Regents cap amazing cross country season with state title

All season long, the La Reina High cross country team waited for others to catch up.

Last Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno, La Reina capped off a stellar season by winning the CIF Division IV state championship.

The state title was the first in program history.

The Regents defeated secondplace St. Mary's College by 42 points, but that information wasn't received by LRHS head coach Robert Lopez until well after the race concluded.

"I actually thought we got killed in the race because St. Mary's and Sacred Heart had almost identical uniforms," Lopez said. "It wasn't until after the race I found out that they were actually two different schools. When I found that out, I thought we had a chance.

"Shortly after that, however, the power went out, and all the Xeroxed results wouldn't come through. I was pacing around waiting for the results, not sure if we had won or not. Finally, I found them out, went over to my team and asked them, 'How does it feel to be state champions?'"

Once again, La Reina was led by freshman Rachel Brajkovich and senior Sarah Pearson.

Brajkovich finished in sixth with an 18:29, while Pearson was eighth at 18:37. Tara Blanchard placed 29th, while Mary Thompson and Katie Kavetsky finished in 37th and 63rd, respectively.

"I'm dumbfounded right now because it all seems so surreal," Lopez said on Monday.

"I'm having a hard time letting this all sink in. I'm trying to relish this as much as I can because I realize that state championships don't come that often, if ever. My hat's off to the girls."

Behind La Reina in fourth place was last year's state champion, Oaks Christian. The Lions were led by Christina Garcia, who finished 24th with a time of 19:18.

In the Division III girls' race, Oak Park placed 12th thanks to junior Melissa Skiba, who came in second with a 17:41.

Finishing just behind Oak Park in the same race was Agoura, which came in 13th. Leading the Chargers was Katie Klezak, who placed 21st at 18:55.

In Division V, Viewpoint freshman Nicki Maslan was 12th with a time of 19:54. Maslan became the first female runner in school history to break the 20minute mark at the Fresno course.

"Nicki put together three great miles of racing," wrote Viewpoint head coach Andrew Harris in a statement to the Acorn.

"At the start of the season, Nicki's talent put her on top. However, at the end, her work ethic carried her to the next level. This is just the beginning of Nicki's success as a runner and the future for Viewpoint's cross country team looks bright."

In girls Division II, Liberty Miller of Simi Valley finished seventh place with an 18:01, while Newbury Park's Jenny Mallen was 39th in the same race at 18:49.

On the boys' side, Thousand Oaks came up just short of winning a state title by finishing second to Loyola in its Division II race. Leading TOHS was Sean Gildea, who came in 11th with a 15:19. Gildea's teammate, Asher Lober, was 17th at 15:29.

T.O. will run at Saturday's Nike Team Nationals at Portland, Ore. They'll do so as the nonschool affiliated Thousand Oaks Cross Country Club.

Westlake finished sixth during the same race with Garrett Drogosch leading the way with a 45th-place time of 16:06.

In the boys' Division III race, Oak Park placed sixth. Leading the Eagles was James Goldstein, who came in 36th with a 16:08.

Oaks Christian's Charlie Petrie and Hunter Hays finished in sixth and 22nd place, respectively, in the Division IV race.