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BOYS:
1, Fort Collins, CO
The SW#1/US#6 Fort Collins boys put six runners in the top nine
to take the Northern Regional title and stay undefeated going into the
Colorado State Championships this coming Saturday at El Pomar Youth Sports
Complex in Colorado Springs.
Fort Collins’ Noah Shannon took the lead shortly after two miles
to win the title in a course record 15:50 over Anguel
Tolev of Thornton
High School. Collins’ Tyler Abbey was 3rd in 16:08, , Paul
Brown (5th/16:13), , Will Everett (6th/16:27), Bryant
Mason (7th/16:28), and
Jon Kittell (9th/16:36) to lead the field.
Conditions were favorable, temperatures being in the low 50s at Adams
County Regional Park in Brighton. The 5,000-meter course was mostly grass
and gravel and also included bike paths.
FULL RESULTS
2, Mountain View, UT
Adam McDonald led the way for SW#2/US#7
Mountain View which placed five
runners in the top 18 to score a convincing 47-91 win over Davis to
win the 5A championship Wednesday at the Utah State Meet.
FULL RESULTS
3, Albuquerque Academy, NM
Placing six runner in the top 20, SW#3 Albuquerque
Academy beat Los Alamos
and Highland, 43-63-66, Friday at the Los Alamos Invitational (58 degrees;
7344 feet altitude). Ryan
McNiff set a course record on the 3.0-mile rolling hills
Los Alamos Golf Course at 7,344 feet altitude by running 15:57. Academy
runners Ben
Johnson and Dustin Martin followed
him in 16:05 and 16:25. Kyle Cooper (10th/17:03), Cal
Armerding (14th/17:15),
Harland Pietz (17th/17:22), and Kelvin
Dunn (20th/17:33) also were among
the top 20 for Academy.
Albuquerque Academy coach Adam Kedge said, "The meet looks to be
a preview of the 4A state championship race to be held in two weeks at
Red Rock State Park. The top three teams from 2004 all ran and 12 of
the top 20 individuals as well."
In that 2004 State 4A meet, Academy was a narrow 29-37 winner over Los
Alamos with Capital third with 95. Friday Capital was fifth with 118.
In last year's Los Alamos meet, the hosts took the top three spots to
hand friendly rival Academy one of four losses over the years to Los
Alamos, 23-42. That was reversed at States. Friday that same Los Alamos
top three went 1-4-7 to outscore Academy, 12 to 15. After that Academy's
depth proved to be too much, with all seven runners beating Los Alamos's
#4. Academy's 16:50.0 5-man average was :20.4 seconds better then last
year’s 17:10.4.
"Late in the year," Kedge said, "many teams chose to
rest their top kids or shy away from top competition prior to state.
Both us and Los Alamos prefer to face the toughest opponents you can
find. Thus far we’ve squared off five times at the biggest meets
in our area. [U. New Mexico, Liberty Bell, Curtis Williams Invite (Gallup),
and both team’s home invites]. Each time we see Los Alamos they
get better and better. Rob and Kathy Hipwood are fine coaches and always
seem to have their kids ready when it counts. The Hilltoppers will give
us a handful in two weeks time when we meet up at the state meet." Kedge
adds, "I
feel my team has been tested often and will be ready in the end."
FULL RESULTS
4, Page, AZ
Page had the depth but CA#10 Cabrillo offset it with top strength and
when the dust had settled Page had to accept second place in Friday's
Mt. Sac sweepstakes race to the Californians, coming out on the long
end of a 91-97 score.
Cabrillo, of Lompoc, CA, was led by race winner Michael
Coe (14:50) and
also placed runners in sixth and eighth before Page's pack came roaring
in. Levi Lomeland led Page in 10th place
and his team's 26-second gap between its first and fifth runners was
the smallest of any team in the race. Six Page runners came in before
Cabrillo's fourth, but Page fell just short. Javier
Jim was next for
Page in 14th (15:58), followed by Donovan Tsinnijinnie (23rd/16:07),
Nathan Lee (24th/16:08), Antonio
Smith (26th/16:09), and Tomai Bitsoie (35th/16:28).
There were 123 finishers in the race which was part of the biggest high
school cross country meet in the United States each year.
FULL RESULTS
5, Rock Springs, WY
Rock Springs dominated the Wyoming State Meet in Cheyenne on Saturday,
winning its second straight 4A championship. Taking five of the top eight
places, the Tigers had all their scorers in before the second man from
any other team. Their 1-5 gap was 56 seconds, quite close when you consider
their leader was the race winner.
Zac Reiter and Greg
Griffith led the way for Rock Springs, placing 1-2
in 16:09 and 16:15. Will Miller and Dustin
Gibson were 5th and 6th in
16:39 and 16:49. Fifth man Will Parker was 8th in 17:03 in the 5,000-meter
race at Prairie View Golf Course in Cheyenne. The meet was run in about
48-degree temperature at an elevation of 7,200 feet.
