NXN SW Update, Weekend of October 3

Trophy Hunters - The Xavier Prep girls have been filling the case this fall. Photo by Margot Kelly.

By Matt Norton and Alan Versaw, Colorado NXN Ambassadors

 

Time for our weekly tour of the fabulous Southwest. Don't tell anyone from New York or California, but our region is doing just fine this fall.

 

We'll get one of our biggest journalistic frustrations out of the way first--we're still having a bugger of a time getting results out of Nevada.

 

This much we can say, the Laughlin Invitational went nicely for the Shadow Ridge girls and the Arbor View boys. It's difficult to judge from this distance what winning times of 20:46 and 16:45 mean, though. Certainly, heat can be a factor at Laughlin, and there is some potential for terrain to impact times in this little community of big casinos along the Colorado River. Whatever the case, the touring Australian team seemed to be okay with any challenges the course dished out.

 

Laughlin Invitational Results

 

At this point, what is lacking from Nevada are results from outside a two-hour radius of Las Vegas (and for those who have never had the privilege of driving across Nevada, that leaves a lot of Nevada, though not necessarily a large number of schools).

 

Moving around the region a bit, our next stop takes us to New Mexico, which had an uncharacteristically quiet weekend. Volcano Vista, Mayfield (Las Cruces), Artesia and Highland hosted the big meets, but most of the top teams seemed to be gathered at Highland this weekend.

 

At Artesia, Hobbs nearly nailed down a perfect score in the boys' race, taking the top four places, with Julian Flores winning in 16:09. The course was approximately three miles (approximately three miles was a bit of a recurring theme this weekend, as we shall see). Hobbs also won the girls title, but with a more conventional approach than sweeping the top four places.

 

The Mayfield meet was more or less dominated by schools from nearby El Paso, TX, but Onate did manage a second place in the boys team tally, and Belen a fourth in the girls division. Joseph Mazone of Onate won the boys title in 16:20, while Aleona Reyes of Belen took the girls individual title in 18:42.

 

Reyes is getting to be a bit of a known quantity among NM girls, and even outside of her home state. She could easily become an invited individual for the NXN SW championship race should her team not receive a nod.

 

We infer that the Volcano Vista course is a challenging one. Winning times of 18:41 and 23:08 make that an easy call. Volcano Vista takes their own meet on the boys' side, but Eldorado goes home with the girls' trophy and Kristy Hannah as the individual titleist.

 

Highland's own approximately-3-mile course hosted Albuquerque Academy, but the biggest guns for AA were on the rack this weekend. In their absence, Cibola took the victory, led by the brothers Montoya in first and second at 15:21 and 15:45. Cibola is a serious boys team in the Land of Enchantment and are positioning themselves nicely for an NXN SW bid.

 

As an observation that is likely to land one of us in hot water with our friends to the south, it would appear that reporting of NM cross country results occasionally tends to tilt toward testosterone. Results posted seem to frequently show greater detail for boys than girls. Julia Foster of Albuquerque Academy won the Highland girls race in 18:18, but no team scores were posted on the race results thread of the New Mexico Track and Cross Country Coaches Association forum. We mean no ill, but we plead the case for equity.

 

Moving to Colorado, it was a weekend loaded with meets with NXN SW implications. The Dave Sanders and Loveland Sweetheart Invitationals got things underway on Friday.

 

Danny Nicolls, Brian Sokas, and company (Regis Jesuit) looked very strong in winning the Division 1 race of the Loveland Sweetheart Invitational. Nicolls' winning time of 16:22 doesn't seem all that noteworthy until you understand that the race was run almost entirely on grass and rolling terrain with greasy goose droppings adding a tiny measure of adventure.

 

In the girls division, Boulder fell to Cheyenne Central (WY), but Kelsey Lakowske, arguably Colorado's top female competitor, did not start for Boulder.

 

Loveland Sweetheart Results

 

An hour down I-25 at the Dave Sanders meet, Evergreen's girls continued their scorched earth policy of running cross country. With #2 runner Tayler Warren out of the lineup, Evergreen still won by an enormous margin. Bryn Haebe leads the pack for this group, and a capable leader she is. As of this moment, the only thing posing any meaningful threat to Evergreen in Colorado 4A seems to be H1N1.

 

The Division 1 boys race came down to a very tight finish between Dusty Solis of Coronado (15:32) and Scott Fauble of Wheat Ridge (15:31). Scott Fauble goes one week deeper into an undefeated season, and Coronado retains hope of getting a team invitation to the NXN SW championship race with a recent resurgence in their fortunes. This was the second big meet in a row with a team title for Coronado.

