State Meet Highlights - Div 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Arizona State Championships Division 1

They came, they saw, they conquered........they left nothing behind!

The Xavier College Prep girls team emerged with all cylinders firing and every runner on top of their game.  They had a mission to attend to and they accomplished it scoring 22 points and placing all 7 runners in the top 14.  It was the lowest number of points scored by a large school in the history of the sport in Arizona. 

With the State Meet behind them, the team looks forward to the Nike SW Regionals on November 19th.

Here is a quick look at the Xavier College Prep Varsity Team

Sarah Fakler (Jr., Division 1 Champion, 17:48.19)

"I am so proud of the Xavier girls, especially our freshwomen, Jessica Molloy and Lauren Kinzle, who raced at state for the first time! The cool weather and new course also added more excitement to the day."

Sarah has been a consistant contender throughout the season, undefeated in the state of Arizona, winning the Sole Sport Invitational and the Desert Twilight meet.  She also finished 7th overall at the Mt. Sac Invitational in California.

Sarah took the lead from the start and by the time she reached the mile mark she had already put a comfortable distance between herself and 2nd place expanding the lead until she crossed the finish line for her 2nd cross country title.

Laura Orlie (Sr., 3rd place at finish, 18:29.70)

"The race was all about teamwork, we all put our hearts in the race for each other, and knowing that each one of us was out there giving it her all for the team effort made the experience really special."

Laura is having an incredible season as she improves with each meet.  Laura hung back a bit for the start and settled into 5th place throughout the race until making the move to 3rd place late in the race.

Breanna (Bre) Perrone (Sr., 4th place finish, 18:35.11)

"We got pretty lucky with the weather this year, State is usually one of the hotter meets and even with the course change we were still able to put out our best effort"

Bre has had some great races this season (4th at Desert Twilight) but really showed what she could do at Sectionals (1st place) and again at the State Meet with a 4th place finish.

Lauren Kinzle (Fr., 6th place finish, 18:51.79)

"I thought that we, as Coach Messer would say, '"ran with our heads in the first mile, our bodies in the second mile, and our hearts in the third."' I also thought that we ran smart and strong, and I was very pleased with the results."

Lauren made her prep debut run at the 2011 Sole Sports Invite winning the JV division and securing a spot on the Varsity team.  She went on to place 7th overall at the Desert Twilight Meet.

Samantha Mattice (So., 8 place finish, 18:57.88)

"I'm really proud of how we worked as a team to win the State Title for Xavier.  We could not have done it without a lot of hard training and work by our coaches."

Samantha has really earned her place on the Varsity team this year finishing 2nd in the Sole Sports Invite Black Race and 8th at the Desert Twilight meet.

Jessica Molloy (Fr, 11th place finish, 19:09.07)

"Going into the race, I had no idea what to expect since I am a freshman and this was my first high school state championship. I was honestly just honored to be on this team with a group of amazing girls. I wanted to just go out there to try my best for the team and use what my coach said - to not go out too fast. It was a great experience and I look forward to next season."

Jessica had a normal freshman start to the season but really grabbed the coaches attention with her 3rd place finish at Doug Conley.  Her steady improvement earned her a spot on the varsity team, a trip to Mt. Sac in Califonria and a spot on the State Team.

Mckenna Gaffney (Jr., 14th place finish, 19:20.12)

"This will be the third time I had the honor to race on Xavier's State Championship team, and the experience is always unforgettable. The race went out at a brisk pace, but by a mile and a half the race began to thin out. The coaches helped keep us motivated throughout the whole race by strategically placing themselves all throughout the course.  The team's passion and dedication for this sport is why I wake up at 5am in rain or shine to run side by side with these amazing girls 365 days a year. Every girl on my team makes individual sacrifices in their lives making it possible for us to achieve our goals, and when we accomplish these goals it makes the reward that much sweeter."

Mckenna is another strong and consistant runner with top finishes at the Sole Sports Invite (4th) and Desert Twilight (10th).  She continues to improve throughout the season and will be a great asset to the team in their attempt to earn a spot at Nike Team Nationals.

The Desert Vista girls finished 2nd with 81 points with two juniors leading the way.  Jenna Maack finished 5th (18:41.81) for the team and Brittany Tretbar placed 2nd (19:03.08).  Freshman Dani Jones took 16th in 19:29.84 followed by junior Natalie Krafft in 19:41.10.

The Desert Vista girls will also be making a run for the Nike SW Regionals on November 19th.

In the boys race, Bernie Montoya (Jr., Cibola) won his second straight title finishing in 15:46.74 after taking 2 little detours around the course.  The division 1 boys race was the first race of the day on a remarked course due to flooding issues.  Montoya took the lead early and misread the course markings but still managed to win the race with a great time.

Ryan Silva (Jr., Rincon University) gave a late surge in the race to move ahead of David Graham (Sr., Highland) for the win in 15:57.60.  Graham finished in 3rd in 16:00.06.

Highland High, led by David Graham, won their first team championship title with 86 points.  Logan Woolf (Jr.) was the 2nd finisher for highland placing 10th followed by Manuel Aguilar (Sr.) who finished 17th. 

The Desert Vista boys finished 2nd with 123 points led by 6th place finisher Carter Macey (Jr).  Ryan Dykstra, also a junior, was the 2nd finisher for DV finishing in 12th place.

