Girls Race Recaps
DIVISION I (video highlights)
Individual race: Tori Gaitan (Great Oak) 17:19.4
Although Maria Hernandez CA (Santa Ana) led the field through the mile mark, few people doubted that this 
race was firmly in the control of Gaitan, who was content to sit in the lead pack until the final mile. When she made her move it was authoritative, carrying her to a seven-second victory over Meagen Lowe (Buchanan), who was herself 10 seconds ahead of Ayala's Mikaela Ramirez. Chloe Arriaga (Walnut) concluded her career with a fourth-place finish, by far the best of her career - but she also had something else to celebrate (see below). Sadly, one of the strongest individual contenders coming into the meet was unable to race, as sudden illness forced Buchanan junior Corie Smith, the defending Division I champion, to miss the race. Smith was there to support, Lowe, her friend and training partner, and subsequently received an at-large bid to compete Dec. 1 at Nike Cross Nationals.
Team race: Great Oak 79, Vista Murrieta 83, Mira Costa 168, Walnut 197
With Smith out, Buchanan was unable to crack the top five - and that's a great shame, as the recent growth from freshman Kaylee Elliott had made the Bears a legitimate contender. Despite that reprieve, Great Oak still had to sweat out the continuation of their title streak, as conference foe Vista Murrieta very nearly unseated the Wolfpack. Uncharacteristically for a Great Oak team, it was depth issues that opened the door for their rival. Arianna Griffiths, who struggled to finish the final mile, fell back from her traditional third scoring slot. But Great Oak's strength up front was enough to carry the day against the Broncos, who split only 53 seconds through their scoring five. That led to a Southern Section sweep of the top four places, with Davis Senior and Buchanan breaking up the party before the remaining 3 CIF-SS squads went 7-8-9. Great Oak and Vista Murrieta will both compete at NXN next weekend! Great Oak's girls' team victory is the 13th combined team title for Coach Doug Soles and the Wolfpack.
Related interviews:
DIVISION II (video highlights)
Individual race: Kristin Fahy (La Costa Canyon) 17:22.6
After last year's State Meet, when she fell out just short of the final stretch, you KNOW Fahy was highly motivated to succeed! She took the lead from Kelli Hines of Mission Viejo early in the race, and then pulled away to a dominating 22-second win in the second-fastest time of the day. Maddie Coles (Claremont), a week after winning the Southern Section title, emerged from the chase pack to take second, an impressive performance from the freshman that keyed a Wolfpack win. Colleen McCandless (Granada) and Madeleine Locher (Ventura) rounded out the top four, both clocking sub-17:50.
Team race: Claremont 82, Granada 95, Mission Viejo 136, Serrano 148, La Costa Canyon 153, Saugus 166
Division II lived up to its pre-season billing as the deepest and strongest for girls competition and gave us arguably the most exciting team battles of the meet. Claremont had to survive a stiff challenge from Granada to claim the title, but in doing so the Wolfpack nearly equaled the performance of their namesake from Temecula. The Power Merge had Great Oak narrowly edging out Claremont for the top auto-qualifying spot, with both teams advancing to NXN. Granada attracted at-large consideration after a great season and an excellent race Saturday. Behind the top two teams was a deep and fun competition between four squads trying to make the podium: Mission Viejo triumphed over Serrano, with La Costa Canyon and Saugus not far behind. This race featured six of the fastest eight teams on the day while Claremont received an automatic bid to NXN! It was a third consecutive State title for Claremont and a second straight trip to Portland.
Related interviews:
DIVISION III (video highlights)
Individual race: Riley Chamberlain (Del Oro) 17:18.6
I mean, we knew this young upstart was very talented but did we expect her to post the top time of the day? Not only did Chamberlain exceed expectations, but she also did so with a nearly solo effort, winning by 16 seconds over Southern Section champion Sarah Shulze (Oak Park). Rayna Stanziano (Concord NC) was the only other girl to break 18 in this race, as she finished a strong third.
Team race: Vista Del Lago 125, Palos Verdes 133, Campolindo 167
Palos Verdes entered the race as the favorites. But, Vista del Lago (SJS) had other plans. This race was the most muddled of all the team results on the day, with both teams posting strong individual races up front but needing their depth runners to settle the battle. It was the superior depth of Vista Del Lago and their 51-second scoring gap (best of any podium squad) that carried the day. But, it was very close due to a 2-3 scoring punch from Palos Verdes. Campolindo was also in striking range most of the race, but they lacked the depth to crack the top two. With its teams placing just 2-4-9-10, this was the division that the Southern Section couldn't claim to win as a group; instead, the title went to a Sac Joaquin squad, and North Coast teams went 3-5-7. This is the second year in a row that the Southern Section struggled in this division. It's also worth noting that Foothill Palo Cedro finished 8th after placing 18th last year, which also means that the Northern Section put teams in the top 8 of both Division 3 races.
Related interviews:
DIVISION IV (video highlights)
Individual race: Audrey Suarez (Mayfield) 17:44.7
In similar fashion to Anthony Grover in the boys' D4 race, Suarez had to recover from adversity to get to this point. In her case, it was injuries that had hampered her all of October, but on Saturday she was able to hold off a crowded field to claim the individual title and improve over her 3rd-place finish in 2017. This was also one of the youngest individual fields of any of the 10 races on the day, with the top senior placing 7th. Freshman Daniela Quintero (Harvard Westlake) took 2nd, and kicked off a battle of sisters, finishing just ahead of her sophomore sister Natalia, who was 4th. Between them came junior Skyler Wallace (Sage Creek), whose own sister (freshman Stormy) was 6th.
Team race: Sage Creek 110, Foothill Tech 119, El Segundo 193, Harvard Westlake 195
Like the Girls' Division III race, this was the other upset on the day! Behind the stellar performances from Skyler and Stormy, Sage Creek was able to hold off the late charge of a much deeper Foothill Tech squad to earn the crown. The nine point margin was one of the smallest on the day, but the fight for third place was even closer! El Segundo was able to overcome the 1-2 punch of the Quintero sisters to slip into third place, holding off Harvard Westlake by a scant two points on the basis of their stronger fifth and sixth runners. That was a 2-3-4 finish for Southern Section squads, who also went 7-8-10 in one of the section's better divisional performances. In addition to champion Sage Creek, San Diego also put Ramona into the top 10, while the North Coast saw teams finish 5th and 6th to break up the CIF-SS pack.
Individual race: Gabrielle Peterson (Healdsburg) 17:44.3
This was definitely one of the better individual efforts of the day, as Peterson did not have much competition to push her. Her solo effort gave her 35-second win over sophomore Mia Barnett (Village Christian), who set a new PR while improving over her 12th-place finish in 2017. Barnett, the two-time division champion in the Southern Section, will be the top returner in the division but will have to battle Amber Jackson (Forest Lake Christian) again if she wants to claim her first XC title in 2019.
Team race: Lick Wilmerding 97, St. Margaret's 103, Flintridge Prep 166
The team competition was the exact opposite: it was hotly contested and went right down to the wire! Wilmerding's fifth runner sealed the deal, avenging the narrow loss by their boys' team and denying St. Margaret's the sweep on both sides. It was the first state title in any sport for Lick Wilmerding. Perennial power Flintridge Prep struggled with depth but was able to hold off Santa Fe Christian and defending champ San Francisco University to claim 3rd place. That made for three non-Southern Section squads in the top five, and that trend continued: the normally powerful region only put two teams in the top 11 in this division, the strongest performance by the field overall of any of the 10 races on the day.
Related interviews:
Photos by DeAnna Turner, Dan Tyree and Jeffrey Parenti