(Photo by John Hays)
In contrast to the dirt and pavement around Tumbleweed Park, the Fountain Hills Invitational offers a mostly grass course around Fountain Park and a season's introduction to rolling hills. Here are a few names to keep in mind as we look for times to drop.
Virtual Meet Preview
Boys Watch List
On the Boys', side the heavy favorites for the team race are the defending winners of last year's meet, the Mesa Mountain View Toros. Carson Klepinger (Jr.) leads an almost fresh new varsity squad and are already ranked 4th in the State. Carson ran the fastest performance of the day by 15 seconds at Tumbleweed Park for the Chandler Invitational. Last year he was 6th at Fountain Hills. The Hamilton Huskies are another young pack led by Junior David Nelsen. David ran the 2nd fastest 5 km time for the state last Saturday. Last year he finished 7th at this meet less than a second behind Klepinger. While Mtn. View already has three athletes with PR's out of Chandler, the Hamilton boys got 4 out of 5. Rounding out the top three favorites are the Desert Mountain Wolves. Their top runner Caden Hercules (Jr.) placed 4th at the Chandler Invitational and is the 3rd fastest returner from last year's race. Desert Mtn. are currently ranked 9th in the State. We should also keep an eye out for the Mountain Pointe Pride and the Horizon Huskies in the boys' varsity race.
Girls Watch List
Oddly enough the girls watch list looks quite similar. Last year, the Mesa Mtn. View girls finished 3rd at this meet and funny enough, they have a chance to pull off a sweep this Saturday with some very young teams. The Lady Toros have welcomed freshmen Elizabeth Christen and Kiersten Rule to their varsity squad and are led by Kailey Welch, who is only a Sophomore, but is already ranked 8th in the State. Also vying for the win are the Hamilton girls with 4 girls under 23 minutes for 5 km. Emma Merritt (Jr.) is the Huskies' top returner from last year. Then there are the Desert Mountain Lady Wolves, who had the best 1-2 punch at Tumbleweed Park last weekend between Seniors Alexis Hocken and Stephanie Stewart. As the fastest returner from last year's race, Alexis will be the individual favorite at this weekend's Fountain Hills Invitational. On the individual side Boulder Creek's Emily Wilcox (Jr.) will likely be a factor having just run 21:21 for 5 km at altitude for the Peaks Invitational. Olivia Grieve (Mountain Pointe, So.) won the Freshman/Sophomore race last year and will be looking to mix it up with the leaders in the varsity field at Fountain Park.
Of course there will be teams making this their Season debut, but this is a fair estimate based on team performances this season. We may see some big PRs and several others returning to peak fitness. Best wishes to everyone attending!
