GIRLS PREVIEW
Tori Gaitan (Great Oak, center) and Corie Smith (left, in white) were the top two finishers in the girls sweepstakes race in 2018. Gaitan went on to win the State Division I title. (Credit: Patrick Corsinita)
In the Sweepstakes Race, six of the Southern Section's top eight squads match up. Great Oak leads the way as they are not only the defending California Division 1 State Champions but also looking to defend their Woodbridge Classic team title from 2018.
Great Oak, led by senior Tori Gaitan, who ran to a 16:06.1 victory last year, is currently ranked fifth in the most recent Milesplit National Team Rankings. Gaitan not only to capture the Division 1 title but continued to impress with her 18th place finish at NXN (29th place in 2017). They will have to hold off a strong Desert Vista group out of Arizona though. Led by the Ping sisters, they are currently slated No. 10 in the national rankings and figure to give Great Oak all it can handle.
Great Oak, which closed out 2018 with an eighth-place finish at Nike Cross Nationals, is looking to break the all-time team time record of 73:37 (16:43 average!), which is held by the 2017 Buchanan squad. Great Oak finished with a 74:08 team time in their 2018 victory, equating out to a 16:50 average per scorer.
Xavier College Prep out of Arizona and Southlake Carroll from Texas will also be two out-of-state forces looking for the upset. A host of state champions, from their respective state meet divisions, also make the trip from outside California as well. Glacier Peak comes down from Washington. Centennial, out of Las Vegas, Nevada also claimed a divisional state title while Desert Hills of Utah makes the trip west. Traveling in from Missouri, Lee's Summit West adds to the list of those coming into 2019 to defend their respective state team titles.
Other in-state powerhouses to highlight start with Sacramento St. Francis, out of the Sac-Joaquin Section. They return six from their State Meet squad a year ago, led by Isabella Fauria and Cate Joaquin. Sage Creek, from the San Diego Section, won the CIF-State Division IV title from a year ago and feature the Wallace sisters.
TOP INDIVIDUALS
Individually, 15 returners raced under 17:05 on this course a year ago, led by the aforementioned Gaitan. Buchanan's Corie Smith comes south from Fresno to battle for the win as she placed second a year ago to Gaitan with a 16:11.1 clocking. Meanwhile, Del Oro sophomore Riley Chamberlain will lock up with those two up front. Chamberlain won the CIF-State Division III championship while also qualifying as an individual to NXN in 2018.
Other returners that eclipsed 16:55 on this course a year ago include Great Oak's Arianna Griffiths (16:27.3), Chino Hills' Jacqueline Duarte (16:40.5), San Clemente's Hana Catsimanes (16:50.8) and coming up from the San Diego section, Sage Creek's Skyler Wallace (16:52.8). While Duarte is the defending State Champion for the 1600 meters on the track, Catsimanes closed her breakout junior season with a spot on the West Regional team for the Foot Locker National Championships.
Colony's Amber Rios captured the Cool Breeze Invite (16:59.3) two weeks ago and cruised to a 16:57 effort 
last year on this same course. She is seeking a third straight to the podium at November's State Meet. Coming off of one of the best freshman track seasons in the nation, Anaheim Canyon's Emma Hadley is also projected to finish in the top 10 while she looks to improve upon her 16:55 effort from 2018. Also coming off a great freshman season, Granada Hills' Sofia Abrego will also be in the mix up front. Back from a stress fracture that sidelined her all of 2018, La Quinta senior Akemi Von Scherr roared to a 10:55 two-mile meet best effort at the Fastback Shootout three weeks ago.
Looking to steal the show though will be the Ping sisters, now representing the Desert Vista program out of Phoenix. Freshman Lauren Ping not only qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals as an 8th grader (some states allow for those to compete before they reach ninth grade, unlike California), but also as a 7th grader! In 2017, she rolled to an 11th place finish and last year, crossed in 14th place! Her sister, Grace also qualified twice to NXN. In 2018 as a sophomore and took 48th place, but back in 2016, as an 8th grader - she took sixth place. She also qualified for the Foot Locker Nationals last year and competed the following week for a busy month of December!
As tough as they come and undefeated against her own in-state competition, London Culbreath of McKinney North (just north of Dallas) comes in off qualifying for both NXN and the Foot Locker Nationals in 2018. The three-time Texas 5A State Champ is also three-time NXN qualifier as well, with her best effort coming as a freshman where she placed 12th.
| 1 | Brie Oakley | Grandview (CO) | 15:53.6 | 2016 | SilverLakes |
All-Time Girls Under 16 minutes
| 1 | Brie Oakley | Grandview (CO) | 15:53.6 | 2016 | SilverLakes | ||
| 2 | Sarah Baxter | Simi Valley (SS) | 15:57.0 | 2013 | Estancia | ||
| 3 | Corie Smith | Buchanan (CS) | 15:58.4 | 2017 | SilverLakes | ||
| 4 | Meagen Lowe | Buchanan (CS) | 15:59.3 | 2017 | SilverLakes |