Arizona Schools Travel To Southern California Invite To Prepare For The State Meet


As the end of the season approaches many teams fine tune their season. One aspect that athletes and coaches find challenging is replicating courses that are similar to the state meet. Cave Creek is a challenge and anyone who has ran it knows why...the hills. On October 8th, Chandler and Cibola High School along with Ironwood Ridge participated in the 35th Running Center Southern California Invitational at Guajome Park in Oceanside, California. The course entailed many difficult aspects such as a challenging ascending hill that the runners had to approach at mile one and two. The invite consisted of three varsity races for girls and boys, where teams placed their top 1-3 varsity runners in race #1, 4-5 in race #2, and then 6-7 in race #3.

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Morgan Foster (Chandler) was the girls overall Champion with a winning time of 17:58, "Coach wanted me to stay with the leaders and then at the last 800 meters I decided to go for the win". Foster was not alone the Chandler Wolves dominated with Becca Taylor (18:43) and Mihajla Milovanoic (18:44) placing 6th and 7th in race #1. Gabrielle Enns (19:25) and Ava Hamilton (19:34) handled the competition coming in 1st and 2nd place in race #2. Freshman Brooke Eversden (21:04) finished 5th along with Tanaeya Johnson (21:11) placing 9th. Monique Jimenez was the first runner from Cibola and respectfully came in 14th place with a time of 19:23.

(Morgan Foster takes the lead / Photo by Russell Enns)

The Wolves averaged 18:55 on the challenging 5k course winning the meet with an impressive 45 points. Torrey Pines came in a far second with 110 points. Coach Lincoln feels the hard work is paying off, "We were mentally prepared for the hills today and we are trusting in the process."

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Making Arizona proud, Thomas Cain from Cibola came in at 15:38 finishing as the boys 5K champion. Thomas followed his coach's advice, "I stayed with the leaders until the last hill and decided to let go and take the lead. The hills were difficult and very similar to the state meet". Cain's Teammate Jake Smith (Cibola) was 22nd with a time of 16:44. Christopher Ruiz from Chandler (17:06) finished 33rd. Coach Norton is confident that Thomas will be ready for the State Meet, "Our team goal is top 10 for the boys and girls this year and for Thomas he will be up there with the leaders."

West Ranch High School won the boys team title with a score of 65 and a team average time of 16:10. Cibola boy's team placed 5th, and Chandler placed 10th out of 23 schools.

Much as both teams were excited about their success in California, Coach Norton and Lincoln are fully aware that the state meet is just around the corner and they are preparing their athletes for what is ahead.  Next on our list is the Titan Invitational and many cross country teams will be there to give it one more try before sectionals and the state meet.  

(Above Thomas Cain waits patiently to make his move / Photo by Robert Cain)