Trabuco Hills stays together, hauls away state title

FRESNO - The Trabuco Hills boys cross country team has continually proven to be the county’s standard of excellence throughout much of this season.

In their biggest competition to date, the Mustangs also proved that standard applies to the state.

All five Mustang runners scored in the top 25 to help Trabuco Hills win its first CIF state title in five years at the CIF State Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Woodward Park.

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OCVarsity Hot Shots: Cross country state championships

Boys results: CIF State championships

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“The boys were fired up and they were ready,” said Mustangs coach Liam Clemons. “We knew that if we ran our race, we were the best team here and we took that focus all week.”

Trabuco Hills was fourth in last week’s Division 1 Southern Section final, but ran as a strong group throughout much of the state competition.

The Mustangs, who had the best overall team time of all teams in all five divisions, had a 30-second scoring gap between its first runner Jared Hazlett (15:25) and its fifth runner Max Moncur (15:55).

They were also the only team in all five divisions to have all five scoring runners finish the race in sub-16:00.

The Mustangs finished with 71 points. Arcadia (87 points) was second, with Rancho Cucamonga (124 points) placing third. El Toro (160 points) was fifth, and Dana Hills (184 points) was sixth.

“Despite losing the seniors from last year, we came into this season and knew that we could be strong,” said Hazlett. “We filled in the niches and we pride ourselves on doing everything together, which helps us race.”

It was the second victory on the Woodward Park course for the Mustangs, who won the Clovis Invitational on the same course in October.

“We’re a fast team and try to focus on our packing,” said Clemons. “Without the interruption of the hills (like at Mt. Sac), we can keep our grouping tight, and to have that advantage on a course like this one is going to favor us.”

The best individual county finisher came down to a battle between Chargers senior Kevin Durham and Marina junior Richie Soto. Both runners sprinted down the final straightaway and crossed the finish line with a time of 15:18. Durham was awarded fourth place, with Soto taking fifth.

“I got out well the first mile, but was pretty tired after that,” said Durham. “It was a tough season, but I can’t complain about finishing fourth.”

St. Margaret’s senior Billy Gaudreau and the Tartans boys cross country team made Division 5 history. Gaudreau won his second straight individual title in a new Division 5 record time of 15:28.

"My coaches and teammates have been supportive all year,” said Gaudreau. “My goal was to come out abd make sure our team was all set and then to put up the No. 1 point for us.”

Gaudreau’s time eclipsed the previous Division 5 best of 15:31, set by Viewpoint’s Tom Kubler and Liberty Christian’s Tim Nelson in 2000.

Junior Brandon Price (15:47) and senior Paul Brenneman (15:48) also placed in the top five, as the Tartans (52 points) easily outdistanced runner-up Desert Christian of Lancaster (98 points).

They also established a new Division 5 team time record of 80:32, breaking the old record of 81:46 set by McFarland High in 1996.

“We have a team that is self-motivated and has the confidence that we will be able to pull through as a team,” said Brenneman. 

Tesoro senior Kyler Fisk was the top county runner in Division 2, as a late surge helped him finish fourth in a time of 15:22.

“The first mile I was boxed in a bit, and in the second mile, I was fighting for position,” said Fisk. “In the third mile, it was just me trying to catch up and secure my position.”

Godinez junior Jose Penaloza (15:34) finished ninth in the race.

JSerra finished sixth in Division 4, while Brea Olinda was 10th in Division 3.