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Once you win your first CIF-SS championship, how else are you supposed to follow up the next season? Winning your second CIF-SS championship seems like the place to start.
San Clemente’s boys cross country team placed three runners in the top 10 and bested all of their team time marks from a season ago to win back-to-back CIF-SS Division 1 championships on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Mt. San Antonio College.
The Tritons now advance to the CIF State Championships this Saturday, Nov. 25, at Woodward Park in Fresno. It’s San Clemente’s third consecutive run at the state meet after a 32-year gap prior to that. San Clemente finished second at the state meet last season and fourth in 2021.
Last season, San Clemente placed two runners in the top 10 and four in the top 25 to win its first CIF-SS Division 1 championship with a 22-point margin over runner-up Great Oak of Temecula and 76-point margin over third-place Trabuco Hills.
On Saturday, the Tritons placed three runners in the top 10 and all five scoring runners in the top 25 to capture their second CIF-SS title with a 24-point margin over runner-up Great Oak and a 41-point margin over third-place Trabuco Hills.
Last season’s race and this season’s race were run on different course layouts at Mt. SAC due to preparations for rain that never came on Saturday. With the race being run on a mostly flat asphalt and track course instead of Mt. SAC’s famous switchbacks and hills, the Tritons posted improvements in each time metric on the 3-mile course.
San Clemente posted the second-best team time across all divisions on Saturday with a five-second improvement over last season, as well as better average runner times (14:31 versus 15:27), average mile times (4:51 over 5:09) and five-man gap time (0:34 compared to 0:51).
Senior Colorado State-bound pacesetter Brett Ephraim led the San Clemente pack again with a third-place finish, coming in at 14:10. Seniors Taj Clark (14:26) and Kai Olsen (14:29) finished in ninth and 10th, respectively.
San Clemente placed its first three runners before second-place Great Oak scored its first runner of the day in 14th place.
Senior Pierce Clark crossed the line in 21st place at 14:39, and sophomore Dalin Harrington rounded out the San Clemente scoring in 25th place at 14:44.
Outside of the scoring runners, senior Isaac Gould finished in 80th place at 15:24, and freshman Yohan Anderson (15:43) finished in 97th place.
The top seven teams in each division advanced to the CIF State Championships, with San Clemente being joined by Great Oak, Trabuco Hills, Mira Costa, Beckman, King and Crescenta Valley in representing the Southern Section in Division 1.
On the girls side of Division 1, San Clemente finished in 10th and just 34 points out of state qualification.
Senior Lyza Yetter finished 25th overall to lead the Tritons with a time of 17:37. Freshmen Sedona Sweginnis (17:53) and Addison Carey (18:25) both placed in the top 50 for San Clemente at 31st and 49th, respectively.
Freshman Taylor Ball came across in 75th at 18:52, and sophomore Kat Piantka finished up the San Clemente scoring in 88th place at 19:15. Junior Ashlyn Caldwell ran in 92nd at 19:17, and sophomore Caiya McAlister finished in 97th at 19:33 to complete the day for the Tritons.
It was a banner day for South Orange County cross country, as four other area programs also captured CIF-SS championships in addition to San Clemente’s boys title. Seven total area programs will compete in the CIF State Championships this Saturday.
On the public schools front, Dana Hills pulled double repeat titles in Division 3, as the Dolphins boys and girls both won back-to-back CIF-SS titles.
Dana Hills’ boys posted the best overall team time of the day, just 13 seconds faster than San Clemente’s team time. The Dolphins also had slightly better average runner times and average mile times, but the Tritons ran a better five-man gap.
Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan ran the best time across all divisions with a 3-mile run of 13:56 to defend his CIF-SS title from last season. The Dolphins boys placed three runners in the top five, four in the top 10 and all five scoring runners in the top 15 of Division 3.
University of New Mexico-bound senior Jayden Hernandez finished second at 14:12, and senior Garrett Woodruff finished fifth at 14:34. Sophomore Oliver Hunter came in 10th at 14:43, and senior Logan Harris was the fifth scoring runner in 14th at 14:54.
The Dana Hills girls team saw the return of its top runner, junior Annie Ivarsson, to a second-place finish (17:15), with senior Quinci Lott also finishing in the top 10 in seventh (17:24).
Senior Cooper Murphy finished 25th at 18:12, freshman Marlo Leigh Harris came in 30th at 18:20, and senior Tessa Anderson was the fifth scoring runner in 36th at 18:36.
In Division 4, JSerra’s girls team put up yet another dominant chapter in their recent run of success for their third consecutive CIF-SS championship. The Lions placed three in the top five and four in the top seven. JSerra scored 31 points to far outpace second-place Oaks Christian with 79 points.
Junior Sophie Polay (16:35) and sophomores Kaylah Tasser (16:38) and Summer Wilson (16:50) finished in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, to lead JSerra. Junior Brynn Garcia (17:12) came in seventh, and freshman Reese Holley (17:44) finished 12th to round out the scoring. Sophomore Chloe Elbaz (17:45) was right behind Holley in 13th.
As a team, the Lions ran the second-fastest overall time.
JSerra’s girls will also be looking to win their third consecutive CIF State Championship on Saturday in Fresno.
JSerra’s boys finished second in Division 4 with two runners in the top 10. Senior Saul Orozco (14:27) finished fifth, and junior Bradley Arrey (14:47) finished 10th.
Three sophomores rounded out the scoring five for the Lions boys with Luke Friedl (15:20) in 28th, Jack Burnett (15:33) in 40th and Alden Morales (15:38) in 42nd.
In Division 5, St. Margaret’s girls team won a tight battle for its third CIF-SS title in five seasons. The Tartans held onto an early lead built on two runners in the top 10 and three in the top 15 to beat second-place Thacher by 11 points.
Sophomore Joyce Li was just off championship pace in second at 17:58, and junior Sarah Bendzick came in sixth at 18:24. Junior Coco Johnson finished in 14th at 19:18. Sophomore Catherine Chou came in 43rd at 20:31, and freshman Catherine Pappas rounded out the scoring five in 47th at 20:36.
St. Margaret’s boys finished sixth in Division 5 to continue a seven-year streak of state qualification for both the Tartans boys and girls cross country teams.
