Mountain View sweeps 10-mile relay format
from the Deseret News
AMERICAN FORK — It's a new year, but an old familiar result
resurfaced after Saturday's 6th annual Grass Relays hosted by American
Fork High School. Mountain View won both the boys and girls team
competitions as the 2001 high school cross country season officially
got under way.
The perennial-champion Bruins, under coach Dave Houle, held off
neighboring Orem High in both team events, the boys winning with
a time of 54:06 to Orem's 55:17, while Lady Bruins posted a time
of 1:04:19 to Orem's 1:05:54.
The uniquely formatted Grass Relays require each team's five runners
to complete two laps on a one-mile course, which includes part of
the school track, a baseball and soccer field; runs behind grandstands,
and includes two obstacles made up of bails of hay that runners
must jump over and through. Caveman coach Timo Mostert feels the
bails in particular make this an interesting and fun race.
"It seems to add something different to the event," he
said. "Occasionally a runner has some trouble with the hay
and takes a fall, but most of the time they just laugh, get right
back up and get going again."
Team finishes are determined by the combined times for all five
runners. Medals are given to the top five teams and the top 15 individual
finishers.
In Saturday's boys race, Lone Peak's Brandon Hebbert was the top
individual, finishing the two-mile segment in a time of 10:07. His
effort helped Lone Peak to a third-place team finish. Provo's Phil
Thomas was second at 10:30, with Nate Houle of Mountain View third
at 10:32. Rounding out the top five boys were Dustin Ormond of Orem
in fourth at 10:33, and Seth Wold of Lone Peak in fifth at 10:39.
Mountain View had four boys within the top 15 finishers, including
Kyle Cramer in sixth at 10:40, Mike Steele in eighth at 10:44, and
Ben Alsop in 14th at 11:03.
Orem's Amber Harper won the girls individual race with a time of
12:08, 20 seconds faster than runner-up Heidi Magill of Mountain
View. Heidi Houle of Mountain View was third at 12:30, followed
by Sarah Bugden of East at 12:35 and Ann Marie Thomas of Mountain
View at 12:44. Other finishers for the Bruins' winning team were
Kari Ayla in 11th at 13:18 and Lindsey Wilkinson in 14th at 13:19.
Top five boys teams also included Provo in fourth at 56:34, and
Murray in fifth at 56:57. Following Mountain View and Orem in the
girls team race were Provo in third at 1:10:50, Lone Peak in fourth
at 1:11:02, and East in fifth at 1:12:09.
Most of the top state runners will gather at Pleasant Grove High
next Saturday morning for the annual Utah County Invitational. In
fact, there are invitational races each weekend through the first
week of October, all in preparation for the state championships
at Sugarhouse Park scheduled for Oct. 17.
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