XC Chronicles - "Their Journey" Episode 2 - The 2018 Season
The episode of the XC Chronicles documentary series chronicles the intense high‑school cross‑country rivalry between the Great Oak Wolfpack (CIF Southern Section) and the Buchanan Bears (CIF Central Section) during the 2017‑2019 seasons, with a focus on the pivotal 2018 year. It opens with a recap of 2017, where Great Oak captured the state team title while Buchanan’s Corey Smith won the individual crown. The narrative follows both programs into 2018, detailing training philosophies, roster turnover, and the buildup to the Woodbridge Classic, a head‑to‑head meet that cemented a personal rivalry between star runners Corey Smith and Tori Gaitan. Through on‑camera interviews with athletes, coaches (Doug Soles, Bryan Weaver), and other team members, the film explores themes of team‑first mentality, personal pressure, and the emotional impact of injuries—most notably Corey’s sudden illness before the state championship, which forced her out of the race. The episode tracks Tori’s breakthrough victory at Woodbridge, her subsequent confidence surge, and the team’s successes at regional meets, culminating in Great Oak’s state team win and Buchanan’s sixth‑place finish. The documentary also looks ahead to 2019, noting the influx of talented freshmen, lingering injuries, and the uncertainty each program faces as they aim to sustain or reclaim dominance. Throughout, the film interweaves personal anecdotes, strategic insights, and the broader cultural significance of high‑school cross‑country rivalry in California.
Chapters
When you're running, you know what your teammates need to do in order to succeed and where they want to be.
You know, a team that doesn't know each other, how are they going to try and work together?
I know some teams, like, the girls are so competitive that they can't even practice together.
Personal glory comes second, you know.
It's about the team. Everybody makes sacrifices along the way, you know, and that's part about being part of a team.
And understand that, you know, girls are going to give you everything they got.
There's something more special about winning as a team versus an individual.
Great Oak and Buchanan, two California teams from different sections, both in search of the Division I state title. The Great Oak Wolfpack represents the CIF Southern Section, a loaded region that has captured 34 of the last 48 8 team podium spots at state. High mileage, HIIT training, core strength drills. The Buchanan Bears represent the CIF Central Section and the quote-unquote rest of the state as well. They're the biblical David trying to slay almighty Goliath. Moderate mileage, cruise intervals, and distance runners who actually love the weight room. The 2017 season quickly raised the ante on what had been a In a slow-building rivalry, Great Oak once again claimed the state team championship, but Buchanan's Corey Smith emerged as a surprise state individual champion.
I think that whole season we were very much like, this is who we need to beat every year from here on out. They had a target on their back from us, and we had a target on our back from them. That just made everything more interesting. Having a rival is always kind of fun, so.
Next up, the 2018 season.
Go, Jenny!
California State Division I Cross Country Championship Race.
It doesn't matter if it's a state meet. Doesn't matter if it's a little dual meet. Hey, you put your foot on the line, you give your heart and soul out, and that's all we can ask.
I wanted to beat her, she wanted to beat me. Like nothing else mattered.
It's a lot of pressure when you're the one on top, so I wish I wasn't so hard on myself.
When you dominate somebody, you keep your foot on their throat You know, you don't let them up.
That's a rivalry. That's called competition. That's why you do these things.
It's the sport, you know. It's up and down. It's a roller coaster.
This is their journey. By the beginning of 2018, Buchanan and Great Oak are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Great Oak welcomes back their 2017 championship team virtually intact.
There was a huge carryover effect. Now we all have had that experience that I— we lacked the first year we were there. Just that experience is what gave us a newfound confidence.
And just more training and becoming stronger consistently.
Buchanan, on the other hand, must start fresh once again as key team members have graduated.
I think the biggest challenge going into 2018 was that we lost 4 of our top 7, but it also gave us a chance for our other girls roles to step up, including myself. So I think for us it was more about just developing the people that were on our team.
But with his pair of aces up front, Coach Bryan has definite confidence in the team.
We have everybody there, you know, we have the state champion. Our mindset 100% was we're going to win this.
