Gaitan, Sawires Yager help Wolfpack sweep individual and team titles in final dress rehearsal before postseason

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

Despite all the league, section and California state titles Great Oak has racked up through the years, the Wolfpack never seem to lack in motivation.

Neither does the girls team’s ace, junior Tori Gaitan.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

With rival Vista Murrieta offering formidable competition, Great Oak ran a full girls lineup Wednesday at the Southwestern League finals, and didn’t disappoint. Gaitan broke away from teammate Fatima Cortes in the final mile and won on the 3-mile course at the combination soccer/equestrian Galway Downs complex east of Temecula, Calif.

Great Oak’s boys, offering their Nos. 8-14 runners, completed a sweep of the three league meets with Wednesday’s win. Junior Cole Sawires Yager won the individual title on the boys side.

While Wednesday’s race was much about controlling tempo, training, and taking care of business, Gaitan didn’t run like that in the last mile, surging ahead of Cortes – the two were running shoulder to shoulder at the two-mile mark – for a 15-second victory in 16 minutes, 54.5 seconds.

Gaitan finished second to La Costa Canyon CA senior Kristin Fahy in the Division 1-2 team sweepstakes race two weeks ago at the Mt. SAC Invitational. And that stayed with her since.

“I used that as motivation,” Gaitan said. “At the end of the day, I’m glad I have something to push me.”

There was some pretty good competition behind her Wednesday, as well.

Great Oak’s girls won with 22 points over runner-up Vista Murrieta’s 49. Chaparral was third with 76 points, and all three advanced to the CIF-Southern Section postseason.

“We just wanted to go out there and see what we could do,” Cortes said. “We’re only halfway into the week, so it wasn’t that tough of a week of training, but last week was pretty rough. And we’re just trying to see where we’re at.”

Cortes, who won this race a year ago, placed second in 17:09.8. Freshman Devyn Candaele of Vista Murrieta (third, 17:15.3), Chaparral senior Cynthia Martin (fourth, 17:22.8) and Great Oak junior Audrey Dang (fifth, 17:26.0) all ran strong races to round out the top five.

Martin has won a lot of races during her career, but was happy when she found out Great Oak was running a full lineup.

“I was like, ‘OK, if they run their fastest, I won’t worry too much about it,’” Martin said. “I know that I’m fast, but I still need the practice.”

Great Oak junior Arianna Griffiths was sixth in 17:39.6 and Murrieta Valley senior Caitlin Billman just missed advancing individually by placing seventh in 17:40.3.

Junior Aubrie Nex was Great Oak’s fifth scorer in eighth place at 17:50. Vista Murrieta had the next three places – senior Peyton Candaele (ninth, 17:52.0) and sophomores Emily Bourque (10th, 17:52.7) and Aniya Pretlow (11th, 17:54.0) – in what the Broncos termed as a successful day.

Vista Murrieta is ranked No. 2 in CIF-Southern Section Division 1, behind Great Oak, which is also ranked No. 1 in the state and nationally. Vista Murrieta is No. 26 in the country.

“We were all pushing for first, hoping we could run our best races,” Devyn Candaele said.

Sawires Yager’s boys victory was equally as impressive as he transitioned into a full sprint in the final 800 meters after running much of the race next to sophomore teammate John Worthy, who ultimately placed second in 15:16.2.

“It’s a lot of pressure knowing that there’s always people from behind and the pressure to succeed with runners that are ahead,” said Sawires Yager, who transferred from Cerritos after winning the Suburban League title last year.

“But it’s an amazing thing to be part of such a good team. I’m really happy to be here.”

Great Oak won with 27 points, while Vista Murrieta (60 points) and Murrieta Mesa (65 points) followed. They earned the three automatic CIF-Southern Section postseason berths.

The Broncos were paced by a 3-4 finish by senior Willie Coleman (15:17.1), an 800-meter standout from track, and sophomore Noah Murasmith (15:17.2). Junior Leandro Candray was fifth in 15:19.0 for Great Oak, and Chaparral sophomore Jacob Bustamante placed sixth in 15:20.8, earning an individual qualifying spot for the postseason.

Wednesday’s meet also marked a change in tradition for the Southwestern League finals, which moved to a more spectator-friendly and less-dusty run at Galway Downs after more than 10 years running the meet at Diamond Valley Lake in nearby Hemet.