California State Championship (CA)
Rocha, Tamagno, Ratliff All-Time Great Performances Headline Woodward Park
Austin Tamagno ran 14:45 for the eighth-fastest performance of all time on the Woodward Park course in Fresno to win the D3 title, his second consecutive cross country state title. Last year as a junior, the Brea Olinda athlete ran 15:09 for the win. The fastest time at last year's championship was 14:58 by Phillip Rocha of Arcadia, who will race later today for the D1 title. The effort was just enough to lead Brea Olinda to the team title, as they scored 86 points - just one point ahead of Baldwin Park.
In the Division 1 boys race, Arcadia's Phillip Rocha and Madera South's Eduardo Herrera duked it out--they were just eight-tenths of a second apart ten minutes into the race--but Rocha won in 14:42.9, the sixth fastest performance in Woodward Park history. Herrera was second in 14:48.8, 2.9 seconds slower than what Tamagno ran in the D3 race.
The Division 1 girls race saw serious surprises on two fronts. In the individual race, Destiny Collins tapped into her potential for greatness, winning in 17:09 just a week after finishing 147th at the CIF Southern Section meet.
The other surprise, though, is that her #2 Great Oak team nearly lost to #9 Davis. At one mile, the Wolfpack was beating Davis 34-87, but the Blue Devils kept chipping away at the lead. With a healthy Fiona O'Keeffe running in the pack, they cut the lead to 38-55 at 2.05 miles and only lost 44-46 at the finish. A win's a win, though, and this is Great Oak's fourth straight team title, dating back to 2012.
The big movers for Davis were Abigail Fisk and Olivia O'Keeffe. Fisk went from 33rd at the mile to 17th at 2.05 miles to 11th at the finish, and the younger O'Keeffe went from 32nd at the mile to 16th at 2.05 miles to 13th at the finish.