Brittany Tretbar leads a Desert Vista team with a steadily rising profile on the regional scene. Photo by Margot Kelly.
This week's tour of the region starts in Utah.
I've experienced trouble with getting the actual regional results from Utah, but this much I've been able to figure out:
1. Davis plowed through their region on both the boys' and girls' sides.
Newspaper Article - Davis HS regional domination
2. Pine View advanced their boys to state--I presume that was done with ease, but I can't even find coverage of it in the St. George newspaper. A team this good deserves better, just sayin'.
3. Ogden's girls advanced to state.
4. Austin West is listed on the state roster for American Fork. That's a quick recovery, but I assume there's a Plan B if he isn't ready to go on Wednesday.
Utah State Meet Entries
For most of Utah's stronger teams, regionals were little more than a hoop to jump through en route to state. State will tell a great deal more about how the top teams from Utah sort out. Results should be up on Wednesday.
Out in Nevada, the Centennial (Las Vegas) team went to the Canyon Country Invitational in California. Nick Hartle picked up a nice win at three miles by going 15:07. Team-wise, Centennial bested the 17-team field, but I'm hard pressed to tell you how strong that field was. Arcadia was at the meet, but apparently not with their varsity squad. Centennial's fifth runner was in at 16:44. That's a big one-five gap, but probably a little exaggerated by Hartle's strength.
Canyon Country Invitational
Southern Nevada held their Sunrise/Sunset League meets sans Centennial. Shadow Ridge seemed to have the best boys' team present, and Palo Verde posted another nice performance for the girls. The times for 5K appear a bit slowish, but I may be underestimating the course. And, it's worth noting that as good as Shadow Ridge looked this weekend, they have an enormous gap between 4 and 5 to bridge.
Once again, I'm stymied for Reno-area results, but I'll keep checking the usual sources to see if anything turns up.
Sunrise/Sunset League Meets
A big thanks to Phil Lawton who helped clue me in to what happened with the southern Nevada schools this weekend. It's much appreciated!
In New Mexico, just about everyone headed to Rio Rancho for the Rio Rancho Jamboree. The local eateries should give Sal Gonzales year-round free meals in recognition of the fact that he brings in an enormous crowd of hungry travelers two weekends each fall. At the very least, they should spearhead a campaign to support the next school bond/mill levy issue. Sal, you're welcome to excerpt this part of the article and show it to the local restaurant owners. Happy to be of service.
Ringing coffers aside, the boys' side of the RR Jamboree went true to form. Albuquerque Academy stormed through the field to win by not 50, not 60, not 70, not 80, but 90 points over second-place La Cueva. La Cueva had a 12-point margin over Los Alamos for third. AA did it in their usual fashion--packing all five scoring runners high in the field (in this case, in the top 12). Rio Rancho was missing standout Caleb Rubalcaba for the second week in a row. I'm hoping we haven't started a MileSplit cover jinx by publishing his photo on a recent cover.
The big surprise on the girls' side was the absence of Julia Foster. Once again, I'm hoping this is nothing serious, but it does raise the eyebrows a little when New Mexico's top female harrier misses the biggest meet in the invitational season (and her team was there).
Among the runners and teams who were there, Los Alamos took home the big prize, 67-78 over Eldorado. Everyone else accumulated quite a few more points and were non-factors in the team race.
Rio Rancho Jamboree
In Colorado, league bragging rights were being settled all across the state. The biggest matchup of interest came in the Front Range League meet, pitting Fort Collins vs. Boulder vs. Monarch. Only Monarch chose to rest the regulars this weekend. In Monarch's absence, Boulder's girls nipped the Fort Colllins girls by one point. Kelsey Lakowske ran sub-18 on an historically fast course for the win. Erin Hooker just missed 18:00.
The Fort Collins boys demolished the field with four boys under 16:20. "Take notice, world," would appear to be the message.
Front Range League Meet
The Centennial League crowned Smoky Hill as boys champions in a tight finish over Cherry Creek. The Arapahoe girls won another tight finish over Cherry Creek's girls. It wasn't Cherry Creek's day for a break, apparently. Conner Winter was at the meet and appearing like he might be close to running again. It remains to be seen if he will and, if so, how much the forced layoff will mess with his race.
Centennial League Meet
Most other league meets went very much according to form with most powerhouse teams encountering little resistance. Pine Creek's girls ran without Heather Bates, however, and slipped to third in their league meet.
Colorado Springs Metro League Meet
And that would leave Arizona...
But there would be very little newsworthy coming out of Arizona this weekend. It looks like the top teams mostly took the weekend off. Many, of course, are headed to Mt. SAC next weekend, followed by state qualifying, followed by state on November 6.
The meet of greatest consequence was the Ken Denson Invitational, hosted by Sandra Day O'Conner HS. Cactus Shadows won the girls division and Boulder Creek the boys division, but neither victory gave hints of serious new NXN-SW contenders.
Ken Denson Invitational