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DyeStat XC Region Review SW

Summary of Southwest Top Ten, Week Ending Nov. 10, 2007

By Sal Gonzales, Dyestat SW Regional Editor



Boys Reports ---- Girls Reports



BOYS


SW#1/US#1 Albuquerque Academy, New Mexico

SW#3/US#8 Los Alamos, New Mexico

4A New Mexico State Championship
11/10/07
Rio Rancho, New Mexico


Los Alamos 34 Academy 40 St. Pius X 112 Shiprock 144 Grants 155 (13 Team Total)

The heavyweight battle of the day was BETTER than advertised as the Los Alamos Hilltoppers were able to stride away with a minor upset and the 4A state championship. The “LA Boys” took the race out hard in the first mile just as they did two weeks ago at their home meet. At the hill just before the mile mark, Academy’s Ben Johnson was in the lead, being chased by Kevin Burnett, while Pat Zacharias (Academy) and the Pittman’s (Allen and Kyle) were locked in a battle about 8 seconds back. Gareth Gilan (Los Alamos) was on an island between the front trail pack and the second pack that was led by the Toms’ (Witherell and Bowidowicz) of Los Alamos. Right behind that pack was a Division of the Red Army led by Kyle Cooper.

At that point in the race the Hilltoppers were in the lead, but the Chargers looked like they were in the hunt. Cooper’s pack looked fresh and seemed to be closing in on the Tom’s. After the mile mark the course heads to the one major hill on the course. When the runners go up that hill they are out of sight of most of the fans on the course. When the runners returned to the course (a little after the half way point) BenJo was opening up his lead on Burnett and the Zacharias/Pittmans battle was still in full swing.

The major change occurred a little while later as the Toms were able to open up a slight lead over the Academy chase pack. At this point the Los Alamos runners looked more relaxed and seemed to attack the course where at the Los Alamos Invite those same runners seemed to be waiting to be overtaken by the Red Army. At just past the 2 mile mark co-Head Coach Rob Hipwood could be seen joyfully screaming at his runners. This was an unusual sight. The Hipwoods are usually calm and deliver advice using their “indoor voices.” It was refreshing to see Rob jump around and scream.

Over the last mile the only change in the line-up that took place was headed by Zacharias who made a strong move and held on for 3rd place. In the end it can be said that Academy ran a very solid race. Their scorers ran within 1:15 of Benjo and 53 seconds of Zacharias. But the LA Boys ran a superb race packing their scorers in a 21 second gap and placing all their runners in the top 11.

1. 34 Los Alamos HS (16:21.75 1:21:48.75)
========================================
4. Allen Pittman 16:09
5. Kyle Pittman 16:16
6. Gareth Gilna 16:21
9. Tom Witherell 16:30
10. Tom Bowidowicz 16:30
19. Kevin Hemphill 17:20
21. Andrew Vierra 17:32

2. 40 Albuquerque Academy HS (16:23.66 1:21:58.30)
========================================
1. Benjamin Johnson 15:36
3. Patrick Zacharias 15:57
11. Kyle Cooper 16:45
12. Anthony Lauriello 16:49
13. Ryan Clark 16:50
14. Taylor Murray 16:55
15. Damon Campbell 17:03


SW#2/US#6 Wheat Ridge, Colorado
No meet last week


SW#4 Timpview, Utah
No meet last week


SW#5 Mingus, Arizona
No meet last week


SW#6 Mountain View, Utah
No meet last week


SW#7 Galena, Nevada
No meet last week


SW#8 Battle Mountain, Colorado
No meet last week


SW#9 Alhambra, Arizona
No meet last week


SW#10 Mountain Crest, Utah
No meet last week



GIRLS


SW#1/US#3 Dakota Ridge, Colorado
No meet last week


SW#2/US#6 Eldorado, New Mexico

5A New Mexico State Championship
11/10/07
Rio Rancho, New Mexico


Eldorado 38 La Cueva 89 Gallup 97 Cibola 131 Rio Rancho 161 (15 Teams Total)

The Girls from Eldorado completed this aspect of the season with a dominating performance. The Eagles have not lost a cross country race in the state of New Mexico in 2 years. They not only took home the 5A title they also had the fastest overall time and average time.

This week the Eagles were not able to extend the streak held by their usual #1 Rachel Velarde. Velarde had been undefeated this season up until the state meet. A sore Achilles tendon caused the senior to be cautious and led to a fourth place finish. But her teammates picked her up in their usual style. The top 6 Eagles would have scored on every other 5A team and their #7 would have scored on all but two.

1. 38 Eldorado HS (19:27.15 1:37:15.75)
========================================
3. Allison Bedonie 19:05
4. Rachel Velarde 19:08
5. Kristy Hannah 19:11
11. Julie Brasher 19:47
15. Laynee Valverde 20:02
22. Erin Madden 20:32
31. Lauren Burnham 20:56


SW#3/US#9 Fort Collins, Colorado
No meet last week


SW#4/US#18 Davis, Utah
No meet last week


SW#5 Xavier Prep, Arizona
No meet last week


SW#6/US#23 Greeley West, Colorado
No meet last week


SW#7Mountain Ridge, Arizona
No meet last week


SW#8 Mountain View, Arizona
No meet last week


SW#9 Sandra Day O’Connor, Arizona
No meet last week


SW#10 Thompson Valley, Colorado
No meet last week



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