In the Girls Invitational race Annie Hancock (Tolleson, Sr.) took control of the race within the first half-mile and dropped most of the field. Junior Meagan Van Pelt of Shadow Mountain stayed within a few meters behind Hancock throughout the race, but Hancock held her off to win by a tenth of a second. Mia Olsen (Xavier, Fr.) took 3rd and led the Gators to an Invitational Team victory with 92 points.
Although Aron Orar (Phoenix Central, Jr.) currently has the top ranked time with his 15:33 performance at Desert Solstice, he ran the Invitational race at this meet. He went through the first mile among a pack, with Jackson Evans (Horizon, Sr.) and Desert Vista's Michael Tuli (Jr.) and Lee Nasewytewa (So.) at the helm. By the second mile Orar had broken out of that pack to drop most of the field.
Only Evans tagged along behind Orar by a few strides, before the junior from Phoenix Central opened a massive lead to win by almost 19 seconds. Evans held onto 2nd place and Juan Ramirez (Maryvale, Jr.) came in as the 3rd runner, under 16 minutes that morning. Though Chandler, North Canyon and Desert Vista had some formidable talent, only Cactus Shadows managed to place three of their own in the top 20, with a 33 second spread across all 5 scoring runners.
The Girls Elite race went off and a pack of about six emerged from the field, including Alisia Hunyumptewa (Chinle, So.), Abi Archer (Chaparral, So.), Morgan Foster (Chandler, So.) and Kailey Welch (Mesa Mtn. View, So.), none of them wanting to put off the opportunity for a fast time. By the second loop around the course, sophomores Foster and Archer had strung the field out, matching each other stride for stride.
With less than a half-mile to go, Foster overpowered Archer, and laid down a winning time of 17:36.5. Archer followed in 17:43.3, almost 20 seconds ahead of her teammate Rachel Turner (So.) who was 3rd. Kailey Welch (So.) was 4th for the Mountain View Toros and Desert Mountain's Seniors Hocken and Stewart finished 5th and 6th.
Highland's Sydney Rhodes and Alena Ellsworth finished 7th and 8th, and though their top-ranked runner, Caroline McLeskey (Fr.) was not present, the Hawks had no trouble securing the Elite Team victory at Shalimar Country Club with 82 points.
The meet closed the morning with Boys Elite race, a field which held nothing back. True the front-running pattern in this year's meet, Santiago Hardy (Chinle, Sr.) led from the gun to drop most of the field. Michael Barney (Saguaro, Sr.) followed closed behind, challenging Hardy at several points along the course. With about a quarter-mile to go, Hardy's victory seemed all but certain until Barney unleashed a kick down the home stretch to overtake Hardy by almost 4 seconds.
Michael and Santiago ran to reach the best of themselves for a victory and in doing so they broke 15 minutes for three miles and pulled five others under last year's fastest time. Hociel Landa (Brophy, Sr.) finished 3rd, and with the help of his teammates Luke Mason (Sr.) and Drew Burns (Jr.) picked up the win for the Brophy Broncos.
Though venues and courses may change, a tradition of excellence remains tied to the name Doug Conley.
