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Kiwanis Park in Tempe is a wonderful setting for a cross
country meet. It is serene and idyllic. In its center is a huge duck
pond. Of course there are ducks in it and peddle boats are rented --
both one-person and two-person. Beautiful grass rolls through the park
with some paved paths as well. There are Queen Palm trees, Pines, Aleppo,
and Eldarica as well. And picnic tables and benches.
Add clear skies and bright sunshine. Mix in 19 of the top 20 ranked boys
teams and 18 of the top 20 girls teams. All the X's were crossed and
the C's curved, leading to the toughest and best cross country meet all
season in Arizona, Saturday's 33rd annual Doug Conley Invitational.
While Queen Creek's Kari Hardt and the Mountain Pointe girls team added
to their already excellent credentials with impressive wins, the boys
provided the shootout of the day. Garrett Kelly took command on a steep
hill about 1,000 meters from the finish to prevail over Salpointe Catholic's
Bryce Livingston and constantly improving Desert View junior Victor
Zazueta and gave his previously fifth ranked in Arizona Desert Vista team a one-point
win over Mesa Mountain View. Just over 2.5 seconds separated the top
three.
Queen Creek's
Kari Hardt (#168) leads the girls race.
Courtesy of ArizonaVarsity.com
With only top-ranked Page missing -- running in Gallup, NM -- Desert
Vista showed strength in winning without its usual number two man Matt
Boughton, who was sidelined with bronchitis. Desert Vista looks
ready to defend it's State 5A championship, the 5A and 4A championships
have been split in half.
Kelly and teammate Matt Swift-Kraemer moved from about 35th and 55th
places, respectively, at the mile mark into 6th and 10th at the 2-mile.
Kelly had run splits of 5:07.4 and 5:06.9. Swift-Kraemer held his spot
while Kelly provided the win with his surge up the hill. Kelly won in
15:48.69, just over six seconds off Ken Cormier's course record set last
year at Border Wars. Livingston moved from 4th to second in the final
mile of the 3.1-mile course to finish in 15:50.04. Zazueta, who missed
most of last fall with shin splints, was overtaken by Livingston and
finished in 15:51.25.
DV's adjusted scoring places -- individuals were invited for the first
time this year -- were 1-7-37-42-56. Swift-Kraemer ran 16:28.47, Blake
Gibson 17:00.64, Chris Conway 17:05.64, and Aziel
Koski 17:22.53. That's
a 1-5 pack gap of 93.9 seconds with the leader being close to the course
record.
Mesa Mountain View, in dropping the 143-144 verdict, got great running
from Justin Hackitt (8th/16:19.73), Dave
Deaton (30th/16:48.87), Justin
Eddy (39th/16:56.59), Jon-Erik Nissen (42nd/16:50.06), and Chris
Huish (51st/17:07.00). The 1-5 pack gap was under 48 seconds. The adjusted
scoring places were 2-25-33-36-45.
The boys
pack - Courtesy of ArizonaVarsity.com
Hardt and Mountain Pointe did away with all the suspense of the boys
race. Hardt, undefeated this fall, took control on the same hill with
1,000 meters remaining as Kelly would a little later in the morning.
That move dropped both Lindsay Prescott of Sandra Day O'Connor HS and
defending champion Kristin Phillips, leader of Mountain Pointe. Hardt
won by almost 100 meters in 18:02.92 before leaving for an official visit
to Northern Arizona University. Prescott ran 18:22.35 with Phillips coming
across in 18:27.52, having lost some ground earlier taking a wrong turn.
Tara Erdmann of Flowing Wells led the next group in 18:55.25.
Mountain Pointe was an easy 76-123 winner over Marana Mountain View who
came into the meet ranked only eighth in the state. Ganado, seventh ranked
coming in, held off third-ranked Desert Vista, 163-180, for third place.
Mountain Pointe took adjusted places of 2-6-13-19-36 with Aubri
Carman (10th/19:23.89), Natasa Vulic (18th/19:43.52), Chelsea
Lane (25th/19:59.01), and Emily Hansen (42nd/20:32.31) completing the
scoring.
Only fifth-ranked Page and sixth-ranked Flagstaff were missing among
the girls teams.
Notes from the
trail: This was the first time computer chip
timing was used in an in-season meet in Arizona. It was used at State
5A last year, but it was not official, and it was utilized at Border
Wars in the post season. Northland Prep's Tolan
Thornton, winner of the
prestigious Peaks Invitational Sept.
3 has run only four times since then, yesterday bring his fifth. Coach
Mike Elder instructed him to hold back and run cautiously, explaining
this possible Foot Locker qualifier's 29th place finish.
Girls Top
10 Team Scores (with previous AZ ranking
in parenthesis):
1, Mountain Pointe (1st) 76;
2, Marana Mountain View (8th) 123;
3, Ganado
(7th) 163;
4, Desert Vista (3rd) 180;
5, Xavier College Prep (2nd) 208;
6, Buena (10th) 231;
7, Salpointe Catholic (0th) 232;
8, Sandra Day O'Connor
(11th) 239;
9, Mountain Ridge (13th) 242;
10, Winslow (=16th) 285.
14
other schools finished.
Girls Top
10 Individuals:
1, Kari Hardt, Queen Creek, 18:02.92;
2, Lindsay Prescott,
O'Connor, 18:22.35;
3, Kristin Phillips, Mountain Pointe, 18:27.52;
4,
Tara Erdmann, Flowing Wells, 18:55.25;
5, Patricia Barella, Desert Vista,
19:00.77;
6, Tiffany Sorrell, Window Rock, 19:14.79;
7, Chelsea Chauvet,
Horizon, 19:15.70;
8, Kaylee Collison, Prescott, 19:18.35;
9, Janecn
Yazzie, Winslow, 19:22.43;
10, Aubri Carman, Mountain Pointe, 19:23.89.
Boys Top
10 Team Scores (with previous AZ ranking in parenthesis):
1, Desert Vista (5th) 143;
2, Mesa Mountain View (2nd) 144;
3, Horizon
(4th) 147;
4, Rio Rico (7th) 184;
5, Chinle (3rd) 236;
6, Hopi (unranked)
241;
7, Northland Prep (11th) 283;
8, Ganado (16th) 286;
9, Buena (14th)
297;
10, Salpointe Catholic )9th) 299.
14 other schools finished.
Boys Top
10 Individuals:
1,
Garrett Kelly, Desert Vista, 15:48.69;
2, Bryce Livingston, Salpointe
Catholic, 15:50.04;
3, Victor Zazueta, Desert View 15:51.25;
4, Matt
Rowell, Blue Ridge, 16:05.23;
5, Weston Jones, Red Mesa, 16:10.49;
6,
Mark Molera, Rio Rico, 16:10.74;
7, Matt Lamson, Hopi, 16:13.25;
8, Justin
Hackitt, Mesa Mountain View, 16:19.73;
9, Sean Maroney, Cactus Shadows,
16:25.27;
10, Matt Swift-Kraemer, Desert Vista, 16:28.47.
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