 

Rikki Gonzales of Rangeview posted a very nice 18:45 to take the girls' Division 1 title.

 

Dave Sanders Results

 

The marquee matchup of the weekend pitted the girls from The Classical Academy against the girls from Fort Collins. The two battled it out to the closest of margins with the team title going to TCA by a scant point, 39 - 40. Kaitlin Hanenburg of TCA won going away in a time of 18:05. Teammate Emily LaValley was second in 18:36. Rachel Viger was the top finisher for Fort Collins at 18:49. TCA and Fort Collins will not go head to head again during the CHSAA season. This was only the second time this season that both teams ran full fully-loaded lineups.

 

TCA Titan Thunder Results

 

Elsewhere in Colorado, Legacy's girls ran roughshod over a smallish Thornton Invitational, keeping their case as a team to be reckoned with alive and well.

 

Thornton Invitational Results

 

There were several meets around the state of Arizona, but most eyes were focused on the Queen Creek Twilight Desert Festival.

 

 

Times were outrageous in the southeast Phoenix 'burbs. How about a 16:32 for Xavier star Jessica Tonn, or a 17:50 average for her scoring teammates? Or a 14:32 for Brian Shrader?

 

In what should be news of modest comfort to Colorado fans, what was billed pre-meet as a 5K course has been now reported as 3 miles. And, not unlike a similar debate on our own fair board a few weeks ago, even that distance is being questioned as the course reportedly had to be repositioned minutes before the first race.

 

Queen Creek Course Length Forum Thread

 

 

For those seeking further reason to take the times cum grano salis, counting the Queen Creek times as three-mile times and then doing a straight conversion to 5K times leaves most of the top finishers close to a full minute, or more, below their top reported times for the season on advertised 5K courses.

 

 

Regardless, there's no doubt that many of Arizona's best took advantage of cooler evening temperatures and a fast golf course track to prove that there are many runners capable of making noise when the rest of the region calls on Tempe next month. Roughly a month-and-a-half out from NXN SW, Arizona appears to be the most improved state in this season's results to date.

 

 

The Mesa Mountain View boys continued their tear through the state, putting four in the top 30 to win 96-107 over Catalina Foothills. Brophy College Prep, Rio Rico, Corona Del Sol and Ironwood Ridge all figure to be contenders at the Arizona state meet based on fine performances here.

 

 

Behind Shrader was one of Arizona's other top runners, Steve Magnuson of Ironwood Ridge. His 14:32 was just ahead of the 14:34s of Alejandro Montano (Catalina Magnet) and Sherod Hardt (Queen Creek).

 

 

The Xavier girls were untouched again, but Highland High in Gilbert put all five scorers in the top 30 and averaged 18:37. If not for the Gators of Xavier, Highland could be the favorites to win state in Arizona's 5A-1 division.

 

 

Individually for the girls, Rolonda Jumbo, perhaps the state's #2 runner behind Tonn, was "only" able to manage an 11th-place, 18:10 mark here. Tonn's nearest follower was her teammate, Sarah Fakler, who ran 17:22.

 

Queen Creek Twilight Results

 

 

The Sandra Day O’Connor girls, a 2006 NTN participant, won the Boulder Creek’s Adobe Invite, placing three in the top four.

 

Adobe Invitational Results

 

Utah had a relatively quiet week, as the Beehivers hone in on their state meet on the 21st, exactly one month prior to NXN SW.

 

 

Park City, home of the top girls' team in the state, hosted its own invitational.  Team scores were unavailable, but PC's four runners in the top 10, again led by Gillian Gorelik, gave them a comfortable win over Timpanogos, although Timpanogos did get their fifth in before Park City's #5 at this meet.

 

Park City Invitational

 

Davis swept the boys and girls titles at their Region I meet; not completely knowing the ins and outs of Utah cross country, it appears this meet is not quite analogous to the region meets run in Colorado, as only six girls’ teams and seven boys’ competed in the meet. According to a reading of the UHSAA web site, five teams qualified for state.

  

Region I Meet Results

 

Wow, it was a fun week! Things heat up in New Mexico and again in Arizona next week, but take a bit of a break in Colorado as many teams will run JV squads for the final weekend of the invitational season in preparation for league meets in the week ahead. For quick reference, the state meet dates are as follows:

October 21 - Utah

October 31 - Colorado

November 7 - New Mexico

November 7 - Arizona

November 7 - Nevada