Rampage Set For The Desert Under The Stars

This might be the best boys' field that we've ever seen at Desert Twilight. In recent years, several of Texas' best out of El Paso have joined the mix of southwest athletes stirring in Casa Grande's oasis. This Friday, we'll see a few more of Texas' best slug it out in the desert oasis against several new faces out southwest.



Individual Boys

Cole Sprout blazed 14:33 for a course record last year in the Boys Sweepstakes race, and as the top returner in the nation, he's made it clear that he's on a rampage. Earlier this month he opened his season with a 14:38 performance at Liberty Bell, so be prepared for him to demolish his record.

Our boy, Leo Daschbach is making no secret of his ambitions to smash every record he possibly can. A year ago, Daschbach ran 14:53 to finish 5th in the Sweepstakes race. This season he's only run Desert Solstice, but he's more prepared to give it all he's got here at home.

Let's not write off Thomas Boyden as the sole representative from Utah. He's a Foot-Locker All-American and this past weekend, Boyden dominated Bob Firman at altitude in Eagle 14:59 and we can't wait to see how he does at sea-level.

Outside of those top three favorites to snag the victory there are a handful of out of state boys who could follow them under fifteen minutes. Kevin Conlon ran 15:09 up at Liberty Bell and is currently the ranked third among Colorado boys.

In recent years, the Lone Star State has represented well at Twilight with a ton of El Paso schools finding hardware in the desert. El Paso Hanks' Michael Abeyta and Roger Rivera both finished among the top ten at Twilight last year, and both of them could very well run under the fifteen-minute mark this Friday.

Texas' 6A State Champions Conroe The Woodlands from Houston, TX will also be bringing the firepower to Arizona. Ryan Cardinal (The Woodlands, Sr.) finished third under fifteen minutes at Texas' UIL State Championships and his teammate and fellow senior Ethan Hammer finished among the top-ten boys at State.

Finally, Braedon Palmer and Hunter Krasa have shown up well in the early season for the Copper State and they are certainly capable of running with the best in the west. Jordan Black has also made leaps and bounds over the past year and could run one of the fastest performances ever for a small school athlete.