CIF State cross country: Two area runners repeat and one wins first title
This championship pursuit is starting to become old hat for Riley Chamberlain and Matt Strangio, and it has become a new passion for Alexandra Klos.
On Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno on the 5-K course, Chamberlain of Del Oro High School and Strangio of Jesuit repeated as CIF State Cross Country champions and Klos was a first-time winner as a first-year runner for Vista del Lago.
A senior, Strangio won the Division I race in 14 minutes, 43.5 seconds, the third-fastest D-I time in the 33-year history of the event. He became the region’s first repeat state winner.
A sophomore, Chamberlain won the D-III race in 17:16 to become the fourth area girl to repeat, joining Rachel Bryan of Laguna Creek and Caitlin Chick of Granite Bay, both in 2002 and ‘03, and Fiona O’Keeffe of Davis in 2013 and ‘15.
A sophomore, Klos is a soccer player by nature who has fast fallen in love with distance running. She won the girls D-II race in 17:13.10 – 22 seconds faster than the second-place runner.
Strangio’s time was the second-fastest of the day to Newbury Park’s Nico Young, who clocked a 14:29 as his team won the state D-II title. Young is considered the top teen runner in the country.
Jesuit placed second in the team D-I standings behind Great Oak of Temucula Valley with a 144 score and average course time of 15:34. Great Oak, the top-ranked team in the country, won its sixth consecutive CIF team championship.
Jesuit’s depth and drive allowed the Marauders to make up 26 team places in the last mile. The Marauders came in having won nine team titles. And typical of Strangio, he spoke more glowingly of his teammates than himself.
“We were hoping for this,” he told Dan Tyree of MileSplit.com. “It’s so big for us. Everyone’s smiling. Really proud of those guys and so thankful for the coaches.”
Said Chamberlain to MileSplit, “It feels great. I love this course. It’s a special course. It’s amazing to repeat. I can’t even explain how excited I am.”
And Klos to MileSplit, “I’m so happy right now. I want to keep running. I love everything about it. I’ll definitely continue it (including track and field in the spring).”
Strangio is also a two-time CIF state championship distance runner in track and field with another spring to go.
The three local CIF winners will compete in the prestigious Nike Cross Country Nationals in Portland this weekend.
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This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 12:00 PM.