It was a perfect day for cross country in Salt Lake City, Utah. The
temperature was in the mid 60's, a sunny blue sky welcomed athletes from
throughout the State.

The 3A competition began with Judge Memorial standout Samantha McMillian
blasting off at the two-mile mark leaving the rest of the field in her wake
for the individual victory in 18:18.7 winning by 40 seconds. McMillian isn't

known as the #1 Judge Memorial girl, normally Hailey Knettles is the
dominant runner but today Knettles could only settle for 3rd place overall
with fellow teammate Lindsay Baker in 8th place. The story however was SW#3
Park City running away with the division and the overall combined team
championship. On this day Park City bested 62 Utah teams!

Park City placed 5 runners in the top 11 for a runaway victory scoring 42
points to Cedar City's 79. Park City was impressive with a 33.1 second
spread from 1-5. Park City's next stop will be the Rocky Mountain Region XC
Championships in Pocatello, Idaho on November 4th where they will face a
large contingency of Regional and Nationally ranked teams.

The 3A boys race was a one man show, it was described by some like watching
a jet race cars. Judge Memorials Luke Puskedra was a man on a mission as he
demolished the 3A field on way to a solo state championship victory by 42
seconds in 15:43.9. Prescott McCarthy of Park City finished in 2nd with
16:25.

The 3A team championship went to Cedar City, posting a 42 second spread and
5 in the top 17 Cedar City ran away with the team title 48-88 over Park
City.

The girls 4A Championship saw Mountain Crest star Macinze O'verby finish 2nd

after winning in 2005. This year Krystal Harper of Orem stormed to the lead
at 1.5 miles and never relinquished the pace for an impressive win over the
tough Overby. In the final half mile Harper seemed to pick up the pace
dramatically as Overby and the other runners began slowing down due to the
impressive early pace set by Harper who led from the gun.

Harper won in 18:55 to Overby's 19:22. Mountain Crest girls did however win
the division state championship by a mere 4 points over a determined and
much improved Timpview squad. Standing at the finsih it was very difficult
to determine who had won but when the results were finally announced the
Mustang girls cheered loudly. Timpview was proud to receive their hard
fought 2nd place trophy, the first in many years. But as predicted Mountain
Crest was just too much to handle.

One of the most exciting races of the day came in the boys 4A division as
two Southwest bubble teams Timpview and Mountain Crest collided. Mountain
Crest highly touted as the favorite to win the championship started the race

strong. Through the first mile it was a 3 man race between Hedin, Chris
Dorton of Lehi, and Spencer Gardner of Springville; Gardner set the pace and

led through mile 1, and mile 2. By mile two Hedin was 20 meters back looking

very tired as Spencer held his fluid perfect form. No one thought Hedin
could catch Gardner, and it looked as though Gardner was pulling away with
about 600 meters to go but Hedin opened up a ferocious final push that
suprised us, and the crowd. The crowd went crazy as Hedin began reeling
Gardner in as they approached the track. As Gardner entered the facility
Hedin caught him and within 3 strides Hedin's lead was 15 meters. Hedin,
known for his tremendous sprint speed as attested from his 1:52 800m and 47
second 400 meter times hit the track driving for the line winning in 15:55
avenging a similar situation in 2005 where he lost in the final 400 meters
to Cyprus Jeremiah Johnson. Gardner was 2nd in 16:01.

The team title was even more of a question mark and filled with sadness,
upset, and glory. Mountain Crest was clearly leading through their first 4
runners, as Neal Ferrin, normally their #2 runner came into the final 30
meters he stumbled, nearly fell allowing 5 runners to pass him, one of them
being Timpviews #5 runner on the day Nate Sandholtz. This sway in points
over the final 30 meters left Timpview with a team championship and Mountain

Crest shaking it's head in astonishment. Mountain Crest lost by 2 points,
59-61 to Timpview. Timpview on the other hand looked as though they had slew

a giant, this would later be attested to in the overall combined state team
scores as the Timpview boys would slay a few more. The Timpview boys walked
away from the Utah State XC Championships as the 4A State Champions and the
overall state combined team champions.

In the combined division team scores Timpview and Davis each scored 205
points but Timpview prevailed on the 6th runner while Mountain Crest
finished 3rd with 207 points. How close? That close! We will elaborate
further.

