Week In Review - September 22 - September 28

Highland Girls - Top Team in Varsity Race

Top boys in Varsity Race

Marcus Wheeler (Sr., Corona del Sol) and Bridgette Doucet (Sr., Canyon del Oro) flipped the script on their second place finishes at the Ojo Rojo to win the Doug Conley Invitational a week later.  

"I learned a lot from Nate (Rodriguez) - how to run this course specifically," said Wheeler after the race.  "The fast pace of the front leader was pretty hard too.  There are two loops and there's a lot of hills on this course so there's a lot of time to make up space."

The front runner Wheeler was talking about was Seamus White (Sr., Hamilton) who was in the lead half way through the race but couldn't hang on with the strong kicks of Wheeler and Tyler Day (Sr., Mesquite).

"I went out fast because it was going to be a really fast group," said Day.  "I saw Seamus White go up in front and he did his thing."  

Day decided to stay back, "I tried to hang with Marcus and at the end I got pretty close but he's a really good kicker so - kudos to him."

Score:  Marcus 1 - Tyler 1

Wheeler won the race by taking it out strong and steady.  "In the beginning of the race I stayed behind everybody," continued Wheeler.  "I progressively passed people down the hills."

Wheeler made his move at the 2 mile mark and took it out hard with 800 to go to win the race in 15:50.90.  Day finished 2nd in 15:53.41.  

The loss only makes Day more determined.  "This isn't over," Day continued.  "I take one race at a time - then State."

Both Day and Wheeler will meet up again Friday night at the Desert Twilight Meet and both are working the hills in preparation for another meetup at the AZ State Meet.

Corona del Sol won the team title with 73 points followed by Page with 107 points.

Top Girls in Varsity Race

In the girls race Bridgette Doucet (above right in green) took an early lead and won handily in 18:11.36 with the fastest time ever on the Rolling Hills course.  Emily McGregor (Marana Mt. View) holds the Doug Conley record but her time of 18:03 is from the Kiwanis Park course.  Kelly Naumann (Sr., Corona del Sol) finished 2nd in 18:28.42.

Highland High School won the girls team title with 73 points.  Xavier College Prep finished 2nd with 90 points.  Xavier did not run their top 3 runners.

Although we did interview both the Highland girls and the Corona del Sol boys - the mic was accidently turned off while it was being passed between runners so there is no sound......bummer!

Lauren Philips (Jr., Rincon University) won the girls Open Varsity Race in 19:27.74 with Janaya Day (So., Hopi) finishing 2nd in 20:44.57.

Philips was returning from a month long injury and was hoping to get into the Varsity race but was happy with her win in the Open Race.  

"Most girls like to start out really fast in a race but I normally just hold my horses and wait," said Phillips after the race.  "Once I get comfortable and let the adrenaline carry me through - I run my race."

Quinten Nelson (Sr., Centennial) won the boys Open Varsity race in 16:45.84 followed by Josh Fleetwood (Sr., Marana Mt. View) in 17:08.99.  

It was the first time Nelson stepped foot on the course.  "The second loop of the race I took it out really fast," said Nelson after the race. "The second time around the hills kind of hurt me a little bit."

With the pain and the heat taking a toll on Nelson he still continued to push on.  "The last 200 (meters) I wanted to pick it up a little bit and make sure I had a good lead on them and finish with a good time."  

And he did.

The Marana Mt. View boys won the team title in the Open Varsity race with 65 points over Desert Vista with 81 points.

"Our strategy was just to win as a team," said Josh Fleetwood. "We didn't really have any individual goals we just wanted to go in an dget a team win and work together as a group."

In the Non Varsity girls race, Xavier College Prep took the win by running as a pack for the first half of the race just behind the Corona del Sol runner, Riley Wright (Fr) then moving into the op 6 spots winning with 16 points.  Desert Vista finished 2nd with 80 points.

The Non Varsity Boys race took a wrong turn with several runners (a lot of runners) heading for the finish line after the first loop.  Not sure if the leaders ever regained the lead after their extra mileage.

Glendale Showcase

Nike Pre-Nationals

The Desert Vista girls headed to Nike Pre-Nationals and finished 2nd in the girls championship race.  Dani Jones (Sr.) finished 2nd in 17:49 with younger sister Baylee (So) taking 6th in 18:10.  Freshman Haley Wolf finished 26th in 18:48 followed by Kyra Lopez (Sr) in 35th in 19:02.

Sandra Day O'Connor also made the trip to Nike Pre-Nationals finishing 11th in the girls division 1 race.  Freshman Jesselyn Bries finshed 8th in the race with a time of 19:11.

Piedra Vista Totah Invitational

Shane Morris Invitational

Meet Results

Stanford Invitational