Girls Runner of the Year: Sadie Sargent, North Summit
1. Sade Sargent, North Summit, Senior
Sadie Sargent probably couldn't have asked for a better season then the one she just had. She accomplished a lot of her goals while dominating the State of Utah and earning a spot at NXN where she went on to make 1st Team All-American. Sadie notched the 3rd best time ever run at the UHSAA State XC Championships in a time of 17:31.10 just behind Sarah Feney, and Courtney Wayment. She continued her epic season by placing 5th at NXR-SW Regionals and followed that with a 7th place performance at NXN. Overall she won 6 of her races this season and finished no later then 7th every time she stepped up to the line.
2. Camille Winterton, Skyline, Senior
Camille Winterton ended off her season how anyone else would have wanted with a trip to footlocker Nationals. Camille placed 3rd in the West region and went on to take a 28th place overall finish at Nationals. Winterton had a great amount of performances over the season including winning her Region, placing 6th at Bob Firman, and taking 3rd place at the State Championship meet where she lead her team to the top over some tough competition.
3. Alissa Fielding, Mountain View, Senior
Alissa Fielding was the only other female athlete besides the two listed above who qualified for a National race. Placing 9th at the West Region, she went on to finish 39th in the most competitive field she has ever raced. Fielding tore it up during the regular season wining a total of 4 races including her first State title. Alissa has already committed to Brigham Young University where she will run alongside Sadie Sargent and Mckenna Lee.
4. Mckenna Lee, Weber, Senior
Mckenna had a later start to the season then most of the other girls and has been battling the injury bug for quite awhile. Despite all that, she managed to still deliver a great season by picking up 3 wins. After winning her first State Title and becoming the first 6A Girls State Champion that Utah has ever had. She pushed on to Footlocker hoping to qualify like she had in 2015 when she was a sophomore. Lee came as close as you could get, but ended up finishing 11th overall missing the trip by one spot. However, Mckenna still came away with a great end to the season and is already planning on continuing Cross County at BYU next fall.
5. Karli Branch, Corner Canyon, Junior
Karli had such a great season and like Mckenna Lee she just missed qualifying for Footlocker Nationals finishing 12th overall at the West Regional. Before that, she was coming off a 3 race win streak where she also took her first State title and which is probably the most memorable race she has ever had. Karli will not only be our top returner for next season, but her team will also be one of the top returning teams as well. Corner Canyon placed 3rd in the 5A race and will return 6 of their top 7 runners. Watch out for Branch next season as I'm sure she'll be gunning for a spot in a National Race.
6. Eliza Arrington, Lone Peak, Freshman
Eliza Arrington had one of the best seasons a freshman could ever ask for. She had an average placement of about 13th including her last two races which were the best two races of her career so far. The first was down in AZ for NXR-SW where Eliza finished 8th overall in the race and missed qualifying for NXN ultimately by two spots as an individual, and one spot as a team. She also ran a new PR for a 5k in that race, clocking a time of 17:44.00. She then moved on to Footlocker Nationals where she finished 13th overall and missed making the cutoff by a mere 3 spots! Eliza is only a freshman though and I bet we will see her at one of these races later in her young career.
7. Anna Martin, Lehi, Sophomore
Anna Had such a great season and while she was a bit under the radar until later in the season, she managed to deliver every time she raced. She won the dreaded Wasatch XC invitational in a time of 20:05 and was in the top 3 of her races for the majority of the season. She finished 31st at NXR-SW but then went on to place 14th at Footlocker West missing a qualifying spot by 4 places! Anna has not ever raced track as far as our records show so hopefully we'll be able to see her showcase her talent in 2018.