The 5A girls championship featured dominant Candace Eddy winner of the Bob
Firman Invitational, the undefeated Kim Quinn and one would think that was
all there would be to this race however, the unknown and literally off the
radar Shayla Kipp of Skyline Utah would show miracles can happen. From the
gun the Bingham star and undefeated Kim Quinn set the pace, she charged
through 1 mile with Eddy on one shoulder and Kipp on the other. Through
two-miles it was Quinn by 30 meters with Eddy and a few others hanging on
for dear life. But the race would get interesting as they hit the half mile
to go mark. Kipp began moving up, still 50 meters behind Quinn she began a
ferocious and unbelievable charge, as they entered the stadium Quinn still
led by 20 meters, with 80 meters to go the lead was 15 meters and it clearly

seemed Quinn would stroll for an easy victory. But just then Kipp opened up
on an unbelievable and unimaginable final sprint, the gap went from 15 to 5
within 3 seconds, as they approached the line Kipp came closer and closer
and then she caught Quinn at the tape in a photo finish. A finish where the
unknown and unheralded Kipp would come out the victor! As we were leaving
the stadium to see the boys 5A start we ran into the Skyline coach who
looked as though he had thought his girl had finished 2nd. I stated "your
girl won", immediatly his eyes grew huge, he grabbed me, and screamed, "she
won, she won, she won?" I restated yes, she caught Quinn at the line and
won, Coach Porter freaked out and began running across the field to the
stadium like a madman. It was exciting to see the fire of excitement within
a coaches eyes as his athlete fullfilled a dream few thought was achievable.

Clearly the race of the day. While at the finish line Utah State Association

head Dave Wilkey stated "there has never been a finish like this in the
history of this event."

But the excitement would not end there! As the team scores were tallied it
was revealed something amazing had happened, the Jordan High girls had
defeated Nationally renowned and ranked Davis high. Jordan had previously
given the Davis girls a scare at the Orem Kiwanis Invitational losing by 3
points and were clearly on a mission of destiny. They defeated a deflated
Davis team in historic fashion 87-102. This was the first girls state title
ever for the Jordan Beetdiggers.

The boys 5A Championship was equally exciting. This race featured a
nationally ranked Davis sqaud, a thought to be injury and fading Mountain
View team and the new up and coming Lone Peak. As the race began it was
clear there was plenty of strategy as the Lone Peak team tightly packed and
ran with a sense of urgency. Jared Ward set the pace through the mile with
Stephen Clark of Skyline on his shoulder. Through two-miles Ward held a 20
meter lead with Clark hanging on, they held a sizeable margin on the rest of

the field. As Ward entered the stadium he held a 30 meter lead with Stephen

Clark sitting in 2nd. With 200 meters to go Clark just opened up with an
incredible kick catching Ward and crossing the line first. After the race we

spoke with Clark, the junior who has never beaten Ward before. In their last

4 meetings Ward has bested him each time. We asked Clark what he did
differently, "Throughout the season I have been setting the pace and Ward
just hangs on and passes me near the end of races, today I thought I would
just reverse that role and let him set the pace. With 200 meters to go I
just thought why not give it everything I had? I never thought I had it won
but I am so excited." Clark ran 15:47 for the 2nd fastest time of the day.

Though Clark would claim the individual crown the Davis boys would claim the

team title, suprising however was Mountain View who climbed up into the 2nd
spot. What was interesting was that through four runners Lone Peak was in
1st place overall but as they have encountered all season long they were
without a dominant 5th runner performance and again this hurt them badly as
they would finish 3rd.

Speaking with Mountain View they stated clearly they believe they can beat
Davis and are strongly considering attending the Rocky Mountain Region
Championships for an opportunity to face Davis again. In fact we overhead
Mountian View leader stating, "I am going, are you, are you?" as he pointed
to each of his teammates. Davis won narrowly 105-115 over Mountain View.

The true testament to Utah's team strength this year came in the revealed
overall combined team scores where 4A's Timpview, Mountain Crest, and 5A's
Davis would all finish within 2 points. This is unbelievable considering
there were 69 scoring teams. Timpview took first on the 6th man with 205
points, Davis 2nd with 205 points as well and Mountian Crest a close 3rd
with 207 points. One might imagine had Ferrin not stumbled at the line that
Mountain Crest would have won this by over 10 points but that is how the
cookie crumbles sometimes. Timpview and Mountain Crest will again meet on
Nov. 4 in Pocatello.

The girls overall combined team scores revealed the strength of Park City as

the SW#3 team once again proved they are the states best winning with 135
points, Jordan was 2nd with 199 points, Davis 3rd with 221 points and
Mountain Crest 4th with 243 points.

As the meet concluded athletes, teams and coaches were once again
invigorated by the sport of cross country. Many of these teams seasons are
not over as the Timpview boys and the Park City girls will lead a large Utah

contingency to Pocatello, Idaho to compete in the Rocky Mountain Region XC
Championships. See you in Pocatello!

Utah State Championships Index