Meanwhile, a star is in the making at Great Oak. After watching the impressive rise of state champ Corey Smith the year before, Tori knows who her target is.
You know, looking at races, or like, this is the gap I gotta close, or where did I go wrong in this race? Like, what could I change? What moves do I make?
Cory was so strong and so fast, you know, at that point, and Tori was so far behind her that we were a little worried that we may not be able to catch up to, you know, where she was going to develop to.
At the time, it was a lot of pressure. Not only am I competing against this individual, but both of us had the pressure of these are points for our team. So not only are we trying to compete against each other, but we're also trying to do it for our team, and you don't want to let your team down. So it's pressure coming from both ways.
With the high-profile Woodbridge Classic on the horizon, both teams are focused on each other in this first round of their heavyweight championship battle.
You know, Cory had set such a big target, we knew exactly who we needed to go after, and I was more confident in Tori's ability going into that race than Tori was. And I basically told her, you got to stay at the front of this race, and when you get to about 800 to go, I'm gonna be yelling at you to beat her.
We had a lot of new faces, so they were also nervous, but that's where me and Megan kind of came in and we're like, you know what, try your best, don't freak out, like it's just another normal day, like you just have to look at it like that.
Keeping to her preferred racing style, Cory bolts to an aggressive pace. Tori's challenge: keep physical contact while staying mentally tough.
I remember somebody asked me like, oh, like, how do you want to do this race? Like, what is your plan? I'm like, I'm just gonna try to stay at the front. That was just kind of how I went into it. And so I think that's why it was such a special race, because it really, honestly, I surprised myself along with a lot of other people.
The girls battle back and forth. Cory presses the pace. She thinks she's Corey's in control, but Tori covers every move.
And so, you know, we got to that last 800, she was in perfect position and she kind of got right to that point and I was like, "Kick her butt, time to go." And really just lay it down, lay the hammer down. And Tori really did and Corey wasn't able to respond to it.
It's like the best feeling finishing a race and then being like, "Wow, look, I have this entire season in front of me." It's only the beginning.
Like, "Whoa, look what I just did and look how much more time I have to improve." In the end, Tori shows what she's all about, unleashing a strong finishing kick to hand defeat to the reigning state champion.
I was just mad that year going into that, and then I was ready to run state because it was probably gonna be me and her. Her beating me at Woodbridge kind of just created the rivalry kind of a thing because I was the defending champ the year before, then she beats me, and then it just kind of goes back and forth like that forever, basically.
Woodbridge 2018 went very well. I think it was the team success and just how great that night was. The year prior we had lost, you know, over— so off to such a great start this season, like everybody raced so well, and it was just a really good night, I think.
Yeah.
Woodbridge is where Great Oak took off like a rocket and would never look back in 2018.
2018 was, uh, probably the year Tori was really starting to light things up.
Tori's success at Woodbridge would later be replicated at major meets like the Bob Furman Invitational in Idaho, the Clovis Invitational, and the CIF Southern Section Finals.
So as victories started to pile up, for me it was confidence. The best feeling coming off of races and just, you know, you know you destroyed it, and then going into another week of workouts and pushing yourself that much more harder and being like, going in during lunch and having team meetings or meetings with Soles and Noble and them talking about like, look what you could do. Let's look at this race. Let's look what you did here. Like, how can we fix this? Constantly being at practice and the team just being so excited for every single race.
She was very confident at that point that she could, she could go and compete with the top girls in the country.
Meanwhile, the reigning state champion, Cory, is battling to keep pace.
We both knew that it was going to be one of us winning that state title, and neither of us wanted it to be the other person. I wanted to beat her, she wanted to beat me, and like nothing else mattered.
Great Oak is living up to its reputation in every way. They win the Southern Section Finals as emotions The emotions ride high. As for Buchanan, they're also feeling good while coming off their Central Section Championship victory.
Everything was pointing that we were right on track to where we wanted to be. The workouts were going great. They were performing really well. They were excited about it. There was no nerves.
You know, we find state, I think, for the most part, is pretty relaxing in terms of the fact that we visualize it. We know who we're racing. We know on the course we're racing. We can really focus on it.
