Division 1A Girls
Northland Prep had only five runners in the girls 1A/2A Division but that did not seem to matter as the small team ran to a second place finish with 51 points, 19 points behind State Champions, Hopi, and 20 points in front of third place Valley High. Northland Prep was led by State Champion junior Andrea Klimowski and 2nd place runner sophomore Corrie Bain, the only two runners in the race to break 21 minutes. Klimowski, Bain and freshman Brittany Little (pictured right) from Hopi were out in front at the mile mark with Klimowski having a five second lead over Little. Klimowski pulled ahead by the two mile mark with a 15 second lead and finished the race 30 seconds faster than her teammate. Northland Prep had 4 runners in the top ten but Hopi had all five of their runners in the top ten. Little finished third with freshman Jasmine Humetewa in 5th, senior Cassandra Nash in 6th, junior Terissa Josytewa in 8th and junior Kayla Koruh in 10th. The other three finishers for Northland Prep were junior Megan Dwyer in 7th, junior Jessica McMillin in 9th and sophomore Taylor Oster in 32nd. All five will return next year.Division 1A Boys
On the boys side in the 1A-2A race junior Cody Rosengarten from Tombstone was in the lead at the mile mark with junior Ron Laban (Hopi, pictured left) on his heels and Cory Kirk (Sr, Pusch Ridge Christian) and Sean Newport (Sr, Valley Christian) five seconds behind him. By the time Rosengarten reached the two mile mark he had separated himself from Laban by almost ten seconds but Newport had pulled up behind him trying to hang on. Rosengarten found another gear and pushed to the finish, winning the race in 16:34.70 almost thirty seconds ahead of second place runner junior Kevin Tsiniginnie from Hopi. Laban finished 3rd while Kirk placed 4th and Newport came in 5th. "I'm not really sure when I separated from Ron Lapan because I try not to look back when I run," said a very happy Rosengarten, "I heard Sean Newport behind me for awhile and then we turned the corner and went throught the last wash with about 1200 meters to go and I kind of broke off from him." Rosengarten was very appreciative of his teammates and his competitors. "All my competitors ran a great race today because it takes a special kind of person to do this," he continued. "My team is the best group of guys in the world, I would do anything for these guys, I really would."
Tsiniginnie and Laban led their team, Hopi, to the State Title by placing 2nd and 3rd in the race. The team scored 28 points with the help of junior Brennon Sidney who finished 6th, sophomore Justin Secakuku finishing 7th and junior Kyle Silas placing 10th. Many Farms took second with 67 points with senior Bia Arno and junior Garriot James leading the team with an 8th and 9th place finish. Other teammates in scoring positions were junior Deon Leonard in 12th, junior Jon Jones in 14th and junior Brian Keesie in 24th.
5A I Boys
Sophomore Jorge Martinez (pictured right in red) from Alhambra and senior Carlos Martinez (picture far right) from Dobson were side by side at the mile, seven seconds ahead of the next pack of runners led by junior Andrew Kellogg from Desert Vista. On Kellogg's heels were senior DJ Johnson (Mesa Mountain View), junior CJ Metcalf (Buena), junior Cameron Sullivan (Mt. Ridge), junior David Sheppard (Salpointe Catholic) and Brophy Prep teammates sophomore Will Firth and freshman Brock Ghelfi. By the two mile mark Kellogg caught up to Jorge and Carlos and had a seven second lead over senior Humberto Gonzales (Cesar Chavez) who was six seconds ahead of the 5th runner. Jorge Martinez took off for the finish with Kellogg right behind, however, a few meters before the finish line Kellogg started to struggle and Carlos Martinez caught him at the line. Jorge won the race in 16:03.80, Carlos was second in 16:05.70, Kellogg was third in 16.05.85 and Humberto Gonzales finished fourth in 16:24.60.
Kellogg led Desert Vista (team photo below) to the State Championship Title with the help of teammates senior Adam Estavillo who placed 9th, senior Mike Johnson finishing 25th, junior Albert Kombe placing 27th and junior Ramsey Carroll finishing 32nd. Senior Ryan Nelson was just one place out of scoring position finishing 33rd. "I knew it was going to be tough," said Desert Vista Coach Chris Hanson, "They did what they had to do, they brought it when they needed to."
Desert Vista scored 96 points, just two points ahead of second place Alhambra who will be returning four of their top five next year. Other scorers for Alhambra were sophomore George Ramirez (14th), freshman Maximino Talamantes (24th), senior David Gonzalez (29th) and sophomore Jesus Bustillos (30th).