Sierra Canyon players Brandon McCoy, Jordan Askew and Delan Grant are shown at left with CIF Open Division trophy after press conference inside Golden 1 Center. At right, head coach Aundre Cummings (holding trophy) and players at Ontario Christian are shown at center court after title game win. Photo: Ronnie Flores & Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
(Click Arrows To See More Photos) One of these teams — the Sierra Canyon boys — has ended its season atop the state four times in the past nine years. The other — the Ontario Christian girls — are sitting in this position for the first time and the first time for the school in any sport. The Ontario girls also make it five years in the last six which the No. 1 team in the state has come from the Inland Empire.
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The State Team of the Year honors from Cal-Hi Sports in all sports with CIF Open Division state championships for the last 10 plus years have been mere formalities, but the all-time lists of honored teams go back for more than 100 years. There’s still a lot of history to go over with each CIF Open Division champion.
After Saturday’s final two games of the CIF state finals held at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, the championship trophies were raised by the Ontario Christian girls (defeated Archbishop Mitty of San Jose) and the Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth boys (defeated Salesian of Richmond).
Here’s the historical accomplishments of both teams.
First, we’ll go over the Sierra Canyon boys
Sierra Canyon has been in the State Team of the Year position before, all under current head coach Andre Chevalier. His teams from 2018 to 2020, in fact, did a three-peat. The Trailblazers didn’t three-peat as CIF Open Division state champions, however, because the 2020 CIF state finals were cancelled due to COVID two days after they had won the CIF SoCal Open regional title. They were selected State Team of the Year over the NorCal Open winner (which actually was a game not played).
North Carolina recruit and McDonald’s All-American Maxi Adams got a cheer from teammates when he entered the postgame press conference on crutches. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
With four State Team of the Year honors, Sierra Canyon still has work to do to reach some others that have been State Team of the Year more than four times, including leader Mater Dei of Santa Ana with nine. L.A. City Section powerhouses Crenshaw and Westchester have been No. 1 in the state overall six times each in their histories, which also is the same for long-closed Stockton High in the 1910s and 1920s. McClymonds of Oakland, which was not State Team of the Year in the early 1950s when Bill Russell went there, was State Team of the Year later on between 1958 and 1963.
Chevalier was asked to compare his championship teams, as coaches in his position after winning multiple state titles often are. He wouldn’t quite say that 2026 was the best ever, but he praised the 2026 team for how it responded after the one loss, which came to Bishop McNamara way back in early December.
We’ve seen all of the Sierra Canyon teams that have won state titles and those that didn’t since the program became prominent around 15 years ago. This group stood out for its defense and for how it jelled together with the arrival of transfers like Brandon McCoy from St. John Bosco and Brannon Martinsen from JSerra. McCoy, especially, fit in well with the top returning player, Maxi Adams, and seemed to have no problem giving up a lot of the glory to a player like Adams, who got injured just four minutes into the state final victory vs Salesian.
“The 2018-19 team is similar to this team in that it won both the CIFSS and state open titles,” said Cal-Hi Sports managing editor Ronnie Flores. “The 2019 team was a special team with more size and produced five eventual NBA players (Scotty Pippen Jr., K.J. Martin, Cassius Stanley, Christian Koloko, Amari Bailey), which is unprecedented.
“That team, however, also lost to an in-state foe (Rancho Christian) and wasn’t No. 1 the entire season. This team may not have had that type of star power, but it was dominant in its own right in a different way. This team went wire-to-wire as state No. 1, did not lose in-state and was terrific defensively as a team. It also had more of a lunch-pail type of approach and grit to it. You can tell Coach Chevalier really enjoyed coaching this group and (as he mentioned in the press conference) this state title is very special to him.”
Since 2018, Chevalier’s teams also have put up some truly great win-loss records in the playoffs. The Trailblazers are 23-4 in regional/state playoff games alone. Counting CIF Southern Section playoffs, they are 47-13.
Now, we’ll do the Ontario Christian girls
The Knights don’t have that kind of history like the Sierra Canyon boys, or even that of the Etiwanda girls, who had won the last three CIF Open Division state titles. They were only interested in CIF Southern Section lower division titles until the 2019-20 season when freshman Chloe Briggs showed up and averaged 33.8 ppg. Briggs led the Knights to a 32-4 record, which was followed by 22-3 in the shortened COVID spring season in 2020-21 and then 31-5 and 27-5. The school kept moving up in divisions and was in D1 by 2022-23, which was Briggs’ senior season. She also finished her career with 3,474 points with 379 three-pointers.
Tati Griffin tries to score for Ontario Christian in CIF Open Division state final amidst the outstretched arms of Mitty defenders McKenna Wolitzko & Devin Cosgriff. Photo: Isai Gutierrez / Cal-Hi Sports.
