Arizona State Meet - Boys Preview

Nov 06, 2008

Boys State Meet Preview

1A - 2A

Junior Ronald Laban (pictured in photo left) from Hopi is the clear favorite for the 1A - 2A State Meet. Some of his season highlights include a 1st place finish at Ojo Rojo, a 4th place at Jack Boehle and a 4th place in the Division 5 Boys Sweepstakes Race at the Mt. Sac Invitational in California. Laban may have competition from his own teammates, Kevin Tsinniginnie (Jr) and Brennon Sidney (Jr) and from Cody Rosengarten (Jr,Tombstone) and Sean Newport (Sr, Valley Christian). Sidney and Tsinniginnie placed 9th and 11th at Mt. Sac helping the Hopi team to a 2nd place finish; Newport won the 1A-2A Metro West Regional Meet and Rosengarten won the Benson Invitational and placed 3rd in both the Los Mesquites Invite and the Ojo Rojo Invitational.

3A

Division 3A has a few of the State's top runners in Ryan Yazzie (Jr, Tuba City, pictured in photo right) and Billy Orman (So, Tuba City). Orman has run one place behind Yazzie the entire season except for the Jack Boehle Memorial Invitational where Orman placed 2nd and Yazzie 3rd. Yazzie won the Hopi Invite, Holbrook Invite and the 3A North Regionals with Orman coming in second in the same meets. Yazzie also finished third in the Doug Conley Invitational with Orman finishing 4th. Other contenders for the 3A division are Larry Hermance (Sr, Chino Valley), Cody Wells (Sr, Snowflake) and Juan Martinez (Jr, Chino Valley). Hermance won the Las Vegas Invite early in the season (with Martinez finishing second) and won the 3A West Regionals. Wells finished 3rd at the Holbrook Invite, 3rd at the Hopi Invitational and 1st at the 3A East Regionals.

4A I

Senior Cody Smith (pictured in photo right) from Shadow Mountain is the front runner heading into the State Meet on Saturday. Smith won the Senior race at the Chandler Invitational with the fastest time of the day. He also placed 5th at the Doug Conley Invite, 4th at the Queen Creek Twilight Meet and recently won the Paradise Valley District Meet. Smith's biggest competition will most likely come from the Cactus Shadow Senior, Kyle Short. Short finished 3rd at the Scottsdale Running Company Invite and a very strong 2nd at the George Young Invitational.

4A II

The 4A II race will be the race to watch on Saturday. Tim Freriks (Sr, Mingus Union, pictured left in photo on front page) and Brian Shrader (Jr, Sinagua, pictured center in photo on front page) have raced each other all season with varying results. Early in the seaosn Freriks won the Ray Wherley Invitational with Shrader finishing second. A few weeks later Freriks headed to Oregon with his team to run in the Jim Danner - Nike Pre Nationals, placing 1st, and shattering the course record. Shrader won the Four Corners, Mingus Invite, the Jack Boehle Memorial Invite and the 4A II Grand Canyon Regionals with Freriks finishing second in each race. The competition between the two runners has been exciting to watch and with the addition of Sherod Hardt (Jr, Queen Creek, pictured right in photo on front page) it will be even better.

Hardt has not faced Shrader or Freriks all season but will do so on Saturday and will be a strong contender for the title as he finished his season with a huge win at the East Sky Regional Meet. Hardt also won the Scottsdale Running Company Invitational, the Queen Creek Twilight Meet and the Gilbert City Meet.

5A I

Humberto Gonzales, (Sr, Cesar Chavez, pictured right) will race Jorge Martinez (So, Alhambra) for the 5A I Title. The match up will be the third time the two have met during the season. Martinez won the George Young Invite and the Doug Conley Invitational; finished 2nd at the Phoenix Union Championships (Gonzales finished third) and 2nd at the Metro Regionals. Gonales finished second to Martinez at the Doug Conley Invite but won the Metro Regionals last week over Martinez. Gonzales also won the Boulder Creek Invitational a few weeks ago. Other contenders for the 5A I title will be Dobson Senior Carlos Martinez and Junior Andrew Kellogg from Desert Vista. Carlos finished second to Gonzales in the Boulder Creek Invitational but won the East Valley Regionals beating Senior D.J. Johnson from Mesa Mountain View. Kellogg placed second to Hardt at the Scottsdale Running Company invitational and took 9th at the Doug Conley Invite. Will Firth (So, Brophy) has been running a consistent 4th all season and could be a top five finisher. He finished fourth at the George Young Invite, the Boulder Creek Invite and the Desert Valley Regionals.

5A II

Alberto Tellez (Sr, Camelback, pictured left) is the strong front runner for the 5A II division. Tellez has had top performances throughout the season placing 3rd at the Mingus Invite and winning the Phoenix Union Meet, the O'Connor/Denson Invite, Los Mesquites Invitational and recently the 5A II Metro Regionals. Tellez may get a little push from Ryan Norton (So, Cibola), Fabian Romero, (Jr, Sunnyside) and Garrett Arvidson (Sr, Boulder Creek). Norton won the Gila Valley Regional Championship last week while Arvidson won the Northwest Regional Championship and Romero took home a second at Los Mesquites. Arvidson also had a 7th place finish at the Queen Creek Twilight Meet and placed 3rd at the Boulder Creek Invitational.