Mia Hall handily secured her second cross country title as the second fastest girl of the day. (photo by John Hays)
From the gun, Mia Hall (Flagstaff) seized control of the D2 Girls' Race and never relinquished. First, she crossed the one-mile mark ten seconds ahead of the competition in 5:53. Then, she clocked 11:35 through the two-mile checkpoint, thirty-seven seconds ahead of the competition. By the time Hall would come through the finish-line in 18:06 for her second cross-country State Title, she had extended her lead by a massive 53-seconds.
Behind Hall, there was a four-way fight for second-place was contested by Madelyn Palmer of Sunrise Mountain, Nya Valenzuela of Deer Valley, Taylor McCue of Catalina Foothills, and Clara Jones of Campo Verde. Palmer led the chase through the first mile but was overtaken by McCue and Valenzuela. McCue pressed to maintain her hold on second place, with only super sophomore Clara Jones on her heels. Jones overtook McCue to clinch the runner-up finish in just under 19-minutes as the fastest sophomore of the day, followed by McCue placing third in her second ever showing at Cave Creek Golf Course.
The fight for the D2 Girls Team Title was projected to be razor thin between Casteel and Flagstaff to put it mildly, and the race did not disappoint in the least. Casteel Senior Jadyn Herron-Jonap led the way for the Colts, with their bright neon yellow jerseys acting like lanterns among a field of 201 girls, the largest race of the day.
"Our coach tells us to always keep another Casteel teammate in our sights," said Celedonia Jensen. Herron-Jonap climbed to fourth place among D2 Girls, followed by Palmer and Valenzuela. Flagstaff's Makennah Mitchell (Jr.) finished 7th to give Flagstaff a brief edge, followed by Kaylin Lacher (Desert Mountain, Sr.) in 8th place and Annie Killian (McClintock, So.) in 9th, both just under twenty minutes.
Natalia Medina (Casteel, So.) held off Kristin Harris (Flagstaff, Fr.) to finish 13th and was soon followed by Kyah Zurek (Casteel, So.) in 20:22 to finish 16th. Then Sydnee Elliott (Casteel, Sr.) placed 21st to take the last medal of the race, and Olivia Jensen (Casteel, Fr.) passed eight girls over the last mile to seal the deal for the Colts, whose five scorers finished ahead of Flagstaff's third. In spite of the field's depth, the Colts had maintained their rock-solid team lead for their first ever State Title, snapping Flagstaff's six-year winning streak at the AIA Cross-Country State Championships.
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