The title of fastest girl in Utah belongs, this year, to Gilian Gorelik of Park City. Photo by Alan Versaw.
By Matt Norton and Alan Versaw, Colorado NXN-SW Ambassadors
The dust has settled in Utah. American Fork and Mountain View were the big winners, both for the boys and for the girls.
Park City's girls, taking a few more points at the fifth position in the merged scoring than either American Fork or Mountain View, slipped to third in the combined scoring, but remain a very viable NXN-SW championship race candidate. So also does Davis HS, who finished fourth in the merged scoring and second to American Fork in the 5A race. Ogden and Timpanogos could get bids, depending on how race registrations come in and how strong the final results from other states come in. After Timpanogos comes an enormous gap. Five to the top ten overall individuals came from teams unlikely to advance to Tempe, but keep their hopes alive for individual bids if they choose to go that route. These include Avery Calton, Summer Harper, Kody Kleven, Kate Stringfellow, and Kelsey Braithwaite. And, whatever became of Danielle Menlove?
For the boys, American Fork concluded a season of absolute dominance over all other in-state programs with a housecleaning in 5A and the combined scoring. Well back, but with performances strong enough to get them well in the running for the NXN-SW championship race were Mountain View, Pleasant Grove, Davis, Hillcrest, and Timpanogos. Steve Morrin's 15:28.9 makes him the top individual candidate from Utah. Jacob Barton also had a nice 15:41.
Searching for results from Mt. SAC is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Yet, that is where the top teams in Nevada, and a few from Arizona as well, were this weekend.
The top NXN-SW result coming out of Mt. SAC this weekend was a sixth-place overall time and 8th-place overall combined team score for the Xavier College Prep girls. Jessica Tonn completed the course in 17:03 for the third fastest time overall.
From Nevada, Wade Meddles had a very nice third-place finish in the individual sweepstakes, while Galena's Bryan Jordan claimed 26th. Steve Magnuson of Ironwood Ridge, AZ, and Sherod Hardt of Queen Creek, AZ, grabbed 9th and 10th in the same race to top the results from the Grand Canyon State boys. It would be exciting to see all four of these young men in the NXN-SW race.
Honestly, we've probably missed some other results of note from Mt. SAC. If we have, please feel welcome to post a comment to the article indicating what we've missed. More telling results for most schools from Arizona and Nevada should come over the next two weekends as both states press through regional qualifying races with an eye toward state meets on November 7.
In New Mexico, this weekend's big meet was held in Los Alamos, one of the higher elevation venues in all of New Mexico. We don't know the precise location of the meet, but we're estimating an elevation in the vicinity of 6700 feet. That is challenging, no matter where you're from. The good news for competitors is that course is 3.0 miles, not a full 5K.
Albuquerque Academy's boys were up to the challenge. For the second consecutive weekend, the Chargers posted a big win, taking first by a margin of 38-73 over Los Alamos. Cibola was third with 84, and the rest of the field was way back. Pat Zacharias, Vince Montoya, and Chris Montoya each finished ahead of Kyle Pittman in the individual standings, despite this being Pittman's home course.
So far as girls' results from Los Alamos are concerned, the longer this season goes, the better Julia Foster looks. Foster beat teammate Paige Throckmorton by an astonishing 1:17 for first place, and smashed Rachel Velarde's course record by 36 seconds with her 18:22. Team-wise, AA bested Los Alamos by a margin of 64-77 for first. Rio Rancho, also a power in New Mexico, finished third with 93.
In a smaller meet (four teams), Eldorado's girls took their own invitational by a small margin over La Cueva.
Like Arizona and Nevada, New Mexico is closing in on their state meet with regional qualifying this week. Most of the New Mexico powers, however, can afford to coast through regional qualifying, so don't expect too much in the way of telling results over the week ahead. The Los Alamos Invitational was likely the last good read before state.
Colorado, on the other hand, completed their regional qualifying this last week. And results from those regional contests stayed mostly very close to expecations.
Among the boys, Regis Jesuit dominated a strong 5A Region 2 field to strengthen their grip on the state's #1 ranking. Cherokee Trail finished second, but well back with Dakota Ridge and Heritage nipping at their heels, in the same region. Smoky Hill, Fort Collins, and Coronado posted solid regional victories in their 5A Regions, as did Greeley West in 4A Region 2.
Among the girls, Fort Collins laid waste to a strong field in 5A Region 4 while Boulder and Highlands Ranch duked it out in 5A Region 3. Boulder won that one on the strength of a sizzling 17:19 by Kelsey Lakowske and by overcoming a substantial deficit through #4 with a 15th-place finish by their #5 runner. Pine Creek cruised through 5A Region 5. Thompson Valley staged a bit of a shocker over Greeley Central in 4A Region 2, while Evergreen cruised through 4A Region 1, taking three of the top four individual places. Elsewhere, Cherry Creek cleaned up at 5A Region 2, and The Classical Academy moved through 3A Region 2 without difficulty.
Saturday's state meet in Fort Collins should resolve the remaining issues for teams and individuals from the Centennial State with NXN-SW aspirations.