The Oaks Christian boys cross country team channeled Kobe Bryant after winning a CIF Southern Section championship. “Job’s not finished,” coaches and runners told each other.
The Lions seized the opportunity to double up on championships and won a CIF State title in Division IV on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. It’s the first state championship in Oaks Christian boys cross country history.
“Sometimes when you accomplish something as big as (a CIF-SS title), its easy to get distracted,” Lions coach Wes Smith said. “They were immediately dialed in. I think that they wanted to not miss the opportunity. We know we can do this.”
The Lions recorded a team time of one hour, 17 minutes and 43 seconds for a division-low 61 points and a new Division IV record. The runners kept in packs with Christian Yoder and Cooper McNee up front and Joshua Mitchell, Vin Krueger and Arize Nwosu close behind.
Yoder and McNee finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, with times of 15:07.5 and 15:09.1 on the three-mile course in cool, crisp mid-morning conditions.
The remaining three runners finished nearly in three consecutive spots: Mitchell was 21st (15:48.6), Kruger was 23rd (15:48.7) and Nwosu was 24th (15:49.2).
Kruger and Nwosu are the only runners out of the group who will not be graduating, and Smith sees them on a similar trajectory to Yoder and McNee after years of brotherhood, team training and building towards success on the course.
“They’ve seen from their seniors now what needs to be done and what the expectation is,” Smith said. “If its not next year, then we continue to look forward to the year after. When you accomplish this, it’s like Roger Bannister breaking the first four-minute mile. Once it’s done, it opens the door to everyone else behind that.”
Team results (place, school name, points, time)
Division I girls
20. Granada Hills Charter, 466, 1:38:41
Division II girls
14. Saugus, 323, 1:35:58
24. Canoga Park, 665, 1:45:48
Division III girls
5. Oak Park, 207, 1:35:19
14. Hart, 349, 1:38:45
16. Canyon, 381, 1:39:34
25. Verdugo Hills, 791, 1:58:23
Division IV girls
2. Harvard-Westlake, 143, 1:35.56
8. Oaks Christian, 220, 1:38.29
Division V girls
16. Viewpoint, 417, 1:46:18
Division I boys
24. Granada Hills Charter, 589, 1:23:51
Division II boys
11. Saugus, 285, 1:20:19
Division III boys
2. Oak Park, 182, 1:19.39
3. Hart, 198, 1:19:50
10. Agoura, 281, 1:20:44
Division IV boys
1. Oaks Christian, 61, 1:17:43
8. St. Francis, 204, 1:20:59
10. Harvard-Westlake, 262, 1:22:35
24. Sherman Oaks CES, 776, 1:35:37
Division V boys
2. Viewpoint, 118, 1:20:31
Individual results (top 100)
Division I girls
46. Ananya Balaraman, junior, North Hollywood, 18:29.0
51. Samantha Pecheco, junior, Granada Hills Charter, 18:34.8
71. Meztli Velazquez, senior, Cleveland, 18:59.5
87. Reece Trice, Granada Hills Charter, senior, 19:12.0
Division II girls
19. Lucia Pearson, junior, Saugus, 18:11.6
55. Angelina Lopez, senior, Canoga Park, 18:49.8
59. Annika Mark, junior, Saugus, 18:52.0
Division III girls
9. Sophia Perez, sophomore, Oak Park, 17:46.5
10. Sofia Francini, senior, Calabasas, 17:48.4
40. Tate Creason, senior, Oak Park, 18:47.5
58. Julia Redwine, freshman, Hart, 19.93.8
59. Sasha Berry, freshman, Hart, 19:04.2
87. Jassmine Enamorado, senior, Canyon, 19:33.4
88. Tabitha Brown, freshman, Oak Park, 19:35.6
Division IV girls
21. Delaney Napierala, junior, Oaks Christian, 18:34.1
23. Elle Kirman, sophomore, Harvard-Westlake, 18:36.6
25. Jia Rhee, freshman, Harvard-Westlake, 18:40.5
42. Saisha Kumar, senior, Harvard-Westlake, 19:16.7
58. Emily Ahn, senior, Harvard-Westlake, 19:35.1
71. Mikaela Brabbee, freshman, Harvard-Westlake, 19:46.5
75. Elizabeth Walker, senior, Oaks Christian, 19:54.0
78. Joella Denove, senior, Oaks Christian, 19:57.0
79. Madelyn Galle, sophomore, Oaks Christian, 19:57.0
88. Allie Smith, junior, Oaks Christian, 20:07.3
Division V girls
60. Zooey Jeong, senior, Viewpoint, 19:56.4
82. Ella Katz, senior, Viewpoint, 10:22.9
Division I boys
74. Daniel Ramirez, senior, Granada Hills Charter, 15:59.1
99. Joaquin Ortega-Tomaselli, Granada Hills Charter, 15:11.0
Division II boys
19. Sebastian Peraza, senior, Saugus, 15:22.2
35. Adrian Cantu, sophomore, Saugus, 15:45.5
84. Caleb Fredericks, junior, Saugus, 16:12.5
Division III boys
6. Braulio Castillo, junior, West Ranch, 15:10.0
11. Owen Souther, junior, Canyon, 15:24.5
20. Eli Ahten, senior, Hart, 15:47.8
32. Grant Jons, senior, Oak Park, 15:48.3
33. Oliver Zimmermann, senior, Thousand Oaks, 15:48.6
35. James Glynn, senior, Agoura, 15:49.3
38. Josiah Himsl, sophomore, Hart, 15:49.8
39. Ethan Marley, junior, Oak Park, 15:49.9
45. JJ Lew, freshman, Oak Park, 15:55.4
48. Mark Hodges, senior, Oak Park, 15:57.8
54. Samuel Aina, sophomore, Hart, 16:00.6
58. Dorian Bening, junior, Agoura, 16:03.2
60. Josue Lopez, senior, Hart, 16.03.6
64. Quinn Foster, sophomore, Oak Park, 16:06.9
65. Miles Prante, sophomore, Hart, 16:07.5
78. Lucas Gary, junior, Agoura, 16:14.0
81. Ethan Deleau, junior, Agoura, 16:14.5
96. Dhruv Kulkarni, junior, Oak Park, 16:22.2
99. Ryoto Matsumoto, sophomore, Agoura, 16:22.4
Division IV boys
4. Christian Yoder, senior, Oaks Christian, 15:07.5
5. Cooper McNee, senior, Oaks Christian, 15:09.1
7. Auge Martin, senior, St. Francis, 15:21.6
14. Aidan Guzman, senior, St. Francis, 15:35.2
20. Franklin Wimbish, senior, Harvard-Westlake, 15:47.8
21. Joshua Mitchell, senior, Oaks Christian, 15:48.6
23. Vin Krueger, junior, Oaks Christian, 15:48.7
24. Nwosu Arizechkwu, sophomore, Oaks Christian, 15:49.2
31. Axel Gonzalez, senior, St. Francis, 15:55.9
69. Aidan Waldron, senior, St. Francis, 16:33.7
70. Charles Abemayor, junior, Harvard-Westlake, 16:33.9
72. Aaron Escalante, junior, Harvard-Westlake, 16:34.1
73. Tate Hastings, sophomore, Harvard-Westlake, 16:34.1
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Division V boys
5. Olly O’Connor, junior, Viewpoint, 15:05.8
17. Andrew Neville, junior, Viewpoint, 15:53.5
26. Mitchell Majors, freshman, Viewpoint, 16:05.5
42. Jack Richter, sophomore, Viewpoint, 16:24.9
82. Noah Ramsey, freshman, Viewpoint, 17:01.6