Division 4 Section 1 (all photos by Margot Kelly)
The Arizona Lutheran boys team won their first Regional/Sectionals title in the history of the school last Friday led by junior DJ Hoskinson (pictured below).
Hoskinson tucked in behind Veritas Prep runner Tomas Hull during the 5K race and with 300 meters left made his move and sprinted to the finish clocking a 17:30 and gaining 12 seconds on Hull.
“I knew if I stayed behind him (Hull) I could catch him at the end,” said a very elated Hoskinson.
As happy as Hoskinson was about his first place finish, he was even more excited about how the team did.
“I feel really awesome about my team because of our coach who has been coaching us for 3 years, and the progress we made. Having my little brother on the team makes it fun too.”
The young team made it to State last year and believed they would make it again but was hoping for a top 2 finish on Friday.
“Going into the season our coach set goals for us and we set goals for ourselves,” continued Hoskinso. “Our coach didn’t know about our goals until after this race when we told him. Our goal was 1 or 2 at sectionals and we thought we could take the race if we all went out and ran hard.”
And that is exactly what they did.
Arizona Lutheran finished the race with 60 points over Horizon Honors (76 pts) and Veritas Prep (77 pts.)
Freshman Josh Hoskinson (DJ’s little brother) finished 5th , JD Uhlhorn took 10th, Isaac Hayes finished 19th and Carl Buchholt finished out the top 5 in 25th.
In the girls race, 1st time cross country runner Lorne Snyder (Sr., Scottsdale Christian, pictured left) won with a 45 second lead over second place Emily Hedberg of Tempe Prep.
Snyder began running last spring for the 2010 Track season.
“Since freshman year my athletic trainer has been telling me to run track and I kept ignoring him. Last year, my junior year, he finally convinced me to run track and here I am, out here for cross country.
Snyder’s track season went pretty well with a 2nd place finish in the 1600 at regionals and a 7th place finish at state. She also placed 5th in the 3200 at state.
The day before sectionals Snyder became ill and wasn’t sure how she was going to do but a mile and a half into the race she took the lead and stayed there until the finish.
How did she feel at the finish? “ I wanted to probably die!” she said with a laugh, still recovering from the day before.
Valley Christian won the team event with 69 points led by Ashton Wolf who finished 3rd followed by 12th place finisher Shanna Chen, 15th place finisher Lauren Lakes, 18th finisher Allora Dubay and 21st finisher Amber Rogerson.
Division 1 Section 3
Highland senior Cory Breinholt (pictured right) won the boys race with a time of 16:22 over Ryan Silva (Rincon University). Silva took the lead at the start of the race until Breinholt moved ahead just past the mile mark. The two runners ran close to each other until Breinholt broke away during the final stretch.
“I’m the kind of runner who likes to run with someone,” said Breinholt after the race. “It gets pretty lonely out there on the backstretch.”
Breinholt has been getting stronger as the season progresses and should do very well at the state meet.
Corona del Sol won the boys team title with 51 points over Highland’s 79 points. Corona’s top 5 runners finished 4th (Jared Hirschl), 6th (Jake Whitney), 8th (James Hurt), 14th (Daniel Wrapp) and 19th (Ryan Normand).
Highland had a great meet as Tori Haberman (pictured left) won the girls race in 19:33 ahead of 2nd place runner Bora Leanard (Buena). Haberman moved to the front of the race at the start and continued to increase her lead all the way to the finish line.
The highland girls won the team title placing all 5 of their scoring runners in the top 17. Maddie Riggs finished 6th followed by Megan Wakefield in 13th, Kristy Rush (1st race back since Doug Conley) in 15th and Emily Shaw in 17th.
Other Sectional Races Around The State……………
Division 1 Section 1
Bernie Montoya (Cibola) won the boys race in 15:23.61 beating both Jorge Martinez (Alhambra, 15:33.82) and Will Firth (Brophy, 15:48.51)
Alhambra won the team title with 43 points and a total team time of 1:20:53.96 over Desert Vista and Brophy Prep, both with 68 points. The 6th runner was the tie breaker putting Desert Vista's in 2nd place.
Monica Houston (Cibola) won the girls race in 19:01.20 over Desert Vista's Britanny Tretbar who finished in 19:10.04.
Desert Vista won the girls team event with 34 points over Xavier College Prep with 38 points. DV’s average time was 19:37.02 with Xavier averaging 19:41.91. Xavier did not run some of their top girls at Sectionals.
Division 1 Section 2
Joshua Espinoza (Deer Valley) won the boys title with a time of 16:30.75 over
Fermin Villagran from Skyline who finished in 16:34.73.
Mesa Mountain View won the boys title with 53 points and an average time of 16:55.59 whilte skyline finished 2nd with 95 points and an average time 17:11.10.
Brianna Decker (Jr., Mesa Mtn. View) is back looking strong as she won the girls race in 19:12.96 over Marissa Opatz (Desert Mountain) in 19:39.73.
Mesa Mountain View won the girls team title with an incredible 28 points and an average team time of 20:09.10. Mesa Mt. View placed all 5 scoring runners in the top ten and all 7 runners in the top 25.
