Engelhardt, already a Southern Section champion at Mt. SAC, captures CHAMPS Sports regional title to lead seven California female qualifiers for first time since 2014; Utah has a pair advance, with Bruce the first finalist from Boise

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

WALNUT – A year after finishing second as a freshman, Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High didn’t have much room to improve Saturday at the CHAMPS Sports West Regional at Mt. San Antonio College.

But she did.

Engelhardt took a five-second lead at the first checkpoint and cruised to a time of 17:43, 22 seconds ahead of runner-up Gioana Lopizzo of La Costa Canyon.

Engelhardt, the first California winner since Mia Barnett in 2019, led the way for 10 girls who qualified to race Dec. 10 at the CHAMPS Sports National Championships at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Seven of the national qualifiers from the West are from California, with two from Utah and one from Idaho.

It marked the 11th time in West Regional history that California had at least seven female qualifiers, including the first since 2014. The regional record remains eight California girls advancing in both 1986 and 2009.

While Saturday’s course was at a slightly longer 5-kilometer layout than the 2.93-mile course used during the majority of the high school season, it’s otherwise the same venue where Englehardt won Nov. 19 at the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 finals.

“My goal today was to just come in here and qualify: not coast too much, put in a solid effort,” Engelhardt said.

She said her early lead was not necessarily by design.

“It wasn’t really my goal. I just wanted to go out pretty relaxed,” she said. “If it meant a little bit of a gap, then it meant that. But I wasn’t really trying to create separation there.”

Last year, Engelhardt was 15th at nationals and it didn’t sit that well with her.

“My performance at nationals wasn’t what I wanted it to be,” she said. “But what can you do? I can just learn from that this year.”

Lopizzo was in the top three at each checkpoint and became the third runner ever from her school to qualify for nationals and first since Kristin Fahy in 2018.

“This season hasn’t been easy, but I’ve been very blessed and worked very hard,” Lopizzo said. “It was nice to see the reward.”

Fellow San Diego Section runner Chiara Dailey, a freshman from La Jolla, was third in 18:11. 

“I was expecting the times to be faster,” she said. “And I was trying to shoot for second. It turned out a little different than I thought it would.”

She is excited to be one of two girls from the San Diego Section going to nationals in her own backyard.

“I’m so glad that I made it. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks. I’m so happy,” she said. “I had it in the back of my mind at the beginning of the season, but I’ve really been thinking about it after state. Because I’ve been trying to focus on the next race.”

Rocklin Whitney senior Katie Kopec took fourth in 18:22, a good bounce-back race after she was disappointed with a 16th-place finish Nov. 26 at the Division 2 final at the CIF State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.

“I didn’t have my greatest race (last week) and I was excited to come out here and see what I could do,” Kopec said. “Because I knew I was still in great shape. I’m excited to come out here, perform the way I did, then having next week to look forward to.”

The rest of the top 10 was junior Allie Bruce of Boise Senior High (fifth, 18:28), Clovis North senior Ashlyn Leath (sixth, 18:29), Laguna Hills sophomore Holly Barker (seventh, 18:31), Dana Hills senior Allura Markow (eighth, 18:32), senior Hailey Low of Layton High in Utah (ninth, 18:33) and junior Cailey Bracken of Mountain Ridge High in Utah (10th, 18:40).

Idaho and Utah also had female competitors qualify for nationals last year, but Bruce became the first from her school to advance.

“It felt really good because I came down here last year and didn’t qualify,” Bruce said.