Sierra Lutheran's Wade Meddles, shown here at last year's NXN SW meet, had the NXN SW performance of the week, posting a 15:03 at the Stanford Invitational. Photo by Alan Versaw.
By Matt Norton and Alan Versaw, Colorado NXN SW Ambassadors
Another weekend of results from the Southwest region to ponder over…
Teams in Arizona are positioning themselves for the Doug Conley Invite on October 10, but there was still plenty of racing going on this weekend.
Up in the mountains, the Sedona Red Rock boys won a tight battle with Zuni (New Mexico), an NXN SW Open participant last year. I remember Zuni mainly because half our boys’ team has t-shirts they traded with the “Knifewings” last November at Tempe (Weekly NXN SW Update trivia question: What is a knifewing? And, if Mr. Fakler has the right answer again this week, we'll ask him to write the next question!). Jesus Rivera of Sedona ran an impressive 16:39 on a course situated at a reported 7000 feet. The Zuni girls turned the tables on Sedona, 39-43.
https://az.milesplit.com/meets/57900
Closer to Phoenix, the Mesa Mountain View boys impressively placed four runners in the top ten to win handily, 45-82, over Brophy. A team average time of 16:48 is hard to ignore, as well. Individually, Steve Magnuson of Ironwood Ridge took the title in 16:14. Girls’ times were not immediately available, but Ironwood Ridge scored a 58-93 victory over Pinnacle.
https://az.milesplit.com/meets/56326/results/100427
The Sunrise Mountain boys and Centennial girls, both from Peoria, won the interestingly-named White Tanks Invitational, a 2.7-mile event held at White Tanks Mountain Park.
https://az.milesplit.com/meets/56853/results/100424
In Utah, several of the top teams traveled to the Bob Firman Invitational, held on the Eagle Island State Park course that is the home of NXN NW. Utah boys’ teams took four of the top five spots, led by Mountain View’s 75-100 thumping of defending NXN champ North Central (WA). Timpanogos, Davis and Pine View proved this is indeed an outstanding year for the boys’ teams of our next-door neighbor. Trevor Thompson of Pine View was the top individual finisher from the Beehive state, finishing 7th in 16:05.70. The Mountain View girls made it two-for-two, defeating Davis 65-107. Summer Harper of Orem posted a 3rd-place finish, in 18:43.85, to lead the Utahans.
https://id.milesplit.com/meets/57042
The American Fork boys continued their domination of Utah teams at the Nebo Invite, hosted by Maple Mountain High School. The 3.01-mile course appears to be engineered for extreme speed, as the AF squad averaged 15:24 on the reportedly flat course. If they can keep up this torrid pace for the next eight weeks, they will be difficult to keep from Portland. The American Fork girls were pretty quick and deep as well, going 1-2-4-5-6 with a average time of 18:32.
https://ut.milesplit.com/meets/56236
The third big meet for Utah teams was held at the Utah Valley University complex in Orem. Park City, the consensus top girls’ team in Utah, crushed a field which included Colorado’s 4A contender, Greeley Central. The Miners registered a scant 41-point total in the combined scoring; Alta was 2nd with 130 points while Central was a strong third. Gilian Gorelik led Park City with the individual win in 19:10.
https://ut.milesplit.com/meets/58245
In New Mexico, all eyes were on the Albuquerque Academy Invitational. And none of those eyes were especially surprised to see the Chargers sweep the team titles. The boys placed five in the top eleven, even with the absence of #1 runner Pat Zacharias. The girls, though not quite as dominant, still managed a 28-point margin of victory over second place Rio Rancho. Kyle Pittman (Los Alamos) and Julia Foster (AA) took top individual honors at 16:03 and 19:01, respectively.
https://nm.milesplit.com/meets/58321
We did manage to catch up with a big chunk of Nevada’s top talent this weekend. They were spotted across the state line at The Farm. Wade Meddles of Sierra Lutheran added an exclamation point or two to an already very nice season with a 15:03 on the Stanford course. Meddles’ Sierra Lutheran teammates finished well back in the elite (seeded) race, but probably high enough to keep them in contention for an NXN SW berth at this point in the season. Galena High School had a solid team showing at Stanford, led by Bryan Jordan’s 15:44. The rest of the scoring five for Galena each hit the finish line in times under 17:45.
Among the Nevada girls, Michelle Mowry of Bishop Manogue HS also had a nice time of 19:22.
https://ca.milesplit.com/meets/55595
And so we end up back in Colorado.
But first, a little bunny trail back to California. Cherry Creek and Cheyenne Mountain both sent teams to the Stanford Invitational to run in the elite (seeded) race. Walter Schafer logged an individual fith-place with a 15:22 and the Cherry Creek boys notched a 10th-place finish before returning home.
For the most part, however, the week following Liberty Bell found teams from across the entire state doing penance by running on moderately to highly difficult courses. And that meant times were up, way up.
Probably the most notable outcome of the week was Coronado High School using their own meet as a springboard back into contention. The Cougars suddenly found a solid #5 and produced a convincing performance, drumming second-place Arapahoe by a margin of 68 – 102. For good measure, Dusty Solis of Coronado took the individual title in 15:51. Note, the Coronado Cougar Classic does not qualify as one of the meets contested on a difficult course.
Also of note from the Coronado Cougar Classic was the triumph of the ThunderRidge girls. As if there weren’t already enough Colorado 5A girls teams with title hopes this year, ThunderRidge threw their name in the lottery by burying the field with Dominique Gerard, their #1 runner, out of the lineup. With respect to NXN SW berths, there will be plenty of Colorado girls teams (as well as Utah boys teams) hoping the selection committee looks favorably on the level of competition within Colorado.
https://co.milesplit.com/meets/46611
At the John Martin Invitational, the Fort Collins girls placed third. Before anyone gets too excited about the demise of the program, however, it should be noted that Fort Collins had only one of their top four girls on the starting line. So much for those visions of at-large points….
Loveland’s boys continued their run of impressive finishes, winning the boys division of the John Martin Invitational. Although placing nobody higher than sixth, the Indians still managed a 22-point margin over second-place Rocky Mountain.
https://co.milesplit.com/meets/52680
Meanwhile, the Pomona boys are making themselves particularly difficult to ignore. This weekend, they punished the field at the Broomfield Invitational. 1-6-7-8-15 in a large meet (21 scoring teams, almost all of them large schools) has a way of grabbing your attention. Adam Sinda took individual honors with a time of 16:40, thereby making the case that this was one of the tough courses in Colorado’s weekend.
https://co.milesplit.com/meets/54514
And, finally, The Classical Academy girls dispatched the field at the Rock Canyon Invitational by putting all seven of their runners in the top 15. The Titans were another of the Colorado teams staring down a slower course this weekend and won the title despite missing their #2 and #3 runners.
Sierra Lutheran's Wade Meddles, shown here at last year's NXN SW meet, had the NXN SW performance of the week, posting a 15:03 at the Stanford Invitational. Photo by Alan Versaw.