Nordhoff’s Runaway State Victory Is Simple as 2-3-4

FRESNO —  Ken Reeves wasn’t kidding.

The Nordhoff High boys’ cross-country coach said his team was capable of running much better than it did in winning the Southern Section Division IV championships, and the Rangers proved it with a runaway victory in the state championships at Woodward Park on Saturday.

Nordhoff, paced by the 2-3-4 finish of seniors Victor Ochoa, Matthew Torres and Dusty Herman, defeated second-place Costa Mesa Estancia, 46-121, in the Division IV race to win its fourth state title in five years and its fifth in seven.

Morro Bay, paced by individual champion Isaiah Festa, was third with 122 points, followed by McFarland with 125.

McFarland, which had won four consecutive Division IV titles from 1992-95 and the Division V championship last year, was expected to challenge the Rangers, but the Cougars never mounted a serious charge.

The cumulative time of Nordhoff’s top five runners was 81:00, 10 seconds slower than it ran in winning the Division III title in 1994 and 50 seconds back of its time in ’95. But Saturday’s race was the first time that the Rangers took three of the top four places.

Their previous best was three of the top eight in 1995.

“I was thinking 1-2-3 in my wildest dreams,” Reeves said. “But 2-3-4 isn’t too bad. We were shooting for three in the top 10, so I’m real happy with the way the guys ran.”

Nordhoff was one of two winners from the Frontier League in the boys’ meet.

Aaron Sharp of Santa Clara ran away from fellow senior Doug Hall of Flintridge Prep and junior Jeff Tomlinson of Crossroads in the last mile of the Division V race.

Festa, the defending state champion in the 3,200 meters, won his second consecutive Division IV title with a 15:18 clocking over the 5,000-meter course. But when Ochoa finished second in 15:48, Torres placed third in 15:52 and Herman took fourth in 15:56, the race for the team championship was over.

Add a 28th-place time of 16:40 from sophomore Aidan Short and a 30th-place effort of 16:44 from freshman Roberto Contreras and the Rangers tied their biggest margin of victory in a state meet.

Nordhoff was so dominant that it would have won even if Ochoa hadn’t counted as one of its five scoring runners.

“We wanted to win the state title and we did, so we’re happy about that,” Ochoa said. “We wanted it and we got it.”

Sharp definitely wanted to win the Division V title.

The determined look on his face with a mile left made spectators think so and the way he thrusted his right fist skyward as he crossed the finish line in 16:04 left no doubt.

“This was the race,” he said.

In other races, senior Isabel Casillas of Hoover placed eighth in the Division I final with a time of 15:44 and senior Justin Patananan of Highland was 12th in 15:52. Saugus placed seventh in Division II.