshman Dalia Frias.   Fountain Valley put together their best performance yet in taking fourth at the SS-Finals while watch for Ayala to rebound (7th place last week) as they will reinsert a major scorer that sat last week out.  West Ranch advanced to its first state meet appearance and is led by freshman Alexis Fernandez.  Meanwhile, the Arriaga sisters will make their annual trek to the State Meet but with their team this time around!  They advanced in sixth place despite their fifth scorer finishing lower than what was projected.  Who will break up the Southern Section monopoly?   Amador Valley, the North Coast Section champions, are led by Hope Bergmark.   Closing that gap between the front four and fifth scorer could allow the Dons to leapfrog several of those aforementioned squads.  Also seeking a top ten spot are LA City Section powers, Granada Hills and Palisades, North Coast Section's Dougherty Valley and their compacted scoring gap, nearby Clovis West along with a Rancho Bernardo squad led by freshman Jacey Farmer.