Results - Photos - Videos
Desert Twilight arrived on schedule and challenged all to give their best once more. Around 6,000 athletes toed the line at the running Festival comparable to any Friday night football game. Here were the highlights.
Nick Thatcher (Jr.) and Sabrina Camino (Sr.) won their respective Large School Open races and led their teams to victory. Sky Martel (Blue Ridge, Jr.) won the Boys Small School Varsity race over junior Quinn Burdick of Seton Catholic and Lena Halden (Arcadia, Jr.) won the Girls Small School Varsity with a time of 19:38.2. Caitlin Billman (Murrieta Valley, So.) won the Girls Large School Varsity race in 19:18.8 and then Jemil Kassahun (Smokey Hill, Sr.) dominated the Boys Large School Varsity field in 16:09.4.
In the Girls Championship race, Maya Smith (Northland Prep, Jr.), Kailey Welch (So.), Hannah Leitner (Rincon University, So.) and Destiny Rockwell (Shiprock, Sr.) all separated themselves early from the group, but true to her style, Maya broke away just after the first mile and shut it down for the win. Kailey Welch held strong for 2nd place in 18:42.8 and Leitner finished in 18:48.5 for 3rd. Kailey and her Lady Toro teammates won the Girls Championship race by 8 points over Tuba City.
The Boys Championship race played out in similar fashion with race leaders Brandon Seagraves (El Paso Cathedral, So.), Nur Adihamid (North) and Joaquin Armatage (Ironwood, Sr.) dropping the field through the first mile. Adihamid overtook Seagraves after the two-mile mark and opened a big lead on the visitor from the Lone Star State. Meanwhile Jacob Lewis, the junior from Boulder Creek had patiently reeled in Seagraves and with 300 meters to go he passed him and chased after the leader. Adihamid won the race in 15:45 and Lewis clocked in at 15:48.8. Brandon Seagraves was 3rd in 15:56 and William Hewings (Rincon University, Sr.) led his team to victory with the final performance under 16 minutes in the Championship race.
For her final go at the Sweepstakes race, Allie Schadler (Rio Rico, Sr.) set herself into pace early with Peak to Peak's Quinn McConnell (So.), to string the chasers out through the first mile. Schadler pulled away just before the two-mile mark and ran down the victory with a time of 17:03.8. McConnell finished 2nd in 17:12.9 and Allie's teammate and younger sister Samantha (So.) came home in 3rd.
Senior Baylee Jones and freshman Brooklyn Christofis were 7th and 8th respectively, and led their Desert Vista squad to a fourth consecutive victory at Desert Twilight with a grand total of 56 points. Colorado's Air Academy Kadets and Peak to Peak were 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
In final race of the night, the Arizona boys went toe-to-toe with a few neighbors from around the southwest some we've returning guests and some new. It was anyone's game through mile one, as Santiago Hardy (Chinle, Sr.) set himself among the leaders, side by side with Cherokee Trail's Rylan Wallace (Sr.) through 4:43 for the first mile. Soon after, returning champion Daniel Bernal (El Paso Eastwood, Sr.) broke through the peloton and left the field behind as he charged for the finish line in a new personal and course record of 14:45.6. Tanner Norman (Classical Academy, Sr.) finished 2nd as the only other runner under 15 minutes, Friday night.
While Desert Vista, Brophy and El Paso Eastwood all had strong one and two runners, Noah Ward (Sr.), James Mclain (Sr.) and Gabriel Armijo (Jr.) rounded out the top five in 32nd, 34th, 37th for El Paso Eastwood. The Brophy Broncos were 2nd as a team and did what few others have done in the last decade: beat the Desert Vista boys at Desert Twilight. The last squad of young men who did so were the Corona Del Sol State Championship team of 2013.
Though the cross country course laid out around the Grande Sports Complex is wicked fast, it doesn't guarantee personal records. People still have to take risks and give the best effort and that's what the victors committed to do Friday night. A huge thanks to the Hardts for their efforts to continuously deliver a premier event.