Sarah Feeny crests the hill at Sugarhouse Park (State XC 2012) She kicked off 2013 with a win at Sugarhouse at the Highland XC Invite- Photo by Kyle Perry
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Highland High School hosted its Cross Country invite Thursday night and the meet did not disappoint. It was the first big meet of the year and provided great insight to where the teams are in the early going this season.
Girls Individual-
The individual race was a landslide victory by Sarah Feeny. She won by 40 seconds over a very talented Lucy Biles. Feeny’s time of 16:53 is very impressive, and shows that she didn’t lose much in the summer after a great track season. Biles was second, but like we said in the preview, Lucy always brings it when it really counts. Her time was great today, but she will want to bridge that gap to Feeny as the season progresses.
Tavia Dutson of Jordan was 3rd. Her rust buster came last week at the Premier invite. Yesterday she showed up ready to run. She was only 7 seconds behind Biles with a time of 17:40. Marlee Mitchell came in just behind Dutson, finishing 4th with a time of 17:41. She is a great asset to the Miners this season and this performance is evidince of that. Hannah Albrichtsen led the Davis charge placing 5th with a time of 17:44.
The meet was all classifications, so everyone got to battle it out with runners from 1A to 5A. Alyssa Snyder showed she is going to be a threat in the 3A class for the individual title. she was 7th overall with a time of 17:50. Emily Sundquist showed that she is a favorite in her classification, leading all 2A runners placing 33rd in 19:07.
Individual Results
1-Sarah Feeny – Ogden – 16:53
2-Lucy Biles- Herriman- 17:33.1
3-Tavia Dutson – Jordan – 17:40.7
4-Marlee Mitchell – Bingham – 17:41.0
5-Hannah Albrechtsen – Davis – 17:44.5
6-Mary Christensen – Timpanogos- 17:49.4
7-Alyssa Snyder – Park City – 17:50.0
8-Hannah Malone- Box Elder – 18:00. 01
9-McKayla Morgan – Riverton – 18:03.0
10-Whitney Rich – Bingham – 18:05.3
Girls Team-
There was a question during the off season of how well Davis would rebuild after they lost some top tier talent. The story of the night is that the Darts pick up pretty close to right where they left off, on top. They smashed the field by 54 points and showed their summer training went very well. Bingham was 2nd in the race and ran strong, led by Marlee Mitchell who was 4th overall on the day. This team is a lot stronger than we originally anticipated and they kicked off the year with a win at the Premier Invite and then a great 2nd place here.
Timpanogos emerged as one of the front runners in the 4A classification. They were 3rd overall in the meet and beat out 4A competitors Ogden and Mountain Crest, both of which are ranked nationally. Mary Christensen led Timpanogos in 6th place overall.
Park City was 4th overall and the top 3A team. They were led by Alyssa Snyder in 7th overall and Sophie McDonald in 12th. The miners had a 2:31 spread from 1-5 which will be the one thing they will want to work on, but for a rust buster they are in a great place to start the season.
Mountain Crest was our top pick for the state going in to the season, and yesterday they showed they might have a little work to do. Given, the first meet of the year is just the starting place, it is a short season, and they will look to get up, brush off the dust, and runner better next week. We still have high hopes for this team but they do have work left to do.
Stansbury was 10th overall, but showed that they deserve a little more credit in their classification as they ran very well against the 4A 5A teams yesterday. They were about 80 points behind Park City who is the favorite for 3A this year.
Girls Team Results
1-Davis -62
2-Bingham- 116
3-Timpanogos- 144
4-Park City- 171
5-Odgen- 196
6-Jordan – 201
7-Mountain Crest- 208
8-Skyline – 209
9-Lehi- 213
10-Stansbury - 274
Kramer Morton, pictured here winning state XC 2012, Kicked off 2013 XC with a win at the Highland Invite
Boys Individual-
Kramer Morton and Conner Mantz were both footlocker finalists last season, they are both picked to finish very high there again this year. The one question was how well they could kick off this season. Well last night they showed us its going to be a great year. Morton edged Mantz out by only half a second, winning in 14:48.5. The Alta star is the favorite to repeat as 5A state champion. Mantz is only a junior from Sky View and will look to win the 4A state title as well as being a national contender.
Behind Morton and Mantz was Brady Early of Riverton. Early’s performance was huge for a Riverton team that has potential to really do big things this season. He was 3rd overall and only 10 seconds behind the winner. Andrew Brewer led a Bingham charge with a 4th place finish. The Miners confirmed that they are the real deal. Brewer will hope to close the gap to Morton and Mantz as the season progresses, but was only 16 seconds back in 4th.
Rory Linkletter of Herriman had a good day as he missed beating Brewer by only .4 seconds. He is a huge key for a Herriman team that has a little work to do to get into state qualifying position. Mike Buckley was 6th, just behind Linkletter. Buckley was the top 4A runner besides Mantz, and confirmed that he is the one of the favorites in the classification.
Individual Results
1-Kramer Morton – Alta – 14:48.5
2-Conner Mantz – Sky View – 14:49.0
3-Brady Early – Riverton – 14:59.4
4-Andrew Brewer – Bingham – 15:04.3
5-Rory Linkletter- Herriman – 15:04.7
6-Mike Buckley – Ogden – 15:15.1
7-Skylar Williams – Davis – 15:17.4
8-Caleb Walker – Bingham – 15:30.0
9-Bryson Walker – Bingham – 15:33.4
10-Adam Haynes – Bingham – 15:34.1
Boys Team
Bingham is 2 for 2 on the season. Last week they perfect scored the Premier Invite, and again yesterday winning the Highland Invitational against a lot of the top talent in the state. A big help to the Miners, behind their star Brewer, was Caleb and Bryson Walker placing 8th and 9th overall and Adam Haynes 10th. They’re already looking great, and if they can trim a little more off their 5th man spread, they are have a real shot at going to NXN.
Just behind Bingham was Davis. The Darts looked very strong with a spread of only 38 seconds. With a spread like that and Skylar Williams placing 7th, it’s a wonder they got beat at all. Davis and Bingham definitely separated themselves from the rest of the field and set the stage for some great battles this season. When we get AF and Lone Peak in the mix, who knows what will happen.
Timpanogos and Ogden battled it out for 3rd place, with both teams that they truly are at the top of the 4A classification. Led by Mckay Mace, Timpanogos also boasted a great spread of only 42 seconds. It was that spread that gave Timpanogos the edge over Ogden, as they were only separated by 1 point after 4 scorers.
Riverton was 5th on the day on the backs of a very good 1-3 performance. Brady Early was 3rd overall, with 400m stars Clay Lambourne and Michael Bluth placing 14th and 26th respectively. Westlake also deservs a mention, as they were 6th, despite their top runner not having his best day. They look like they are in a fine position to start the season.
Stansbury had a very solid performance placing 7th, gaining some 3A attention heading in to the season.
Boys Team Results –
1-Bingham – 74
2-Davis – 80
3-Timpanogos- 144
4-Ogden- 158
5-Riverton – 179
6-West Lake -189
7-Stansbury – 227
8-Herriman – 255
9-Sky View- 314
10-Mountain Crest - 337