WALNUT – Championship Saturday has a knack for producing the unforeseen.
Not this time.
Brea Olinda’s boys cross country team had no interest in rewriting the script Saturday morning and defended its CIF-SS title with an impressive showing in the Division 3 race at Mt. San Antonio College.
Austin Tamagno won the individual crown with a time of 14:39. The Wildcats junior set the course record at the Mt. SAC Invitational earlier this season, but it was the performance of his teammates that put Brea Olinda in some very exclusive company.
Austin Shellito, Angel Escobar, Gio Orellana and Chris DeDio set personal records for the Wildcats en route to posting the third-fastest team time ever recorded at Mt. SAC. Brea Olinda’s time of 1:15:49 also was a Division 3 record.
“I knew the team was going to do big things,” Tamagno said. “I’m so proud of my teammates. Their hard work is coming out in the races at the right time.”
Brea Olinda defeated state-ranked No. 2 Agoura, 44-87, a margin that Tamagno took great pride in.
“I know Agoura points-wise is really close to us, but today we just stomped on them,” he said. “We proved why we’re No. 1 in the state for Division 3.”
Yorba Linda joined Brea Olinda as the county’s Division 3 state qualifiers.
In Division I, meanwhile, Dana Hills (91 points) looked strong as the runner-up to Burroughs of Burbank (70 points). The reliable tandem of Jake Ogden (14:52) and Mason Coppi (15:14) placed in the top 10 to lead the Dolphins.
Ogden dealt with a muscular skeletal strain to begin the year, but the junior said he has made steady progress. The Dolphins’ top runner was racing in back-to-back weeks for the first time this season.
“It’s a learning process for me, the mental and physical challenges from that,” Ogden said of returning from injury. “This is my first time running back-to-back. I hadn’t run CIF prelims before. Having two Mt. SAC (races) in a row was a new challenge for me.”
Huntington Beach’s George Gleason (15:16) earned Division 1’s fifth and final individual spot for the state meet in Clovis. He finished 12th.
Canyon placed third, while Tesoro captured the final bid for the Division 2 state race next Saturday. The Titans’ fifth runner, Andrew Suda, finished five spots ahead of Buena’s Patrick Higgins to clinch Tesoro’s trip to Clovis.
In Division 4, JSerra snuck into the state meet as the seventh team to push five runners across the finish line. Costa Mesa will be sending Anuare Magana, who became the first Mustangs individual to qualify for state since Bruce Hancock in 1998.
Collin Price (15:16) led St. Margaret’s to a fifth place finish in Divison 5.