Splattered in mud from head to toe, Connor McMillan crosses the NXN finish line for American Fork. Photo by Patty Morgan.
For almost 20 long minutes, the entire state of Utah dared to hope--dared to hope that American Fork might bust through and win at Nike Cross Nationals.
In the end, they did bust through--snapping a three-year string of moderately disappointing finishes at Nike Cross Nationals--with a second-place team finish and coming oh-so-close to the national title.
Only a rousing finish from Arcadia, another team wholly foreign to running on muddy courses, kept American Fork out of the title position. You could see the slightest edge of disappointment in the eyes of Coach Mostert and the American Fork boys on the stage, but this was a great finish to a great season, regardless. This is the kind of finish that has been eluding Coach Mostert's crew for at least the last two years.
Brayden McLelland and Connor McMillan nailed down top-ten finishes in team scoring to get things started. Zac Jacklin added 20. Caleb Thompson and Tyson Green added scores in the 40s. All finished under 18:30 on what ranks as easily one of the sloppiest days ever on the Portland Meadows course--at least rivaling the 2007 conditions. Tyler Bell and Spencer Herzog finished six and seven for the Cavemen in an effort that won't go down as their best times of the season, but just may measure out as their best efforts of the season. This was surely a day for strength-based teams, and the 2012 American Fork boys proved they belong among the very best strength-based teams this country has known.
American Fork held the lead in the team scoring through each of the four (more or less) 1K "checkpoints" of the race, They improved their overall scoring position in the final kilometer of the race, but, unfortunately, not as much as Arcadia did. Arcadia's final total of 108 points beat American Fork by 14 points.
The second-place finish ties the high-water mark for a team from the Southwest region and ranks as the best NXN finish by a Southwest team, either gender, since the Nike Cross Regionals qualifying system went into place in 2007.
Davis would finish 12th, led by the return of Preston Johnson, who scored 22 team points. The finish by the Davis boys nearly mirrored the finish of the Davis girls, who finished 12th. Ellie Child took top honors among the Davis girls, and among all Utah individuals, finishing 39th and scoring 14 team points.
Lucy Biles, Utah's only female individual in the race, finished 52nd.
Among Utah's individual boys, Jordan Cross finished 23rd and Jake Heslington 28th. Brayden McLelland was the first Utah boy to cross the finish line in 17:25.