Arizona State Championships Division 2

The Division 2 girls race was without a doubt the most exciting race of the day.  Tatiana Gillick (So., Flagstaff)  and Chloe Newell (Sr., Sahuaro) ran shoulder to shoulder throughout the entire race hitting the 2 mile mark at 12:04.  Both girls stayed tight together until the final 800 meters when Gillick moved ahead finishing the race in 18:29.64 over Newell's 18:49.68.  Gillick's teammate freshman Taylor Taite finished 3rd in 19:21.65.

In the Division 2 boys race, Eduardo Roa (Sr., McClintock) finished the race in 16:03.41 beating 2nd place finisher Chris Lessard (Sr., Maricopa) by 14 seconds (16:17.25.)

Flagstaff won the girls race with 62 points over Sahuaro's 93 points.    Flagstaff placed 3 girls in the top 10 (Gillick 1, Taite 3 and Alix Manci (Fr) in 6th) while Sahuaro had 2 in the top 10 (Newell 1 and Katelyn Jenkins (So.) in 4th.

In the boys race Canyon del Oro took the title with 97 points placing 3 runners in the top 15.  Lucas Rischar (Sr.) led the way with a 5th place finish followed by Andrew Garcia (Jr.) and a 6th place finish and freshman Jacob Rischar in 15th place.

Arizona State Championships Division 3

Rolonda Jumbo (Sr., Chinle) already had a significant lead at the mile mark and continued to broaden it as the race unfolded.  Looking strong throughout the race Jumbo crossed the finish line with ease in 18:27.20.   Diana Garcia (Jr., Tempe) and Leticia Shaban (Sr., Tempe) moved into 2nd and 3rd place respectively just past the 2 1/2 mile mark and held it until the finish.

On the boys side, the lead kept changing throughout the race.  At the mile mark a pack of 6 crossed in 4:46 with Johnathan Yazzie (Chinle) at the point but by the 2 mile mark Jake Wynn (Jr., Saguaro) and Tyler Stamp (Sr., Sabino) were shoulder to shoulder at 9:52 with Juan Wells (Sr., Mingus Union) a second behind but it was Wynn and Stamp who carried the lead all the way to the final 20 meters when Wynn surged ahead for the win in 15:39.59.  Stamp finished 2nd in 15:44.35 with Wells in 3rd in 16:03.10.

After the race, Jake Wynn reflected:  "Going into the race my coach's plan, and mine, was to stay patient but stay within striking distance for the first mile then really pour out a faster pace with surges. But When the gun went off I had a feeling to go faster than I originally planned on. Soo I listened to that feeling and decided to push the first mile, then when we crossed the mile mark I saw the time felt really good and started to increase it from there.  After about mile 1.5 Tyler and I really hammered each other even to the finish line."

Chinle High School walked away with both the girls and the boys team titles.  The girls race was extremely close with only 3 points separating 1st place Chinle (74) and 2nd place Page (77).  Senior Rolonda Jumbo led the way with her first place finished followed by junior Deriann Yazzie in 8th place and Shaniya Smith (Sr) in 16th place.  Page was led by 7th place finisher Jayde Secody (Jr) followed by Nicole Douglas (Jr) in 15th place, Jordan Roskelley (Fr) in 17th and Celeste Claw (Sr) in 18th.  The Chinle Boys earned 71 points for the team title with Rio Rico finishing 2nd with 86 points.  Chinle was led by junior Searle Tracy who finished 4th followed by 9th place finisher Jonathan Yazzie (Sr) and 12th place finisher Charles Manymules (Sr).

Arizona State Championships Division 4

Sarah MacDonald (Jr., Pusch Ridge) set out to run her own race and did so with a big finish.  MacDonald took the lead early in the race and never seemed to slow down finishing in 18:55.28, almost a full minute ahead of 2nd place.  Mikaela Martin (So., Horizon Honors) placed 2nd in 19:54.17 with Northland Prep junior, Keven Griffen in 3rd in 19:56.96.

On the boys side, Nico Montanez (Sr., St. Augustine Catholic) won the division 4 race with a time of 16:16.97 over Arizona Lutheran sophomore Josh Hoskinson who finished in 16:27.61.  Domonic Sinquah (Sr. Hopi) placed 3rd in 16:33.39 with DJ Hoskinson (Sr., Arizona Lutheran) finishing 4th in 16:59.92.

Hopi won both the boys and the girls team titles. The boys won with 52 points over Northland Prep's 81 points.  Hopi placed 5 runners in the top 15 led by 3rd place finisher Domonic Sinquah, Darnell Ben (8th), McCray Huma (12th), Kelsey Jones (14th) and Rex Yellow (15th).  Northland Prep placed runners in 5th (Dominic Tosi), 6th (Cullen Hamblin), 13th (Jonathon Hall), 19th (Andrew Jacobs) and 38th (Nick Schultz). 

The Hopi girls won with 39 points placing the top 5 scoring girls in the top 13 led by Claryn Josytewa (3rd), Charmayne Nelson (4th), Christen Ben (7th), Kaitlin Billy (12th) and Ran Lomayestewa (13th).  Pusch Ridge Christian finished 2nd led by the 1st place finish of Sarah MacDonald.  Grace Johnson (Fr) finished 5th and Kaylee Bowers (So.) placed 19th.