Great Oak grabs first Division 1 title since 2019 and Newbury Park wins third straight championship, second in Division 2; Dana Hills dominates in Division 3, JSerra repeats in Division 4 and Viewpoint makes history by sweeping Division 5 plaques

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

WALNUT – The new kids on the block were ready for a coronation, but the veterans weren’t ready to give up the throne just yet Saturday morning.

Great Oak reclaimed supremacy at the CIF-Southern Section Finals at Mt. San Antonio College, winning Division 1 by a 76-81 margin against Corona Santiago. Rancho Cucamonga, the pre-race favorite based on a 55-point victory Oct. 22 against Great Oak at the 74th Mt. SAC Invitational, finished third with 88 points.

The Wolfpack girls won their 11th Southern Section crown with the victory, following up on a decade in which they won eight division titles in a row. Senior Kelli Gaffney continued her tremendous late-season push with the individual championship after running Mt. SAC's 2.93-mile course in 17 minutes, 29.1 seconds.

Oaks Christian junior Payton Godsey ran the fastest girls time of the day, clocking the only sub-17 mark at 16:54.2 while winning the Division 4 crown.

JSerra, the Division 4 team champion, ran the fastest team time of the day (91:22) while securing back-to-back titles. Great Oak’s (92:28) was the second fastest.

The Wolfpack’s title was a first for third-year coach Tammy Draughon after the previous 10 were won under coach Doug Soles, who resigned in 2020 and now coaches at Herriman High in Utah. Gaffney was a freshman in 2019 for the Wolfpack’s last section championship.

“We’ve been working really hard all season,” said Gaffney, the girls team’s first individual champ since Tori Gaitan in 2018 and fourth athlete in program history to prevail.

"And the past four years, most of us are seniors, we’ve been going through it all, through coach changes, through COVID. I feel really lucky and grateful to have these six ladies alongside me, and winning today is really a special thing.”

Gaffney outlegged Santa Monica sophomore Phoebe Benun in Division 1 by five seconds.

“It means everything just to come out here and win at Mt. SAC again,” Gaffney said. “I love this course, and I’m a bit sad to have this be my last time racing here, but also really excited for (the state meet) and see what our girls can do.”

Corona Santiago sophomore Rylee Blade led an impressive second-place showing, the best section finals in their program’s history. Blade ran 17:45.6 as all three Inland Empire programs – Great Oak, Rancho Cucamonga and Santiago – swapped leads in an exciting final.

“It’s unbelievable because our whole entire goal this season was to win CIF as a team,” Blade said. “And the fact that we even came this close was crazy.”

Santa Ana senior Sarahy Lopez was fourth in 17:48.3, with Redondo Union junior Lyla Fedio placing fifth in 17:51.3. Both advance to next week’s CIF State Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park, as did the top seven teams in each division Saturday.

Rancho Cucamonga was Division 1’s top-ranked team entering Saturday, but faded to a third-place finish. Almost lost in their disappointment was that they advanced to their first state meet in program history.

“We went in confident and then it was a bit disappointing personally for me, because I had certain goals set that I didn't reach,” said Cougars sophomore Nicole Alfred, who was 12th in 18:17.3.

“And we still did accomplish one of our main goals, which was (qualifying for) state, so that was exciting.”

Quartz Hill senior Brianne Smith advanced with her seventh-place team to the state meet. Beckman senior Joy Weber (seventh, 17:59), Arcadia sophomore Reena Hsieh (eighth, 18:00) and Vista Murrieta sophomore Erika Kirk (ninth, 18:12.4.) also advanced individually.

The Division 2 race saw another Newbury Park victory, its third consecutive at section finals after it scored 70 points to second-place Ventura’s 125.

But Ventura had a lot to be thankful for, and not just for individual winner Sadie Engelhardt, who ran 17:12.8 and became the first individual section champ in school history. Freshman Aelo Curtis placed third in 17:40.4 as Ventura’s seven athletes in the lineup were all freshmen or sophomores.

“It’s so awesome and especially since we’re all underclassmen,” Engelhardt said. “We have so much time to improve and you never know (when) new girls come in. It’s just looking bright for this team.”

Sophomore Tiffany Sax and senior Ailish Hawkins paced Newbury Park, placing fifth (17:55.4) and sixth (17:55.5), respectively.

“We were pretty prepared coming in,” Hawkins said. “There was pressure because we wanted to win, but I think we knew we had a good shot at it. We just needed to run controlled and do what we all knew we could do. …”

Mira Costa, the defending Division 2 champ, placed third, led by senior Anna Chittenden, who was the individual runner-up in 17:25.3.

Portola senior Jadyn Zdanavage was fourth in 17:44.9, Claremont junior Denise Chen was seventh in 17:55.9, Riverside North senior Mackenize Brown was eighth in 18:01.7 and two Peninsula runners – junior Makenzie Kordic and senior Aishling Callanan – were ninth (18:04.8) and 10th (18:19.2), respectively.

For all that happened in Divisions 1 and 2, Division 4 had the best marks of the day.

Freshman Summer Wilson (17:47.0) and sophomore Brynn Garcia (17:53.0) became the first two female athletes in program history to run sub-18 at Mt. SAC, leading JSerra to a 45-point victory over Oaks Christian. Freshman Kaylah Tasser was 11th in 18:14.5.

JSerra was the first repeat champ in the division since Foothill Tech in 2017-18.

“I think something special we try to do is just be the best version of ourselves every race,” said senior Anastasia Snodgrass, returning to the Lions’ lineup for the first time since Oct. 8 at the 43rd ASICS Clovis Invitational.

“There’s no other JSerra, so every single time that we go out, we just want to be a better version of ourselves than the last meet and always focus on improving.”

Godsey became the first repeat individual champ in Division 4 since Malibu’s Claudia Lane in 2016-17.

“It’s pretty cool to have back to back,” she said. “I can’t lie.”

La Canada sophomore Maya DeBrouwer was not only the division runner-up, but also ran the second-fastest time of the day in 17:09.8. Laguna Hills sophomore Holly Barker was third in the race in 17:20.4.

In Division 3, senior Allura Markow led the Dana Hills girls to their first championship in the division and first overall since 2008 with a 52-110 victory against South Torrance.

Markow won in 17:31.4, ahead of runner-up and Corona del Mar junior Melisse Djomby Enyawe (17:38.8).

In Division 5, Palm Desert Xavier College Prep freshman Chloe Elbaz won an individual title in 17:57.4, ahead of defending champ and Viewpoint senior JiaLian Mackey, second in 18:12.3.

All was not lost, though. Mackey led Viewpoint to their first-ever section championship by a 63-79 margin against Xavier Prep.