Those times are fast in light of the altitude and the 3A race being won
in 17:32 and the 2A in 17:38.
Rock Springs totaled only 20 points -- the lowest score the Tigers ever
have had in States -- beating the entire field combined. Traditional
power Campbell County was next with 72 followed by Cheyenne Central with
86. Reiter's win ended a five-year streak of individual winners coming
from Gillette HS.
Griffith led from the 800 mark all the way until the last 600 meters
when he was challenged by Reiter and Paul Burke of Campbell County, whose
runner-up finish in 2004 made him the top returnee. Burke dropped off
badly in the last 300 meters, fading to sixth, leaving teammates Griffith
and Reiter to battle it out. Reiter was able to open a six-second gap
in the last 300.
Burke collapsed at the finish and was taken to the medical tent but was
recovered by the time the awards ceremony was held.
Having run 1-2-4-5-6 the previous week in winning their 11th straight
Wyoming 4A South conference title by 41 points, Rock Springs was in fine
form. Reiter also won that one at Jacoby Golf Course in Laramie, covering
the 5,000-meter course in 16:35. Griffith was 2nd in 16:38, followed
by Miller (4th/17:13), Parker (5th/17:22), and Gibson (6th/17:24). Reiter
and Griffith beat defending champion Brian Pierre (3rd) on his home course.
"What an exciting race," Rock Springs captain Griffith said,
perhaps understating the Tigers efforts at States.
FULL 4A RESULTS
6, Davis, UT
Davis ran into a buzz saw named Mountain View in the Utah 5A State Meet
Wednesday and had to settle for second place behind the SW#2/US#7
powerhouse from Orem.
Davis packed well behind fourth placer Jared Ward with only 47.1 seconds
between first and fifth. Ward, a junior, ran 16:07.0. Senior Patrick
Hall followed in 12th at 16:30.7. Next was junior Nate
Inkley (19th/16:41.6),
freshman Seth Gutzwiller (24th/16:45.8), and senior Richie
Whicker (32nd/16:54.1).
But it wasn't anywhere near enough to beat powerful Mountain View, which
had won the last 4A titles before being reclassified to 5A this year.
Davis scored 91 points but lost by 44. In the combined scoring of all
five groups, Davis was also second, trailing Mountain View, 59-128, but
beating the other 66 teams.
FULL
RESULTS
7, Judge Memorial, UT
Judge Memorial packed all five runners almost on top of each other, taking
fifth through ninth places and winning Wednesday's Utah 3A state championship
with a score of 35 and a gap of just 10.6 seconds, one of the smallest
of any championship race in the country.
Seniors Andrew Hirning (5th/16:44.9), Jason
Heckle (6th/16:51.0), and
Nick Gaiten (7th/16:51.5), junior Eliel
Hindert (8th/16:51.9), and freshman
Luke Puskedra (9th/16:55.5) did the damage for Judge Memorial which won
its second straight 3A championship.
Judge Memorial had a 35-67-68 margin over Cedar City and Bear River.
When all five races were scored together, Judge ended up a very creditable
third with a score of 209, 32 points ahead of 5A American Fork's 241.
Mountain View and Davis were the top two teams at 59 and 128.
8, Liberty, CO
Liberty runners placed 4-7-8-9-10 to win the Boys 4A Region 3 championships
at Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs Thursday. Shea
Wilfong led
the way in 16:54. He was followed by Greg Pulscher (17:17), Sean
Greer (17:17), Tim Hamilton (17:18),
and Chris
Claflin (17:19) as Liberty held
off Denver South, 38-46. Cheyenne Mountain (73) and Falcon (124) also
qualified for States.
9, Mountain View, CO
Tommy Walton was runner-up Friday in the Boys 4A Region 2 championships
at Monfort Park in Greeley, CO, to lead Mountain View to the regional
title with a score of 59. That was 40 points ahead of Greeley West. Broomfield
(111), Thompson Valley (142), Niwot (163), and Greeley Central (also
163) were other State qualifiers.
Walton (16:16) was beaten by Collin Eckelman of Thompson Valley who ran
16:12. Travis Swain (6th/16:36), Ryan
Epperly (9th/16:54), and Charley
Mathes (15th/17:04) helped Mountain View's cause.
10, Denver South, CO
Mohamud Ige won the Boys Class 4A Region
3 individual championship Thursday at Monument Valley Park in Colorado
Springs, running the 5,000-meter course in 16:41, but it wasn't enough
to carry Denver South to the team championship which went to Liberty
by a 38-46 count. Abiud Mojica was third
for Denver South in 16:45, Derrick
Munoz (5th/17:03),
and Hassan Abdullah (1th/17:35).
