In this weekly feature, we'll put a finger to the wind to see who's showing what in the race for NXN SW berths. Photo from NXN SW 2008 by Alan Versaw.
Utah was the first of the five NXN SW region states to kick off their season with a major meet. That major meet would be the American Fork Grass Relays. The Grass Relays are a huge event in Utah, as evidenced by the field of around 30 teams, many highly ranked, in a state with considerably fewer high schools than Colorado.
American Fork is located close to Provo (central to most of the top programs in Utah) at an elevation of about 4600 feet. Temperatures were in the low 70s for the girls relays and probably reaching the high 70s to lower 80s for the boys relays.
On the girls side, Davis quickly threw down the gauntlet, marking themselves as, once again, the team to beat in Utah. The departure of Candace Eddy did not leave this team depleted. Meghan Hedquist easily split the fastest 2-mile leg of any girl running the relay, finishing her leg in 12:06. And, do not be misled by the time. The course is--as the name advertises--grass and is studded throughout with hay bales.
Preseason favorite Park City came in second, but well behind Davis, although Park City held the lead going into the final leg before Hedquist put the hammer down. Davis's five finished the relay in 64:41, while Park City finished in 65:04. American Fork, the host team, was third in 65:45. Jamie Lee of American Fork was the second overall individual in 12:31.
Conspicuously absent from the roster of teams competing in the meet was Mountain View, who should join Davis and Park City as top contenders from the state of Utah.
On the boys' side of the ledger, American Fork had a huge day to win in a team time of 53:39, nearly a full minute ahead of second-place Timpanogos at 54:32. Davis was in third another half-minute back.
The individual best time for the relay belonged to Steve Morrin of Lone Peak with a 10:17 split, followed by Robby Lee of American Fork, who split 10:31.
Two very strong Utah programs from last year, Alta and Timpview, finished 7th and 8th, respectively in the team standings, indicating that this could be rebuilding year for both programs.
Meanwhile, down in New Mexico, the Clovis Invitational kicked off the Enchantment season. The Rio Rancho boys won the title for this meet and the girls were the top entry from New Mexico. On a course advertised as 3 miles, Rio Rancho's top five ran 15:56, 16:32, 16:35, 17:06, and 17:18. Right offhand, that sounds like a contending team to me as I ponder what it would be like to run three miles in Clovis in late August.
Apparently, Navajo Pine also hosted a meet in New Mexico this weekend, but I've not yet seen results of that meet.
I will add details as (if) they come my way.
Complete American Fork Grass Relays Meet Results
Note 1: Please do not expect this much detail on every meet in the region this fall. This weekend got special treatment with only two games in town to cover for the weekend :-).
Note 2: Please consider this an invitation, whether you live inside of Colorado or outside, to send meet results in from across our region. The more results we get, the more intriguing it all becomes.