Four state champion teams near Modesto in one season? Unheard of — till now
The last time sports teams from area high schools won four state championships in the same season was ... never, if memory and CIF Sac-Joaquin Section records can be trusted.
This unprecedented accomplishment is worthy of accolades.
Escalon football, Hughson football, Ripon Christian girls volleyball and Oakdale boys cross country — the entire region is awfully proud of you.
Reaching the pinnacle of performance in any endeavor takes dedication, hard work and perseverance on the part of participants, in this case gifted young athletes. It signifies unusual support and sacrifice from parents and families. In team sports, it demands top-notch coaching, with wisdom to put the right young people in the right places and knowing how to get the most out of them — often more than they know they have.
Individual athletes and coaches from our area have exceeded expectations and captured state championships over the years, proving that we consistently contend with the best that California has to offer. Teams across the 209 have achieved many state titles as well, including Escalon, Ripon, Hilmar, Central Catholic and Ripon Christian in recent years in football alone.
But four of our teams crowned as state champs in the same season? That’s unheard of.
Until now.
No one could have predicted that Quinton Hamilton, when he came to The Modesto Bee in August 2021, would become the newspaper’s luckiest (and maybe busiest) prep sports reporter in Bee history, with so much glory to cover in a single season.
Just a few years ago, such an achievement was all but impossible because CIF state tournaments were offered in only five football divisions, and Escalon (now Division 4-AA) and Hughson (Division 5-AA) were in the same one. Now there are 15 divisions, making the impossible only extremely difficult.
We don’t mind extremely difficult. If there is an opening, our young people will take it. Our small-school Trans-Valley League (Oakdale is in the Valley Oak League, and Ripon Christian, the Southern Athletic League) will go up against anybody.
Four state titles is not likely to happen with winter or spring seasons either, because those seasons feature sports with fewer state championship tournaments.
If you have a strong memory, you might recall Ripon Christian bringing home the state title in volleyball — way back in 1999. To see these girls reclaim Division IV top honors — with adult coaches Kayla Kootstra and Melissa Blanco, who also tasted sweet victory as players on that 1999 team — is phenomenal.
Escalon’s success is impressive because its football team also did it in 2019, giving them two state championships in three seasons. Very well done, Cougars.
Hughson placed second in the TVL behind Hilmar, another local school with a stellar pedigree that could have won it all if Escalon hadn’t beaten Hilmar on its way to the Division V section title.
Oakdale’s story might be the most heartwarming because it represents our area’s first in cross-country.
High school sports fans, if they’re honest, will acknowledge that it’s not surprising to read Bee reports of state titles in football or volleyball, or in wrestling if you expand parameters to include individual sports. Success breeds success and can turn into dynasties, the kind that build reputations and drive teams to recapture excellence in subsequent years.
Do you recall hearing that one of our cross-country teams left all others throughout California in their dust? Not with just one standout runner or even two, but the entire team? No, you don’t, because none ever has, until Oakdale (Division 3) surprised everyone with an over-achieving team last year, dared to dream the impossible, set a new goal this year and went out and got it.
Simply inspiring.
Leave it to our youth to remind often-cynical adults what’s possible when you set your mind to something.
Thank you, young athletes in all sports and in all schools, for giving us multiple reasons to cheer, applaud and take pride in fall 2022.
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This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 11:00 AM.