2016 O'Connor/Ken Denson Invitational Recap


The 13th Annual O'Connor Invitational took place this weekend and for the teams in the northern Phoenix area the meet is one that has what many Coaches and runners described as a true cross country course with dirt trails and hills that can test an athlete's mettle throughout the race but also provide for a flying kick. As the season winds down, many teams will start to reach peak fitness, meaning PRs and breakthroughs can happen, even on a course as dry and hilly as the Skunk Creek Landfill.

The day started with freshman boys and girls combined into a co-ed race. Miles Thomas (Sunrise Mountain) ran PR of 17:48 as the fastest freshman by over 40 seconds ahead of his teammate Jesse Stone, who earned 2nd. Gabrielle Gomez (Dysart) crossed the finish as the fastest freshman girl in a time of 22:12 far ahead of the other girls.

Next were the Open races, specifically the girls' first. Sierrah Shreiner (Sr.), Olivia Pendleton (Jr.) and Olivia DeStefano (So.) led the charge for the Pinnacle Pioneers by finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Then, Jordan Stoiber (O'Connor, Sr.) won the Open boys race by 51 seconds in front of the home crowd with a season best time of 17:37. Jordan said about his performance, "It feels good to win a race. Especially having an inconsistent year, it feels good to get some confidence in me. My strategy today was to stay calm try to make even splits and have fun with it."

The sun broke for the girls and boys Varsity races, which were dominated by Jesselyn Bries (O'Connor, Jr.) and Jacob Lewis (Boulder Creek, Jr.) respectively. In the Varsity girls race, Jesselyn said that although the hill was not difficult to climb, the wind and heat was much worse at the top. "Coming back down it started to get windy again, but I finished" said Bries about the last mile of the course. She won in 19:01.9 and a little over a minute later, her teammates, McKayla Cordova (Sr.) and Ariana Ortiz-Stock (Sr.) took second and third. Together the three led the O'Connor Eagles to victory at home, with 69 points.

Finally came time for the boys Varsity to close out the meet. Jacob Lewis led from the gun and powered through in a time of 16:23 for his first win of the season. "I tried to get out as fast as I could and keep the pace. At the end I was dying 'cause of the heat, but I tried to push myself at the end" said Jacob about the race.  Gila Ridge's Christian DeBoard (Jr.) earned 2nd place in 16:41 and soon his teammates Daniel Marquez (Jr.) and Cody Hartman (Jr.) followed through in 4th and 7th, pulling the Hawks to a win with 68 points. When he asked about his team's approach to the race, Hartman explained they had to, "Go for the place. Time wasn't there today 'cause of the difficulty of the course, but you gotta' push for that place."

Though the course was not fast athletes were still competitive and determined to give their best. However, the season is not over yet, and there are many more opportunities for athletes to meet goals and bring home hardware.