It's time to decide who was the Girls' XC Runner of the Year and it's down to two ladies who each had outstanding seasons. There are cases to be made for both of them and we decided to briefly recap both of their seasons before letting you cast your votes.
Abi Archer (Chaparral, Sr.)
Archer opened her season at the Peaks XC Invite where she ran a meet record of 18:54.2 in the Girls Summit race. At Desert Twilight she gave Colorado's Quinn McConnell a run for her money while approaching the 17-minute barrier for 5km along the Francisco Grande Golf Course. She won the D1 Section 2 Girls race at Rose Mofford Park and then clinched the D1 State Title at the AIA State Championships. A week after the State Meet, Archer finished 3rd in the Championship Girls race at the Nike Cross Southwest Regionals to secure a spot at the national meet. Early this month, she closed out her final high school cross-country season with a 10th place finish at Nike Cross Nationals.
Samantha Schadler (Rio Rico, Sr.)
Schadler ran her first race of the season at the Desert Solstice Festival where she picked up her first victory in the Gold Girls race. The following week she ran the second-fastest 3-mile time by an Arizona girl at the Woodbridge Cross-Country Classic. She placed 5th in the Girls Sweepstakes race at the Desert Twilight XC Festival in 17:19.9, which at that time was her third fastest performance along the Francisco Grande Golf Course. Schadler would dominate her next two races by over a minute, and then at AIA State Championships, she seized a State Title in the D3 Girls race. She returned to Casa Grande and won the Girls Championship race at the Nike Cross Southwest Regionals and at the Nike Cross Nationals the Duke University signee finished 20th in the country.
Voting ends noon on New Year's Day 2019.