Great Oak boys lost six of seven from 2015, but look just as strong amongst Cali rivals
Full results from Boys D1/D2 Team Sweepstakes
The Great Oak boys were perfect in 2015: undefeated through the state's top invitationals (including Mt. SAC), CIF State Finals and Nike Cross Nationals. They graduated all except one from their top seven which for many schools would mean a rebuilding year. The Wolfpack was a well-beaten third at the Woodbridge Sweepstakes, but since then won team titles at Stanford and Clovis, and now captured their third straight Mt. SAC D1 Team Sweepstakes title.
The win also cements U.S. No. 5 ranked Great Oak's second straight over U.S. No. 10 ranked Claremont. In the combined D1/D2 results, Great Oak scored 54 points to Claremont's 147 points. Though times were slower in 2016 compared to 2015 --Great Oak's average was 15:20 this year compared to 14:57 last year-- the race was overall slower this year as the winning time was 15:05, which would have placed ninth in 2015. The Wolfpack was also tighter: Jacob Korgan (6th, 15:11), Carlos Carvajal (15:14), Justin Eipp (15:21), Solomon Fountain (15:24) and Ryan Shields (15:33) boasted a 22-second top five spread, nearly half of last year's 45-second spread at Mt. SAC.
I'd say that Great Oak is "back," but with head coach Doug Soles at the helm, I don't think they ever really went anywhere.
Watch Great Oak win their third straight D1 Team Sweepstakes title:
