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Two stars brightly shined at the 14th annual Los Mesquites Invitational
at Tucson's Kennedy Park.
Queen Creek's Kari Hardt beat Mountain Pointe's Kristin
Phillips by 30
meters in a course-record 19:21.7. After Hardt had taken a wrong turn,
Phillips had to yell for her to get back on course, costing the two-time
champ Hardt about 35 meters of extra running. She still pared more than
34 seconds off her winning time of last year and nearly 18 seconds from
Desert Vista's Keara Simmons' former record of 19:39 set in 2002. Considering
the extra distance and temperature in the mid-90s, this was a really
fine effort.
James Bogner of Paradise Valley won the boys race by more than 300 meters
from rapidly improving junior Victor Zazueta of Desert View. Bogner's
winning time of 16:24.19 is the second fastest winning mark in this meet,
trailing only Footlocker national champion Ken Cormier's 16:07 of last
year. Zazueta sat out last fall due to injury.
Mountain Pointe was an easy winner in the girls race with a score of
31, its top five all finishing in the top 10. Buena trailed with 115.
All underclassmen Rio Rico placed six runners in the top 30 to win with
a score of 70; Carl Hayden was 60 points behind.
A carnival atmosphere pervaded the meet with DJ Rich spinning out music
during the awards presentations while first girl runners, then boy runners,
and finally coaches danced on the stage, balloons strung overhead.
Counting the elementary and middle school races, this year's Los Mesquites
had a record 1,589 finishers.
Girls
Teams: Mountain Pointe 31; 2, Buena 115; 3, Flowing Wells 122; 4, Catalina
Foothills 136; 5, Ironwood Ridge 160; 7, Nogales 239; 8, Rio Rico 263;
9, Mesquite 291; 10, Queen Creek 294. 17 other full teams finished.
Individual: 1, Kari Hardt, Queen Creek, 19:21.70 (course record, previous
record, 19:39, by Keara Simmons, Desert Vista, 2002;) 2, Kristin Simmons,
Mountain Pointe 19:29.0; 3, Tara Erdmann, Flowing Wells, 19:31.72; 4,
Carman Aubri, Mountain Pointe, 21:04.74; 5, Paulina Reyes, Carl Hayden,
21:11.28; 6, Susan Melendez, Nogales, 21:22.45; 7, Chelsea Lane, Mountain
Points, 21:25.35; 8, Natasa Vulic, Mountain Pointe, 21:26,84; 9, Ashley
Chirco, Rincon, 21:31.65; 10, Emily Hansen, Mountain Pointe, 21:33.14.
Boys
Teams: 1, Rio Rico, 70; 2, Carl Hayden 130; 3, Alhambra 138 (6th man
56th); 4, Buena 138 (6th man 64th); 5, Ironwood Ridge 63; 6, Catalina
Foothills 214; 7, St, Michael's 221; 8, Trevor Browne 245; 9, Mountain
Pointe 277; 10, Nogales 301. 18 other full teams finished.
Individuals: 1, James Bogner, Paradise Valley, 16:24.19; 2, Victor Zazueta,
Desert View, 17:11.0; 2, Mark Molera, Tio Rico, 17:31.49; 4, Sharles
Simon, Central 17:32.69; 5, Scott Mayberry, Buena, 17:48.11; 6, Eric
Harasyn, Buena, 17:53.04; 7, Juan Quintero, Carl Hayden, 18:00.96; 8,
Michael Anderson, Ironwood Ridge 18:03.20; 10, Steven Eichelberger, Catalina
Foothills, 18:05.97; 10, Marcos Bailon, Alhambra, 18:07.28; ...16, Alec
Gortarez, Rio Rico, 18:21.46; 17, Bobby Evans, Rio Rico, 18:22.22; 18,
Tanner Henson, Rio Rico, 18:22.96; ...25, Mike Reyes, Rio Rico, 18:45.73.
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