The morning of the state meet, Buchanan is hit with some untimely and demoralizing news.
4:30 in the morning, my phone rings, and it's Corey. I'm like, why is Corey calling me? What's going on?
She's like, I don't feel good. Like, I think I'm going to throw up. Like, I— I don't feel good.
And he's like, well, you know, talk to your mom, go back to bed, rest a little bit. She said, okay, okay. And then it kind of just went from there.
And I show up and Weaver's like, yeah, you're not racing. I'm like, I just got here. He's like, you're green. He's like, don't even bother warming up. And we had an alternate, and he turns to her, he's like, you're racing. And you could see she's just like, oh no.
And I just remember looking at all of the girls' faces and everybody was like, oh my goodness, like, did he really just just say that?
And so on the warm-up and everything, we were all talking about it and we were like, "What are we going to do?" Came up to me and said, "Hey, Cory's not racing." And I'm like, "What?" A lot of my race strategy came from what is she going to do? So from there I was like, okay, so who's going to be in the front now?
This is probably the first time that most of the girls were a little bit more nervous. You could just kind of sense it. This was a very big moment.
Knowing that we have to keep, like, this legacy going, we have to just keeping everything together. It was definitely like there's a lot riding on this.
I think the one thing I noticed is that they always had great group running. It was like Tori, couple other girls, couple other girls, couple other girls, like within, I don't know, maybe even a minute of each other. Like, they always had really good grouping.
2018 state championship race plays out very much like it has each of the last 6 years.
I think with Buchanan, when you've got somebody's number, you've got to feel confident that you're going to hold on to it until they give you reason to believe that they can beat you.
I had never had to sit out like that before, and that for me was a real eye-opener in the fact that I have to really learn to be happy for people even when you're not happy with how you did or how things went.
Maybe a little bit more than half a mile left of the race, and I decided, okay, I'm feeling good. This is the point where I want to take it, you know? And so I think that's always a huge part of every race that I remember is that decision to be like, okay, let's go. And you just, you decide to do it and it's like a huge point in the race. And it's like, as soon as you make that decision, it's like, okay, I can't get past now. So that was a very exciting part of the race that I do remember, that exact moment when I made the decision to go. So yeah.
Never thought I would get this far. So I'm so grateful for everything. Yeah. And you know, Corey being sick, like kind of threw off my plan. You know, we use each other in races. So that was kind of a bummer, but you know, she's junior also like me, so we'll have next year.
Great Oak completes an incredible journey in 2018 while Tori is newly minted as state individual champion as well.
I wish I could go back and relive that moment because it was such a, you know, surreal feeling. Like, a lot of people don't get to experience what that really feels like.
With defending state champion Cori sidelined, Buchanan is forced to settle for for a modest 6th place finish.
For everything that had happened that morning and what we, you know, had to go through, I felt like for that day we gave it our all and we put it all out there on the course.
They felt horrible for Cory, and Cory's a trooper. It was hard on her, but, you know, she didn't want to show the weakness to her team. Like, she still believed in them, and that's pretty special. You know, as a program, I thought we did absolutely wonderful. You know, throwing that curveball, I don't know how many teams can handle that one.
She still walked away with a lot of grace and, you know, held her head up high.
It sucked.
I hated not racing. You can see in a couple pictures of me behind people on the start line, I look like I'm not happy and I look very mad in all of them because I wish I was racing. But I also am happy I didn't because it probably would have been ugly and I don't know if I would have even finished. But, um, I realized that like us as a team maybe need to work on like our team strategy just a little bit more and be just a little bit smarter with what we're doing and where we're putting people kind of a thing.
At Nike Cross Nationals, Great Oak finishes 8th in the country, but just behind league rival Vista Murrieta.
Honestly, in 2018 they were pretty spent. You know, we don't want to lose to Vista Murrieta just like Vista Murrieta doesn't want to lose to us. So we had battled battled them, you know, at our league meets, we battled them at Southern Section Finals, and I think, you know, at the end of that, our girls were pretty spent. So by the time we got to Nationals, it was, you know, let's do the best that we can, but, you know, we did what we probably needed to do, and that was hold on to that state championship.
