Boys Teams
The deeper we look, the more it looks like the D1 Boys Team race will be the tightest race this weekend. As of right now, the Highland Hawks are ranked as the no. 1 team in Arizona, led by the State's ultimate low-stick, the returning D1 State Champion Leo Daschbach. Meanwhile, Desert Vista look to collect a 5th consecutive State Title.
Both teams have two boys who have run 5km under 16-minutes. Leo is the clear favorite but Desert Vista's Lee Nasewytewa and Sammy Van Alstine are ranked 2nd and 5th among D1 Boys ahead of Highland's no. 2 man who ran 15:56 at Desert Twilight. Their respective no. 3 boys have run identical times and though the Thunder have a solid four guys who could carry the team, Highland's fifth and sixth guys are both ranked faster than Desert Vista's final projected scorer.
This season Highland have taken team victories at King of the Mountain, Desert Solstice, Doug Conley, and most recently in their Sectional race at Crossroads Park. Meanwhile Desert Vista have been slowly working their way into form throughout the season. They finished 6th at Desert Twilight ahead of Highland by 24 points and then three weeks later the boys of Thunder ventured to the Mt. SAC Invitational where they finished 7th in the D1&2 Team Sweepstakes race with a 1-5 spread of only a minute.
(Lee Nasewytewa led the Desert Vista Boys with a 15:23 performance at Mt SAC.-photo provided by Chris Hanson)
This seems like Highland's year to clinch the D1 boys' individual and team titles but we've learned year-after-year never to underestimate the Desert Vista boys. Either way there will be no room for error and every boy on both of those teams knows how important it is to reel in just one more man at the most important meet of the cross-country season.