Smith holds off freshman Ping to secure her second title in three years, helps Bears prevail against Southlake Carroll TX on sixth-runner tiebreaker to capture program's third overall sweepstakes crown

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Corie Smith has experienced the feeling before, but this one was even more historic and a lot more dramatic.

Smith, a Buchanan CA senior, won her Bob Day girls sweepstakes title in three years, leading the Bears to a thrilling victory over Southlake Carroll TX that was decided by a sixth-runner tiebreaker after the teams tied with 129 points apiece Saturday at the 39th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic at SilverLakes Sports Complex in Norco, Calif.

Smith clocked 16 minutes, 4.8 seconds to finish ahead of Desert Vista AZ freshman Lauren Ping (16:09.8) and become the first female athlete in meet history to have two performances in the top 10 in meet history, as well as the only girl to produce three efforts in the all-time top 20.

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Smith won her first title in 2017 in 15:58.4, achieving a 1-2 finish with former teammate and now Oregon State freshman Meagen Lowe, who clocked 15:59.3. That strength up front helped Buchanan prevail two years ago by a 24-point margin over Great Oak for the Bears’ first sweepstakes title since 2005.

With a pair of freshmen in the lineup Saturday, Buchanan demonstrated great poise to survive a strong performance from Texas’ top program, with Southlake Carroll achieving the best finish by a girls team from the Lone Star State since The Woodlands took second in 2008, when the meet was still held at Woodbridge High.

The Dragons became only the seventh girls team in meet history to run under 86 minutes at Woodbridge, clocking 85:55 to improve on the fastest time by any Texas program by nearly a minute from their performance last year.

Morgan Hutchison was the sixth runner for Buchanan, finishing 71st in 17:45.8, just in front of Southlake Carroll’s Abigail McIlvain, who took 73rd in 17:47.6.

The Bears had a 35-second spread among the four runners behind Smith, with freshman Sydney Sundgren placing 22nd in 17:00.7, Mia Jauregui taking 42nd in 17:22.1, ninth-grader Grace Hutchison finishing 47th in 17:30.7 and Kaylee Elliott securing 53rd in 17:35.7. Senior Rachel Culver was 95th for Buchanan in 18:05.9.

Kaylie Cox (16:54.2) led Southlake Carroll by placing 19th, with Jenna Holland and Lydia Lo both timed in 17:04.5 to finish 25th and 26th, followed by Tatum Foreman (17:09.3) in 32nd and Katherine Mcelaney (17:43.4) in 67th.

Texas also enjoyed another impressive performance from McKinney North senior London Culbreath, who placed third in 16:22.9 in her season debut, becoming the first female athlete from her state to finish in the top three since Houston Lamar’s Julia Heymach also finished third in 16:29.1. Culbreath became the No. 2 performer in state history at Woodbridge, trailing only Sarah Andrews of The Woodlands at 16:01 in 2009.

Lauren Ping achieved the fastest performance by an Arizona female athlete in meet history, but Desert Vista only placed sixth with 238 points, with junior Grace Ping not competing for the Thunder.

Great Oak, which captured its sixth girls sweepstakes title last year, finished third with 135 points.
Reigning champion Tori Gaitan was 20th in 16:59.7 for Great Oak, which competed without senior Arianna Griffiths.

St. Francis Sacramento, which placed fourth overall with 160 points to edge fellow Division 2 state championship contender Newbury Park at 167, ran the fastest time by any Northern California girls team in meet history, clocking 85:36, just behind Buchanan’s 85:34.

Cate Joaquin was fifth in 16:25.7, Isabella Fauria placed seventh in 16:33.3 and Tatiana Cornejo took 10th in 16:39.7, becoming the first girls trio from the same team to finish in the top 10 since Saugus CA in 2008.

St. Helena junior Harper McClain, in only her third career high school cross country race, ran the fastest time by any California Division 5 athlete in meet history, as well as producing the top all-time mark by any Northern California athlete, securing fourth in 16:23.9.

The Bay League in California’s Southern Section was represented by two athletes in the top 10, with Palos Verdes senior Savannah Scriven taking sixth in 16:28.9 and Mira Costa sophomore Dalia Frias finishing ninth in 16:34.7.

Lucy Huelskamp of Sunset High, which finished 12th with 358 points, ran the fastest time by an Oregon female athlete in meet history, clocking 16:33.6 to place eighth. Ember Stratton ran 16:38 for Sunset as a freshman in 2015.

Sage Creek, led by Skyler Wallace (16:43.5) taking 12th and Lavanya Pandey (17:00.4) securing 21st, improved on its own California Division 4 all-time record at the meet by clocking 87:59 to place seventh overall with 262 points after finishing 13th last season with 307 points.

Cedar Park TX had junior Kaitlyn Childress win the rated girls race in 17:19.9, with teammate Gracie Hall placing fourth in 17:25.8 and Sam Pettey finishing 10th in 17:49.3. But the 'B' team from Great Oak, led by freshman Kelli Gaffney earning third in 17:21.9, placed all five scorers in the top 50 to prevail over the Timberwolves by a 116-157 margin.