Jamie Lee started the season strong for American Fork, finishing third at the Premier Invitational in Tooele. Colorado Track XC file photo.
While this may come as a shock to those of you domiciled in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, the competitive season in Utah is already officially underway.
This early start would help to explain how Utah can get an entire season of cross country in prior to their state meet on October 20. It also means that Colorado officially has the shortest competitive season (not that I'm complaining about that) of the five states in the southwest region.
Opening weekend action in Utah was fairly limited but of high interest on the girls' side of things as American Fork and Park City squared off in the 5A division of the Premier Invitational hosted by Stansbury High School of Tooele.
No, Park City hasn't moved up to 5A. Apparently, they were running up for a taste of the competition. Park City, and especially their girls' program, is without peer in Utah's 3A classification.
The matchup proved to be a great one. Led by Jamie Lee in third at 18:59 (times across the board suggest this was a 3-mile course), American Fork went 3-7-9-11-17. Park City, led by Ali Walker in second at 18:52, scored 2-5-14-16-20.
But, wait a minute. Hold the presses! There was another team in the fray. Some of you might recognize the name of Bingham. Apparently, Bingham is back. Scoring 1-4-6-8-27, Bingham made it a serious three-way race. Laura Young took individual honors in 18:41.
Um, I think that makes Bingham the winner (46 to 47 to 57), but official team scores were not to be found in the race results I received.
Whether or not Bingham took home the meet trophy, they will need some improvement in the #5 position by the end of the season, and early-season results are way too easy to overinterpret. For now, find a place for Bingham on your radar screen of southwest girls teams.
Before we get too carried away about the potential implications of Bingham's triumph in 5A, we should add a footnote that Timpanogos simply destroyed the field in 4A (2-3-4-5-8) and would have been competitive (but probably relegated to fourth place) in the 5A race.
American Fork's boys sat out the boys' side of the meet, depriving of us an early-season read on the consensus pick as best team in the southwest region. In their absence, the meet title went to Kearns with their top five placing 1-2-11-20-21, followed by Bingham, which went 3-12-13-15-17. Individual honors went to Richard Obale of Kearns in 15:09.
Premier Invitational Meet Results (Team Scores Unofficial)
There should have been at least one more invitational contested in Utah this weekend. Should any additional results have implications for southwest regional rankings, I will amend this article.
New Mexico's competitive season opens next weekend. Colorado has scrimmages next weekend but does not officially open the competitive season until September 2. Arizona and Nevada open their competitive seasons over Labor Day Weekend.