Boys Varsity Race:
Teams
Like they've done many times this season already, the American Fork boys showed us why they're ranked #1 in the state. Competing against some very good teams, they still nearly managed to perfect score. They finished with only 27 points and finished with four of the top five individuals placings 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 14th. All seven boys finished in the top 20 and the top five averaged 15:59.38 for three miles. This year, the course was soaking wet and slippery from heavy rain the day before so times could've been even faster.
The Mountain View boys were the second place team on Saturday with a total score of 67 points. They finished two boys in the top ten and four in the top 15. No easy feat. when competing against American Fork. The top five runners averaged 16:20. The third place team with 117 points was Westlake and they were closely followed by Pine View with 120 points.
Individuals
Like mentioned before, American Fork crushed the individual race. #9 ranked Ashton Hysell began his race further back than he planned. Over the first mile, he moved up to the lead pack. He finally caught them but making up so much distance in the first mile didn't seem to bother him as he pushed the pace with Westlake's Michael Moffat while they separated from the pack. With about half a mile to go, Ashton really turned on the burners and made Michael work to keep up. Finally, with a quarter mile to go, Ashton let loose and won in a time of 15:33. Moffat finished strong with a time of 15:41 followed by three more American Fork boys Nathan Jaster, Kooper Dibb, and Ben McBride.
Girls Varsity Race
Teams
The girls team race was much closer. Throughout the race, it was a battle between Westlake, #5 ranked Pine View, Lone Peak, and Mountain View. Normally, Lone Peak would be the obvious favorite. This wasn't the case on Saturday as their full varsity squad was in Idaho for the Bob Firman Invitational. Lone Peak ran their JV team instead. In the end, a few Westlake and Pine View girls finished near the front. Both teams had three girls in the top ten. Lone Peak's first girl came in at 10th place. At this point, it looked like it was between Pine View and Westlake for the team title. What came next was incredible. Lone Peak brought all of their top five runner to the line in the top 20. They had an unbelievable 1-5 spread of 22 seconds. This brought them back into the fight for the team title. In the end, Pine View won with 63 points and Lone Peak followed closely behind with 68 points. Westlake also finished strong with 80 points.
Pine View's top 5 girls averaged 19:34. That is obviously very fast. What's even more surprising though, is Lone Peaks average of 19:37. Lone Peak's varsity team has front runners and a short spread. The JV team showed insight to just how deep they really are though. When a JV team finishes only 5 points behind the #5 ranked team in the state, you know that it's a great team.
Individuals
The individual race was a bit of a surprise too. Westlake's Emma Heslop, Pine View's Jessica Hill, and North Summit's Elizabeth Zwahlen were expected to fight for the title. Emma had different plans. Early on in the race, she took the lead and began to push the pace. The problem however, was that she didn't stop pushing the pace. Emma Heslop kept her foot on the pedal for the rest of the race and finished in 18:18 which was an outstanding 16 seconds ahead of second place finisher and #8 ranked Elizabeth Zwahlen. To add to the win, Emma later described the effort as a tempo. After a second place finish at BYU Autumn Classic and now this, Emma Heslop is showing that she's one of the top athletes in the state. To round of the top five, Elizabeth Zwahlen finished in 18:34, Jessica Hill finished 3rd in 18:48, Wasatch's Abbie Randall finsihed 4th in 19:03, and Alli Baker finished 5th in 19:17.
Boys Varsity Race:
Teams
Like they've done many times this season already, the American Fork boys showed us why they're ranked #1 in the state. Competing against some very good teams, they still nearly managed to perfect score. They finished with only 27 points and finished with four of the top five individuals placings 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 14th. All seven boys finished in the top 20 and the top five averaged 15:59.38 for three miles. This year, the course was soaking wet and slippery from heavy rain the day before so times could've been even faster.
The Mountain View boys were the second place team on Saturday with a total score of 67 points. They finished two boys in the top ten and four in the top 15. No easy feat. when competing against American Fork. The top five runners averaged 16:20. The third place team with 117 points was Westlake and they were closely followed by Pine View with 120 points.