Once Briggs moved on to the University of Washington, though, the head coach at the time, Matt Tumambing (now at Corona Centennial), saw an opportunity to keep building the Ontario Christian program in a way similar to a small Christian high school like Modesto Christian (boys) up in Northern California. It happened with the arrival of freshman Kaleena Smith for the 2023-24 season. Smith didn’t wait long to show she’d be one of the top players in the state, not just for freshmen but among all players. Last season, the buildup continued under new head coach Aundre Cummings as Smith was joined by another elite freshman in 5-foot-10 Tati Griffin.
Fast forward to one season with Smith and Griffin being together as a junior and sophomore and it was lights out for the Knights. Their win on Saturday over Mitty came against a Monarchs’ squad that had pushed them to double-overtime earlier this season in a 96-87 contest. The CIF state final didn’t go to overtime as Ontario Christian also displayed some depth to go with its primary two main superstars.
“Keep in mind that Tati has been playing hurt all season all the way to end,” said Cal-Hi Sports girls basketball editor Harold Abend. “If she’s not hurt, Mitty may not have been as close as it was. Plus, (Ontario Christian) didn’t have its freshman (Chloe Jenkins). If she was at another school without Kaleena and Tati and was a lead player, she might be State Freshman of the Year.”
Abend would rank Ontario Christian 2026 among the best teams in California he’s ever seen and the difference is having possibly two national players of the year. Smith might get one of those awards this year and another next season, but Griffin could be in the same position for one year once Kaleena has graduated.
“Etiwanda was great the past three years, but they didn’t have a top two as good as Kaleena and Tati,” Abend said. “That’s why they’d be better than the JuJu Watkins team at Sierra Canyon and maybe some others.”
Ontario Christian has become the fourth straight State Team of the Year winner from the Inland Empire, joining Etiwanda from the last three seasons. Watkins’ team in 2022 at Sierra Canyon finished on top, but that was in her junior season. The Trailblazers lost to Etiwanda in the CIF SoCal Open Division final in 2023 after beating the Eagles in the CIFSS Open Division final. The Knights also are the fifth team from the Inland Empire in the last six years to be No. 1 in the state. In addition to the three straight Etiwanda teams, Centennial of Corona was State Team of the Year in 2021 behind Ms. Basketball State Player of the Year Jayda Curry. One has to go all the way back to Riverside Poly for 1981-82 with the legendary Cheryl Miller leading the way to find a previous Inland Empire No. 1 team for the state before that.
With all the scoring power, second-year head coach Cummings had this year’s Ontario Christian team also putting up points as a dizzying pace. The Knights hit the 100-point mark exactly in their first game vs Nazareth of Brooklyn, N.Y., and went on to score 100 or more in nine games. Two of those 100-point games came in the CIFSS pool play playoffs vs Rancho Christian of Temecula (122-72) and Fairmont Prep of Anaheim (114-50). The nine 100-point games and the 3,226 total points will both go in to our exclusive Cal-Hi Sports state records.
Scroll below for updated boys & girls State Teams of the Year lists that extend back almost 100 years.
Cal-Hi Sports Boys Basketball
State Teams of the Year All-Time List
2026 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (30-1)
2025 – Eastvale Roosevelt (35-2)
2024 – Studio City Harvard-Westlake (33-3)
2023 – Studio City Harvard-Westlake (33-2)
2022 – Corona Centennial (33-1)
2021 – Corona Centennial (21-2)
2020 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (30-4)
2019 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (32-3)
2018 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (27-4)
2017 – Torrance Bishop Montgomery (31-2)
2016 – Chino Hills (35-0)
2015 – Oakland Bishop O’Dowd (28-4)
2014 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (35-0)
2013 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-2)
2012 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-2)
2011 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (32-3)
2010 – Los Angeles Westchester (32-3)
2009 – Los Angeles Westchester (35-2)
2008 – Oakland McClymonds (32-0)
2007 – Lakewood Artesia (33-2)
2006 – Lakewood Artesia (32-1)
2005 – Los Angeles Westchester (25-3)
2004 – Los Angeles Westchester (23-2)
2003 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-2)
2002 – Los Angeles Westchester (32-2)
2001 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (33-2)
2000 – Compton Dominguez (35-2)
1999 – Compton Dominguez (32-3)
