Another Arizona State Championship is in the books and some
evenly matched contenders across all divisions on the guy's side left made for
some exciting races on Saturday, November 5th.
The first race of the day was the Division 3 Boys race in
which Santiago Hardy (Chinle, Sr.) broke away early from the group and came
through the finish in 15:27, the 8th fastest time ever run at Cave Creek Golf
Course. Michael Barney finished in 15:56, as the second boy under 16 minutes.
Jalen Chee (Ganado, Jr.) finished third in 16:08 as the first non-Senior, a
full ten seconds ahead of Chinle's Josiah Tsosie (Jr.). Although Chinle,
Saguaro, Ganado, and Tuba City all had two guys each in the top 10, the Sand
Devils from Page High School captured the win by pulling their top four runners
under 17 minutes. Their scoring five were spread across only thirty-five
seconds. The Saguaro Sabercats earned second place as a team with only 99
points.
(Photo by John Hays)
The last race of the morning before the break was the
Division 1 boys race, that matched the two fastest teams in the state against
each other. The Brophy College Prep Broncos were hungry for their first State
Championship title since 2003, while the Desert Vista Thunder were eager retain
their title after finishing behind Brophy at Desert Twilight. Several boys
including Abdihamid Nur (North, Sr.) and Jacob Lewis (Boulder Creek, Jr.) got
out hard through the start of the course. Though Corona Del Sol's Liam Kovatch
(Sr.) held the lead through the first mile, Abdihamid and the Brophy super-trio
of Drew Burns (Jr.), Hociel Landa (Sr.) and Luke Mason (Sr.) kept their
proximity to the front of the field. Nur took back the lead through the third
mile and held it through the end in 15:49, in front of Mason, Landa, Habs
Cheney (Desert Vista, Jr.) and Aron Orar (Phoenix Central, Jr.), all under 16
minutes. Over the last two miles, the Desert Vista guys had pressed through the
ranks to place their scoring five in the top 20 and pick up their third
straight Division 1 title and their 8th in school history. 
(Photo by John Hays)
After the break came time for the Division 4 boys race. The triple
threat of Pinon, Wesley Cook (Sr.) Tyrin Begay (Sr.) and Adriano Joe (Sr.) dropped
the Division 4 field to finish first, second, and third respectively. The Hopi
Bruins continued their winning streak to pick up their 27th State
Championship Title by getting Andre Dennis (Jr.), Jihad Nodman (So.), and Andre
Lucas (Sr.) in the top ten and another two, (Dewayne Laban, So. and Steven
Baker, So.) in 17th and 20th respectively. Pinon managed
to hold off Northland Prep by six points for second place. 
(Photo by John Hays)
The Division 2 boys race capped off the 2016 AIA State Championships. Manny Olivo dominated the race finishing in 15:41 as the 8th and final boy under 16 minutes on Saturday. Though Rylan Stubbs (Campo Verde, So.) held onto second for most of the race, he was overtaken by Christian DeBoard (Gila Ridge, Jr.) for a second place time of 16:08. Stubbs bore down the straight to clock in at 16:16 for 3rd and Davis Boggess (Jr.) led the charge for the Flagstaff Boys with a 4th place finish. Flagstaff's top five finished within 39 seconds of each other to compliment the Girls' team victory and sweep the Division 2 Titles for the second year in a row. Campo Verde finished runner-up out of the Division 2 Boys teams.
(Photo by John Hays)