Wolfpack demonstrates resilience and perseverance following several setbacks to overcome all challengers again at Woodward Park and prevail against Southern Section winner San Clemente, adding to championship legacy 

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

FRESNO – A stubborn dynasty refused to go away. In fact, it rose back up to the top to rule for at least a little longer. Or maybe a lot longer.

Great Oak, a team overshadowed the entire season in California by other elite boys programs, won the Division 1 title Saturday in the CIF State Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park.

Great Oak won with 67 points to San Clemente’s 80. Third-place Crescenta Valley scored 167.

It was the Wolfpack’s seventh boys state title and 15th overall in program history, but first in this decade and first under third-year head coach Tammy Draughon.

It was also the eighth podium appearance for Great Oak, with San Clemente and Crescenta Valley each making their first.

Only Carmichael Jesuit and McFarland have more California boys state championships than the Wolfpack with nine each.

And they did it in vintage Great Oak fashion, by pack running and attacking the second mile of Woodward Park’s 5-kilometer course. Indeed, the Wolfpack were four points behind favored San Clemente at the mile mark; then had a 21-point lead at the two-mile mark.

And at the end, they were the best Division 1 team in the state, just like Great Oak was every season from 2014-19.

“We were humbled earlier this season,” said senior Ramses Cortes, who finished 16th in 15 minutes, 32 seconds. “We had a tough race at Woodbridge, and we realized we needed to keep working hard. We all circled up, talked to each other, and we knew we had to put in the work to get where we wanted.”

Great Oak rose to prominence in California under former coach Doug Soles, who established that tradition beginning in 2010, when the girls won their first state championship.

They began to dominate, and then the boys began their streak of success in 2014 with the first of six consecutive state crowns, as well as a national championship won at the Nike Cross Nationals in 2015.

In 2019, in what appeared to be a changing-of-the-guard moment, Great Oak finished as national runners-up to Newbury Park by four points at the NXN meet.

The pandemic season followed and Newbury Park then put together arguably the finest cross country season the U.S. has ever seen last year. But the Wolfpack didn’t go away, and though humbled by 113 points, they were still the Division 1 runners-up at last year’s state meet.

Meanwhile, Soles had resigned in 2020 and Draughon took over. The two cross country powers went back into separate divisions this year and the Wolfpack took their lumps in Division 1, with Newbury Park remaining dominant in Division 2.

Great Oak was fifth in the Doug Speck sweepstakes race at the 41st Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, trailing Soles’ new team at Herriman High in Utah by 88 points.

At the 43rd ASICS Clovis Invitational in October, the Wolfpack were fourth Oct. 8 at Woodward Park, behind Newbury Park, San Clemente and Granada. At the 74th Mt. SAC Invitational, they were second Oct. 22 to San Clemente, by 65 points.

Even at the Southern Section finals Nov. 19 at Mt. SAC, the top-ranked Tritons prevailed against the Wolfpack by 22 points.

But Great Oak stayed confident entering Saturday’s race.

Senior Mark Cortes, Ramses’ twin brother, led Great Oak by making the podium, placing ninth in 15:23.5. Their older brother, Isaac Cortes, was a key runner for the state championship teams in 2014-15, as well as the national title team. Older sister Fatima Cortes was on the girls’ state-title teams in 2017-18 as well.

Junior Gabriel Rodriguez was 19th in 15:34.5, followed by senior Nathan Lennox (25th, 15:43.3) and senior Austin Elkins (26th, 15:43.7). Jeffrey Keeney, a junior, was 40th in 16:00.2 and senior Nick Gaffney took 57th in 16:08.8

“I think we had like a 50-50 chance,” Elkins said. “Going into it, we wanted to stay humble – you never know how others may race. But we were also pretty confident in ourselves and our training, the training our coaches gave us, the confidence in ourselves and our mindset.”

Following Saturday’s meet, it was announced the Wolfpack earned an automatic berth into next week’s NXN meet in Portland, Ore. And, as fate would have it, one of the opponents they will face in the 22-team national final is Herriman and coach Soles.

While that legacy is unquestioned, Great Oak runners Saturday heaped the credit for this year to Draughon, who has kept the Wolfpack among the state’s best while also not running away from her predecessor’s success.

“100 percent,” Ramses Cortes said.

“She deserves all the credit,” Gaffney said.

San Clemente, though, can’t be dismissed and will also get another chance next week qualifying for NXN as the recipient of one of four national at-large berths, along with Granada, giving California four boys representatives in the field at Glendoveer Golf Course in Oregon.

“It’s pretty low,” Tritons senior Juan Chantaca said of how the Tritons felt following Saturday’s race.

“We were coming in with our heads high, (hopes for) pulling off a state championship from all the stuff we’ve done and, you know, all the races we’ve won building up to this race, and then just to have it be pulled underneath us is a pretty big defeat.” 

Indeed, next Saturday could be about second chances ... or for Great Oak, staying in first.

“This is a historic team,” Ramses Cortes said. “We’ve got our place in history and we’re glad this team here, we have a part of that. We can say we’re a part of that streak of winning and continuing the legacy of Great Oak winning. It’s amazing. It’s awesome.”