FRESNO – Austin Tamagno won both an individual and team state championship last year when he felt like garbage.
No one should’ve been surprised, then, at how he did Saturday, when he felt like a million dollars.
Tamagno won for the second consecutive year and led Brea Olinda to its second straight state crown – albeit barely – Saturday in the 29th CIF-State Cross Country Championship at Woodward Park.
Tamagno, an Oregon signee, ran the 5-kilometer course in 14 minutes, 45.9 seconds, breaking away from the lead pack in the second mile of the Division 3 race. Brea needed every stride from him, too, as the Wildcats edged Baldwin Park, 86-87, for the D-3 team title.
“I just kept feeling good and pounding the hills,” said Tamagno, who won a year ago in 15:09 despite spending much of the week leading up to the state meet fighting off an illness.
Tamagno’s supporting cast, including junior Giovanni Orellana (12th, 15:33.5) and senior Joe Tobin (32nd, 15:55.7), kept the score just low enough for the win.
“They ran a consistent first mile and then moved up,” said Brea Olinda first-year coach and alum Matt Rainwater. “That takes a lot of faith in training.”
On a sunny, 55-degree day that offered perfect running conditions, Tamagno joined JSerra’s Andrew Burkhardt, who won the Division 4 race in 15:08.5, as Orange County’s individual champions.
No other Orange County team won, though Dana Hills certainly made a strong case after running the fourth-fastest team time ever (77:01) at Woodward Park. But the Dolphins were stuck in the same race – Division 1 – with Great Oak of Temecula, which set the all-time, course-record team time at 76:09.
Dana Hills ran well but finished with 65 points to Great Oak’s 43 as senior Jake Ogden (fourth, 15:03.9), sophomore Jack Landgraf (10th, 15:12.6) and senior Mason Coppi (13th, 15:24.1) placed three runners in the top 13 – Great Oak got four in the top 12.
Not all was lost, though. Later in the day, Dana Hills earned a berth into next week’s Nike Cross Nationals meet in Portland, Ore, as did Tamagno as an individual.
“Today was just a fast race for both teams,” Ogden said. “We really came here wanting to win, and we really felt with our training that we could today. It just wasn’t our day. But I’m really proud of my teammates.”
Burkhardt won (15:08.5) by a larger margin – 17 seconds – than he did last week at the Southern Section Finals meet.
“It felt really good,” Burkhardt said. “I couldn’t really hear anyone’s steps, so I was pretty sure I had it.”
Canyon’s boys made a run in Division 2 before falling to Loyola of Los Angeles, 89-98, and earning a runner-up plaque. Senior Dylan Scarscone overcame a fall at the start and finished third in 15:10.3, as Canyon made up 68 points in the final two miles.
In Division 2, Tesoro’s Amanda Gehrich, last year’s state champ in the 1,600 meters, stayed near the lead until after the 2-mile mark and settled for a third-place finish in 17:30.2.