1998 – Los Angeles Westchester (29-3)
1997 – Studio City Harvard-Westlake (35-1)
1996 – Compton Dominguez (34-2)
1995 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (36-1)
1994 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (29-2)
1993 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (26-2)
1992 – Alameda St. Joseph (32-3)
1991 – Alameda St. Joseph (31-3)
1990 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-1)
1989 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (25-2)
1988 – Los Angeles Manual Arts (27-3)
1987 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (31-1)
1986 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (25-2)
1985 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (24-0)
1984 – Long Beach Poly (31-2)
1983 – Los Angeles Crenshaw (27-2)
1982 – Carson (26-2)
1981 – Long Beach Poly (26-2)
1980 – Inglewood (29-0)
1979 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (28-1)
1978 – Pasadena (26-2)
1977 – Oakland Fremont (25-1)
1976 – Long Beach Poly (30-1)
1975 – Elk Grove (27-5)
1974 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (30-2)
1973 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (29-2)
1972 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (30-1)
1971 – Los Angeles Verbum Dei (29-2)
1970 – Berkeley (32-0)
1969 – Compton (30-0)
1968 – Compton (32-0)
1967 – Los Angeles Fremont (16-2)
1966 – Los Angeles Jordan (18-0)
1965 – Long Beach Poly (29-3)
1964 – Long Beach Poly (32-1)
1963 – Oakland McClymonds (19-3)
1962 – Oakland McClymonds (23-0)
1961 – Compton (28-3)
1960 – Oakland McClymonds (22-0)
1959 – Oakland McClymonds (22-0)
1958 – Oakland McClymonds (21-0)
1957 – San Francisco Poly (28-1)
1956 – El Cerrito (31-1)
1955 – Alhambra (27-2)
1954 – San Francisco St. Ignatius (26-2)
1953 – Los Angeles Loyola (34-2)
1952 – Compton (32-0)
1951 – Los Angeles Jefferson (27-0)
1950 – Chico (15-3)
1949 – Los Angeles Washington (21-0)
1948 – San Francisco Lincoln (29-2)
1947 – Los Angeles Mt. Carmel (34-2)
1946 – Stockton (20-2)
1945 – San Diego Hoover (16-1)
1944 – Alameda (15-1)
1943 – San Francisco St. Ignatius (14-0)
1942 – Palo Alto (18-0)
1941 – Glendale Hoover (21-1)
1940 – Long Beach Poly (22-2)
1939 – San Francisco Lowell (17-3)
1938 – Whittier (24-3)
1937 – San Francisco Lowell (17-3)
1936 – San Diego (14-1)
1935 – Santa Barbara (14-1)
1934 – Santa Barbara (16-1)
1933 – Stockton (16-2)
1932 – San Francisco Lowell (18-3)
1931 – Whittier (25-1)
1930 – Palo Alto (13-0)
1929 – Palo Alto (15-0)
Note: List continues back to 1903 in Cal-Hi Sports Record Book & Almanac. All selections prior to 1975 made retroactively based on research by our founder, the late Nelson Tennis.
Cal-Hi Sports Girls Basketball
State Teams of the Year All-Time List
2026 – Ontario Christian (34-2)
2025 – Etiwanda (28-5)
2024 – Etiwanda (32-3)
2023 – Etiwanda (32-3)
2022 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (30-2)
2021 – Corona Centennial (25-1)
2020 – La Jolla Country Day (32-1)
2019 – Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (33-1)
2018 – Los Angeles Windward (27-3)
2017 – Fresno Clovis West (34-2)
2016 – West Hills Chaminade (31-4)
2015 – Stockton St. Mary’s (34-1)
2014 – Long Beach Poly (27-3)
2013 – Oakland Bishop O’Dowd (30-3)
2012 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-3)
2011 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (34-1)
2010 – Santa Ana Mater Dei (32-1)
2009 – Brea Olinda Brea (33-2)
2008 – S.F. Sacred Heart Cathedral (33-0)
2007 – Long Beach Poly (36-1)
2006 – Fullerton Troy (33-1)
2005 – Piedmont (32-2)
2004 – Piedmont (33-2)
2003 – Lynwood (32-1)
2002 – Lynwood (32-0)
2001 – Harbor City Narbonne (28-3)
2000 – Harbor City Narbonne (34-0)
1999 – San Jose Archbishop Mitty (31-0)
1998 – Harbor City Narbonne (32-1)*
1997 – Berkeley (29-3)
1996 – Irvine Woodbridge (32-2)
1995 – Irvine Woodbridge (33-1)
1994 – Brea Olinda Brea (33-0)
1993 – Lynwood (31-0)
1992 – RH Estates Peninsula (33-0)
1991 – Berkeley (30-2)
1990 – Inglewood Morningside (32-3)
1989 – Inglewood Morningside (33-1)
1988 – Fremont Oakland (28-0)**
1987 – San Diego Point Loma (34-0)
1986 – San Diego Point Loma (31-1)
1985 – Compton (26-0)
1984 – Ventura Buena (31-0)
1983 – Ventura Buena (28-4)
1982 – Riverside Poly (34-0)
1981 – Riverside Poly (29-0)
1980 – Berkeley (29-0)
1979 – Woodland Hills El Camino Real (19-0)
1978 – Huntington Beach (25-2)
1977 – Los Angeles (16-0)
1976 – Ventura (23-0)
1975 – Chula Vista Hilltop (18-0)
1974 – Berkeley (19-1)
1973 – Fresno San Joaquin Memorial (12-0)
1972 – Ventura Buena (8-0)
*Forfeit losses not included. CIF Division I state title vacated due to residency issues.
**Eleven wins forfeited due to use of ineligible player.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
