Mesa Mt. View, Desert Vista and Xavier Win at Scottsdale Running Company Invite

 

Catherine Fakler from Xavier College Prep took first in the JV/Open Race in 21:02.9 followed by teammate Christine Andreen in 21:04.5.  Mesa Mountain View's Kristin Millward took fourth in the race but first in the Senior Division.

 

Led by Spencer Frame, all four Mesa Mountain View runners were in the top six (1, 4, 5, 6) in the Varsity Black race while all four Desert Vista runners were in the mix (2, 3, 7, 8) rounding out the top eight.   Junior Andrew Kellogg returned the fastest time for Desert Vista, coming in second in the Gold Race in 16:11.5 with Mesa Mountain View's fastest runner, D.J. Johnson filling the number four spot.  Desert Vista edge out Mesa Mountain View for the Team Title winning in 101:10.15 to Mesa Mt. View's 101:55.45.

 

The only runner to break 16 minutes on the certified 5K hilly course was Queen Creek's Sherod Hardt (pictured left) who won the Varsity Gold Race in a time of 15:54.00.  "The race was very good", said Hardt, "I just stayed with the pack until the second mile and then I moved up from there."  Hardt, who is the younger brother of Whitney and Kari Hardt, both outstanding distance runners with multiple state titles, is ready to make his own mark in Arizona running.

 

On the girls side, Xavier sophomore, Katie Penney (20:38.6) came down the final stretch of the girls Black race looking like she was running a 100 Meter race.  Penney's strong kick widened the gab between herself and 2nd place runner Brittany Hoffman (20:55.3) from Mesa Mountain View.  Mesa Mountain View's sixth runner came in third in the girls Black race and Xavier's sixth runner was in 7th.

 

The girls Gold Race was led by Junior Jessica Tonn (pictured below) from Xavier College Prep.  Tonn's time of 17:52.3 was the only time under eighteen minutes and was 45 seconds faster than second place finisher, Cami Jackson (Sr) from Mesa Mountain View.  "When I saw the finish line I ran as fast as I could," said third place finisher Sarah Penney who along with Daylee Burr (11th) and Megan Canon (12th) helped Xavier College Prep take first in the meet with Mesa Mountain View coming in second. 

 

As the Gold Race took off, the top girls appeared to be engulfed by the swarm of boys. "Coming into this race last year I was a little bit intimidated running with the guys but this year it was a big motivator for me to see how many guy jersey's I could take," said Jessica Tonn with a giggle. "Really though, my main goal was to come out here and help the team because we really wanted to start out with a good race."   "The Team did incredible today", said a very encouraging Daly Burr, "I think Megan (Cannon) did awesome!

 

Mesa Mountain View took home the combined team trophy with a second place win, led by D.J. Johnson and Cami Jackson, in both the boys and the girls races!  Mt. View was without their #4 runner Tyler Fletcher who will return to active next week at the George Young Invitational.