GIRLS:
1, Fremont, UT
Cassie Ricks won her second straight Utah State 5A title Wednesday, leading
Fremont to its sixth team championship in a row.
Coach Amber Tingey's veteran Silver Wolves overwhelmed Jordan, winning
by a 66-129 margin. Ricks recorded the day's fastest time, 18:33.9, beating
Davis freshman Candace Eddy (18:55.1) by about 100 meters. Sisters Katie
and Jessie Chugg took 7th and 9th for Silver Wolves. Heidi
Krebs added
an 18th and Lindsey Slater a 21st to seal the win. Katie
Pluim and Lexie
Meyer were 28th and 31st. All are seniors except Jessie Chugg and Krebs
who are sophomores.
FULL
RESULTS
2, Rocky Mountain, CO
"Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'....."
You'll have to forgive one very far away observer who thought he heard
Frankie Laine singing the theme song from "High Noon" Friday
during the girls 5A Colorado Northern Regionals at Adams County Fairgrounds
in Brighton. Was that Gary Cooper coming out from a trail? Or just one's
imagination?
After last Saturday's non-showdown at the Fort Collins City Championships,
both Rocky Mountain and Fort Collins were, according to RM assistant
coach Mike Maher, "pumped up and ready to get after it. What would
anyone really expect...? Both teams came out prepared, fired up, and
ready for battle."
When the smoke had cleared, US#5 Rocky Mountain had scored a 26-40 win
to gain its second regional title in a row..
Katie Follett of Fort Collins and Dani
Parry of Rocky Mountain have been
friends for years and were junior high teammates. Now they battle tooth
and nail with some frequency. Less than two weeks earlier, Parry won
the Centarra Classic, finishing 32 seconds ahead of Follett, who was
back in fourth place.
This time Katie opened about a 10-second gap a little past the midway
point of the 5,000-meter race and never was seriously challenged, winning
her fourth straight Regional title in 18:09. Parry was next in 18:18.
"We're just so proud of how these girls are running," Maher
said. "I know I say it every time, but this was our best team performance
of the year. Four girls under 19:00! And a top 5 time average of 18:48.
Remember this was at 5,000 feet and the NCAA gives our local colleges
Colorado and Colorado State 25 seconds off their 5K times for NCAA qualification
times at this altitude.
"Keep in mind that both Katie and Dani are elite runners who have
won major invitationals this year," Maher continued, "which
makes the following Rocky Mountain pack behind them so exciting for us."
That pack consisted of Ellie Rastall in 3rd in 18:32, McKynzie
Maher 4th in 18:40, Kristi Thomas 5th in 18:49, and Kelli
Briedenbach 12th
in 19:41 to complete the scoring. For good measure, add #6 Sammie
Overholser 20th in 20:12, #7 Ali
Poppe in 20:18, and JV runner Emily Felton at 20:20.
"I have to give Fort Collins their due respect," Maher reflected. "They
ran tough and so well. They put their top five all under 20:00, and had
some big improvements from some of their key girls. I can't imagine that
7 other schools in the SW region would have beaten Fort Collins (SW#8)."
FULL RESULTS
3, Eldorado, NM
no meet, Districts this Saturday
4, Orem, UT
Orem fell victim to a young, unranked Mountain Crest team in the Utah
4A State meet Wednesday, dropping a 51-62 decision, at Sugarhouse Park
in Salt Lake City.
Kendy Christensen led the way for Orem, taking third place in 19:14.4.
She was followed by Krystal Harper (5th/19:37.9), Kate
Harline (6th/19:38.3),
Lauren Stratton (23rd/20:41.9), and Sarah
Bartlett (25th/20:49.0).
Last year Orem had finished third. Losing only Harline to graduation,
Orem should contend in the future. Christensen is a freshman, Harper
and Bartlett are sophomores. Orem was third in the combined all group
scoring with 222 points, trailing only SW#1/US#3
Fremont (107) and
Mountain Crest (147).
FULL
RESULTS
5, South Tahoe, CA (runs NV State meet)
A young South Tahoe team -- fifth runner Megan
Hillyard is the only senior
-- took third in its sweepstakes race at Mt Sac Saturday, being beaten
only by the second and fifth-ranked teams in California. CA#2/US#6
Buchanan won with a score of 88, ahead of CA#5
La Costa Canyon with 93 and South Tahoe with 116. South
Tahoe beat CA#3/US#16 Murrieta Valley who
was sixth with a score of 184 and CA#8 Torey Pines who
ended up fourth with 152.
Marie Lawrence, of Reno (NV) HS, ran the
second fastest time ever on the Mt Sac course, winning in 16:29.
South Tahoe's scorers were freshman Kylie Noll (6th/17:59),
sophomore Kate Lambdin (20th/18:42), junior Kimmy
Arroues (22nd/18:44), junior Kelsey Mcclurg (24th/18:46),
and Hillyard (44th/19:20).
FULL
RESULTS
6, Judge Memorial, UT
Samantha Gaffney won her fourth straight
Utah State Championship Wednesday, but Judge Memorial lost a close
verdict to Park City, winners of four straight 3A championships,
by a 50-72 tally.
Judge's other scorers behind Gaffney (18:58.9) were Hailey
Knetttles (4th/19:53.7), Samantha
McMillian (9th/20:17.2), Maggie Nichols (21st/21:09.1),
and Jenna Silwinski (38th/21:59.9).
FULL
RESULTS
7, Cherry Creek, CO
Lisa Johnstone's win and her teammates in
6th through 9th places powered herry Creek to a 31-41 win over Dakota
Ridge in the Region 2 Colorado Championships Friday.
Johnstone, a junior, won in 18:22. Sophomore Lauren
Johnson (19:22),
senior Alison Gerel (19:27), freshman Nicole
Berman (19:31), and junior Alicia Solow-Niederman (19:33)
were the quartet in 6th through 9th places. That's a team gap of 71 seconds,
but a full minute of that was between Johnstone and Johnson. The others
arrived in a hurry, to say the least.
8, Fort Collins, CO
Remember what assistant coach Mike Maher said of Fort
Collins after his Rocky Mountain team scored a close 26-40 decision over
FC in the Northern Regionals Friday.
"I have to give Fort Collins their due respect," Maher said. "They
ran tough and so well. They put their top five all under 20:00, and had
some big improvements from some of their key girls. I can't imagine that
7 other schools in the SW region would have beaten Fort Collins (SW#8)."
Katie Follett took charge of the race for
Fort Collins just past the midpoint and opened a 10-second gap on Dani Parry of
Rocky Mountain. She held that leads the rest of the way to win her fourth
Northern Regional championship in 18:09. Parry came across in 18:18. Alicia
Holt was 6th
for Fort Collins in 18:63 and Miranda Benzel was
9th in 19:07.
As Maher indicated, Fort Collins ran very well. Rocky Mountain was just
too good on this day.
FULL
RESULTS
9, St. Michael's, NM
Lenny Gurule of St. Michael's
is a thinking man's coach. And Katie
Behm is lucky he is.
Gurule only ran four of his girls at Friday's Valley Meet in Albuquerque,
so there is no St. Michael's team score. He rested his third and fourth
runners, but the four who did run all were in the top 10. Tess
Amer was
the winner of the 5,004-meter race in 18:37. Irena
Ossola was second
in 18:53, followed by Carolyn Ives (7th/20:48)
and Katherine
Egli (10th/21:00).
"Katherine ran good today," Gurule said of Egli. "She
was out fourth runner last year, but injuries early in the season have
hampered her. She seems to be coming around, as are the rest of the girls,
especially Katie Behm and Carolyn (Ives). They are learning how to race.
"Next week is our District Meet and again Katie (Behm) won't run,
or if she does run it will be just as a precautionary thing, because
we have only six girls. And who knows? Someone might get hurt during
the race and that would leave us out of qualifying for state.
"So if she runs, she will not be going all out. I've only scheduled
her to run in four meets this year. Two years ago she suffered a major
break in her leg and she is still recovering from it. Tendonitis in the
ankle, shin, and the area of the leg still bothers her a bit.
"Everything seems to have gotten stronger for her as the season
has gone on. She only runs four times a week and I give her 2-3 weeks
between races. She is the backbone of our TEAM."
Sounds as if Gurule is fortunate to have Katie. And Katie is indeed extremely
fortunate to have coach Gurule as a mentor.
10, Fairview, CO
Fairview took the first four places and 12th to defeat Boulder, 22-41,
for the Girls Class A Region 3 championship Friday at Addenbrooke Park
in Lakewood, CO. Wheat Ridge (109) and Lakewood (134) also advanced to
states.
Meredith McGregor won the 5,000-meter race in 19:31. She was followed
by Morgan Stumb (20:01), Alexis
Skarda (20:24), Sara Coco (20:24), and
Kate Osborn (21:26).
Notable News:
Marie Lawrence, the Reno (NV) HS junior who twice has been runner up
in the Footlocker nationals, chopped 19 seconds from her previous Mt.
Sac course best running 16:29, the second fastest ever on the fabled
course. The all-time mark is 16:16 by Amber Trotter in 2001.
Kari Hardt, the Queen Creek senior who has led all Arizona runners this
season, was the third fastest runner this past weekend at Mt Sac, running
17:01, a time beaten only by Marie Lawrence (see right above) and super
frosh Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep who ran 16:48.
FULL
RESULTS
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