The Page boys and girls Division III State Champions - Photo by John Hays/AZ Skies Photography
It is amazing the difference a year can make. This time last year the Page teams both were returning to the Lake Powell area with a pair of 3rd place trophies. This year they are returning with a pair of 1st place trophies.
Some on the team credit not being sick or injured. Others credit getting a couple of key transfers and yet others credit running as a family. No matter what the reason for how they got there, the real reason is they scored less points than everyone else in the field. Coach Mac Lane explained, “We wanted it all season. The girls put in the work and new they could do it.” Like every good coach he helped his girls with some pre-race strategy. Since they had not seen Rio Rico, the defending champions, all year they were keying off of Ganado. “We wanted 2 in front of Ganado’s first two and five in front of their top three. Then we wanted our 6 and 7 to be in front of their 5. We felt confident if we pulled that off we would finish really strong.” They certainly did finish strong, scoring only 65 to defending champion Rio Rico’s 143 (5th), Ganado’s 105 (4th), Chinle’s 102 or runner up Window Rock’s 96.
Even when the field went off fast the Lady Sand Devils stayed patient and stuck to an even steady pace. “They stayed steady and worked their way up through the pack nicely,” recalled Coach Lane. Though he also remarked, “I figured it was our race to lose once we got word about the transfer, but we still had to make it through the season healthy and injury free.”
Junior captain Mia Smith shared the same sentiment, “Our goal was to get first, if we got less I don’t know, we had just worked so hard. We have earned this win. Last year just sucked. We went in and wanted to do really well then we got sick and hurt. We just wanted to stay tough this year. I think we did that today.” It’s hard to argue with a win, especially when it comes from both teams.
The Page boys managed to take down perennial powerhouse Rio Rico (87) runner up Chinle (80) and defending champion Tuba City (105) en route to a title of their own. Senior captain Jeff Miller explained that the goal was to keep all 5 scorers in the top 15. “If we did that I knew we had a good shot of winning.” He went on to explain that his squad had put in 50-60 mile weeks all summer and 40-50 miles per week all fall in preparation for the state meet.
Their fitness certainly left them prepared even if the team and race conditions were unfamiliar. Discussing the unfamiliar conditions Miller stated, “We don’t race Rio Rico a lot. I know Carlos Villarreal is really good and I just wanted to stick with him and see if I could make a race out of it. I fell off at about two or two and a half miles. It was really hot out there. Coming down from altitude helps, but we weren’t prepared for the heat.”
On the other hand, Coach Lane was pleased with his team’s performance in the heat. “We got really lucky. We ran at Mount Sac this year and that was similar conditions. We responded well to the heat then and I was hopeful we would today as well. The kids knew they had to stay hydrated to do their best and they did a pretty good job of that. I felt like if we ran our race I liked our chances.”
While Page ruled the roost for Division 3 team titles, Rio Rico swept the individuals. After breaking on the high school scene as a state champ last year, sophomore Allie Schadler (photo left by Margot Kelly) did not suffer from any slump. Wanting to be mentally tough during the race she broke the will of Chamique Duboise (Window Rock) and Daangoiina Haven (Ganado) about a mile and a half into the race. “We train on hills everyday so it was a big help to me during the race,” reminisced Schadler after the race.
Crossing the finish line 18:14 she battled the hills well, as did her teammate Carlos Villarreal, (photo right by Margot Kelly) a second year cross country runner. Having trained over the summer Carlos returned this fall much stronger than he has been previously. Carlos led early on, crossing the mile mark in a blazing 4:50. He did not look back putting away most of the field and Jeff Miller early with roughly ¾ of a mile to go finishing in a time of 15:24. The University of Arizona Wildcats will be fortunate to have one of the fastest runners in Arizona history on their team next fall.