Division 2 Section 1
Brandon Kocmoud (Sunrise Mountain) won the boys title in 16:35.89 over Prescott’s Hayden Brandon who finished 2nd in 17:03.86.
Sunrise Mountain won with a slight 2 point advantage over Prescott, finishing with 67 points.
Christine Vanderhout (Notre Dame Prep) won the girls event in 20:07.74 and Kirsten Linnartz (Sunnyslope) finished 2nd in 20:26.14.
Notre Dame Prep won the team title for the girls with 67 points over Cactus Shadow who finished with 79 points.
Division 2 Section 2
Rex Woodbury (Catalina Foothills) won the boys race in 16:07 over Daniel Wong (Canyon del Oro) who finished in 16:21.
Catalina Foothills finished the race with 38 points for the win and an average team time of 16:54.94. Flowing Wells took 2nd with 79 points and an average time of 17:20.42
Konnie C. Zuniga (Nogales) edged Kerri Lenihan (Marana Mt. View) for the win by finishing in 19:21.1 over Lenihan's 19:25.3.
Zuniga leg the Nogales team to a win with 61 points. Sahuaro finished 2nd with 78 points.
Division 2 Section 3
Eric Zuza (Camelback) won the boys race in 15:55.46 followed by 2nd place finisher Eduardo Roa (McClintock) who clocked a 16:11.92.
Camelback won the team event with 60 points and an average time of 17:01.73.
South Mountain finished 2nd with 75 points and an average team time of 17:18.35.
On the girls side Marcos De Niza placed all 5 runners in the top 10 starting with senior Kylee Kieser who won the girls race with a time of 19:43.75 followed by Paige Libsack in 20:04.90 for a 2nd place finish and Jessey Tenioro in 20:18.98 who finished 3rd. Also scoring for the team were Jasmine Trigueros who finished 6th and Kaitlyn Law who placed 7th.
Marcos won the girls title with an impressive 19 points over 2nd place team Verrado with 102 points.
Division 3 Section 1
Jake and Zach Wynn led their Saguaro team to victory by placing 1 and 2 respectively finishing the race in a photo finish with less then a half second between them. Jake finished 1st in 16:27.60 with Zach following in 16:27.97. Also scoring for the team were Brett Calderwood who finished 5th followed by Juan Cortes in 6th and Will Gilbreath in 8th.
Greenway boys finished 2nd with 66 points and all 5 runners in the top 18.
On the girls side Ashley Kealamakia (Liberty) won the girls race in 18:55.91 over Greenway senior Kayla Freeman who finished the race in 19:08.49.
Saguaro won the girls team title with 61 points with Greenway finishing 2nd with 67 points.
Division 3 Section 2
Billy Orman (Tuba City) won the boys race with 37 second lead for a time of 15:10.6 over Tracy Searle (Chinle) who finished the race in 15:47.5.
Searle led the Chinle team to the team title with 59 points and an average team time of 16:31.24. Flagstaff finished 2nd with 88 points and an average time of 16:51.
Junior Rolonda Jumbo (Chinle) won the girls race at Buffalo Park with a time of 18:53.9. Freshman Tatiana Gillick (Flagstaff) finished 2nd in 19:06.8.
Chinle won the team title with 51 points over Page who finished close behind with 58 points.
Division 3 Section 3
Aeoleone Bristow (Rio Rico) won the girls title in 19:09.8 over Sabino’s Haley Stenquist who finished 2nd in 19:20.1
Sabino placed 5 runners in the top 13 for a 43 points finish over Rio Rico who gathered 73 points for 2nd place.
Alejandro Montano (Catalina) had a 3 second lead over Alejandro Valencia (Rio Rico) for a 15:58 win in the boy’s race. Valencia’s time was 16:01.4.
Rio Rico won the boys title by placing all 5 scoring runners in the top 10 finshing with 32 points and an average time of 17:11.48. Catalina placed 2nd with 83 points and an average time of 17:42.62.
Division 4 Section 2
Justin Secakuku (Hopi) won the boys 3 Mile race in Flagstaff with a 16:21.3. Winston Tsosie (Pino) placed 2nd in 16:38.4.
Hopi won the boys race with 46 points placing their scoring runners in the top 15 and all 7 runners in the top 20. Many Farms finished 2nd with 65 points.
Sophomore Mykala Seresun (Sedona Red Rock) won the girls 3 mile race in 19:36.5 over Northland Prep Sophomore (Keven Griffen) who finished with a time of 19:43.5
3 points separated Sedona Red Rock and Hopi as Sedona finished with 40 points over Hopi’s 43 points.
Division 4 Section 3
Nico Montanez (St. Augustine) won the boys race by a very slight margin finishing in 17:21.8 over Caleb Herrera (Pusch Ridge Christian) who finished 2nd in 17:22.1. Herrera led Pusch Ridge to the team title by a very small 1 point margin finishing with 52 points over St. Augustine’s 53 points.
Sarah Macdonald (Pusch Ridge Christian) won the girls race in 21:09.9 with teammate Brennan Smith taking 2nd in 21:23.4. The 2 girls led their team to victory with 30 points over Thatcher who finished 2nd with 71 points. Pusch Ridge placed 5 girls in the top 14 and all 7 girls in the top 16.