Flagstaff won the Summit Girls' race at their home invite with just 53 points. - photo by Ruben Rivera
Peaks Invitational
The Peaks Invitational has been a reliable season opener for many northern Arizona teams, but has also attracted many challengers from the southern half of the state. The meet is annually held by the Flagstaff Eagles as one of their two in-season invitationals along their home course. The Flagstaff Eagles swept the past four Division 2 team titles and consistently have strong showings at Peaks.
Summit Girls
Hana Hall opened her season as the undeniable victor in the Summit Girls' race well ahead of Tiaree Towler's second place finish. Though Ali Upshaw shadowed Hall through much of the race, Hall proved too much for the returning D4 State Champion, who ultimately finished 4th place. Hall's younger sister Mia Hall (Fr.) made her debut in the Flagstaff green and took an impressive third place finish for the Eagles. Anna Harmon and Allie Thurgood top-ten finishes and gave Flagstaff some more crucial points. Brooke Golightly (Fr.) shut it down for Flagstaff to secure first place with 53 points.
Zoey Delgado pulled through for a 5th place finish, spearheading the Salpointe Lancers to finish second in the team competition, the start of what will hopefully be back-to-back State Championship season.
Summit Boys
The Summit Boys' race capped things off at the Peaks Invitational. Galvin Curley (Navajo Pine) successfully held off Hunter Krasa (Mountain Ridge, Sr.) in 16:55 to 17:07. Despite the altitude change, the Brophy Broncos top three boys fared very well at Buffalo Park. Jose Acuña (Sr.), Xander Black (Jr.), Marco Gonzales (Sr.), finished third, fourth, and fifth in the Summit boys' race.
Despite some deeper finishes from both the Broncos and the Eagles, the boys of Brophy held off Flagstaff on their own turf with a total of 73 points to Flagstaff's 95.