After the heartbreak of 2018, Buchanan's girls are left to pick up the pieces and figure out how to create new momentum heading into 2019.
In life, you got to learn to be committed to certain things. And if you're saying you want to be a runner, you're spending a lot of time doing that, and you can believe. Now, not only do you have to believe in yourself getting better, but it's really gonna help if you believe in us as coaches. Because if you don't believe in what we're doing— because we're gonna try to stretch you as far as we can, get every ounce of effort that we can out of you in certain workouts to make you even even better.
With Cory and Megan leading, Buchanan lives a dream experience in the springtime, excelling on the oval to win its first-ever state team championship in the sport of track and field.
The track team really set the tone in 2019. To win a state track and field title, it was huge, huge, I think, for our program. Hawley and track and field has been such a juggernaut forever. And to be able to go and say that we won a state title in track and field, I think that that just lifted everybody's beliefs that, you know, we can do this. Because they weren't the best youth kids coming in, they were just hardworking, dedicated young athletes that believed in the philosophies and the program and ourselves, that anything is possible.
Over in the Great Oak camp, a stellar 2018 cross-country season and the return of state champion Tori Gaitan was supposed to ensure smooth sailing for the Wolfpack Attack. Instead, there were growing pains.
Obviously, at some point in high school, you go from being this little girl and you finish your high school and you're you know, this young woman. And so between that transition, you see in a lot of runners, honestly, a lot of girl runners in high school, that there's a lot of tribulation that you have to overcome. And so for me, I got a lot taller and I was running through it. Unfortunately, I had like some problems with my IT band, tried to run through it and, you know, overdid it, probably to the point where I made it a lot more worse.
Well, it was tough because, you know, it's emotional to go through that. And, you know, she did a great job with it, but But no matter what you do, when you're at a certain level and all of a sudden you're not at that level anymore, it's very emotionally distressing for kids to go through that.
At that time, I was just so focused on my track season and wanting to do just as well, even better, as I had did in cross country. When something like that came up, that started as something so small like, "Ow, my knee hurts," I just kind of ignored it and I was like, "You know what, I don't care. I'm just gonna run through it." And unfortunately my body wouldn't let me do that.
With Tori and Doug facing this setback, there is a glimmer of hope. In high school cross-country, varsity teams come and go. For the boys, it usually takes years to become a top performer, but for a girls team, it can take a whole new form altogether with freshmen coming in the summer.
As girls teams can change instantly, you know, you can get 2 or 3 freshman kids and immediately plug them into the varsity and your overall scores can go down tremendously because of that.
Going into 2019, both Great Oak and Buchanan welcome in some very fast and focused freshman girls.
You know, I mean, 3 freshmen, I mean, how good are you gonna be? I mean, you don't know these things.
That was one of the first questions the girls asked was, "How good are they?" They wanted to know, you know, how many of us are gonna get replaced by these incoming freshmen.
As the 2019 season approaches, Cory seeks to retake her spot on the state championship throne.
I don't think I've ever worked out harder in my entire life that year going into 2019 cross season. I was practicing, I was going to the gym, I was doing hot Pilates, like I was working out twice a day the whole week. And then we had we have a little time trial before the season starts, and I beat some people on our guys' team.
I was like, "Man, I could be really good this year." Meanwhile, injured Tori is sidelined and forced to wait patiently to return to the sport that she loves.
You know, you have a point where your running goes down due to injury or illness or whatever it is, and, you know, everybody's like, "Oh, my gosh. Wait, what happened?" You know, like, "Why aren't they doing amazing anymore?" And it's like, well, it's the sport. You know, it's up and down, it's a roller coaster.
2019 is on the horizon.
I think going into 2019, we kind of didn't know what was gonna happen.
The 2019 girls team had 6 or 7 girls coming in that had been running championship-level races at the national level, so we knew that group of kids was gonna be very competitive for us.
Be sure to join us for the final episode as these two dynasties raise their rivalry to newfound levels in a thrilling championship finish.
