National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

The following are some of the top national and regional highlights for the past week of the 2013 prep cross-country season, through meets of Oct. 19.  Highlights are alphabetical, by state, with the most significant meets followed by additional key performances (“Also ...”).  Some NSAF meet credentials of notable athletes are in italics.  Team and individual national ranking references are from the DyeStat.com (DS) and/or Milesplit.com (MS) latest national and regional rankings.  Multiple rankings shows DS first, then MS. Notation is "both" if DS and MS ranking is same.  Regional ranking references are from DyeStat.com.
 

CALIFORNIA

Orange County Champs, Oct. 19, Irvine Park, 3M – US#21(DS) Villa Park sr Garrett Corcoran 14:28 won a terrific varsity sweeps battle with Brea Olinda soph Austin Tamagno in a battle of two of the Golden State’s best in one of the nation’s most competitive county meets.  El Modena sr Sydney Gidabuday held off several others for 3rd in 14:54.  Tamagno’s CA#4 Brea Olinda took team honors with 57, followed by CA#5 Dana Hills 96, #22 El Toro 104 and 15 others in that race.
Fast-improving US#21(DS) Northwood sr Bethan Knights rolled to a 16:48 win in the girls sweeps race, with Tesoro soph Amanda Gehrich a solitary 2nd in 17:08.  US#17/#12 Capistrano Valley edged #18(DS) Trabuco Hills for the team crown, 69-72, with #25 San Clemente 126 a distant 3rd.

COLORADO

CHSAA Regionals, Oct. 17-18, various locations, 5k – US#2/#3 Denver East sr Cerake Geberkidane stayed unbeaten and kept impressing with a 54-second, 15:10 triumph in 5A Region 1 (10/17, Aurora Sports Pk).  Arapahoe’s first finisher was 96 seconds back in 9th, but their killer 18-second 1-5 spread gained them the team title.  Dakota Ridge nipped Smoky Hill, 60-62, for the girls win with Arapahoe’s Emily Wolff home first in 18:46 ... US#7(both) Cherry Creek jr Jordyn Colter raced to a 17:57, 43-second victory in 5A Region 2 (also 10/17, Aurora Sports Pk), with her US#14/20 team scoring 22 to win by 62.  The boys race was much closer, but Cherry Creek won by 5 over Heritage.
Fort Collins swept 5A Region 4 (10/17, Open Spaces Pk, Northglenn), with US#27/#6 frosh Lauren Gregory pacing the SW#3/US#10/#19 girls (31 pts to Fossil Ridge 83) with her winning 18:33.  It was FC 46 over Fossil Ridge 78 and Rocky Mtn 86 for the boys, with the runner-ups getting individual gold by Keaton Schelir 15:52.2 over Poudre’s Paul Miller 15:56.1 ... SW#5/US#26(DS) Mountain Vista’s boys scored 54 to Chaparral’s 92 to take 5A Region 5 (10/17, Monument Valley, Colo. Springs) while Pine Creek’s Zach Alhamra topped Mtn Vista’s Connor Weaver, 15:44 to 15:52.  Palmer’s Hannah McIntyre 18:33 beat Pine Creek’s Kaleigh Kroeker 18:47, but Kroeker’s team prevailed by 22.
And in 5A Region 3, the SW#4/US#11/#9 Monarch girls scored 42 and won by 40 over Fairview, with Legacy’s Emma Gee first across in 18:17.8 ... Coronado’s Bailey Roth, the NBNO steeple champ last June, took the 4A Region 5 (10/17, Elmwood GC, Pueblo) race in 15:57.
US#3(both) Niwot sr Elise Cranny won the 4A Region 3 (10/18, Broomfield Co. Commons Pk) girls meet by more than two minutes with an eye-popping 16:48 as her team triumphed easily; Ethan Gonzales paced a 1-2 that carried Broomfield’s boys ... In 4A Region 2 (10/17, Monument Vly Pk, Colo. Springs), US#10/#12 Air Academy soph Katie Rainsberger geared up for her showdown with Cranny with a 17:39 win (53 sec. margin) as her team nipped Classical, 42-43.  The AA boys made it a sweep.

CONNECTICUT

FCIAC Champs, Oct. 17, Waveny Pk, G-4k/B-5k – US#6/#9 Staples soph Hannah DeBalsi outdueled Westhill sr Claire Howlett, 13:29 to 13:41, as both were well under the old course record.  Ridgefield had the needed depth in the 4-5 spots to pull out the win with 52 pts to Staples’ 57 in the 14-team field.  DeBalsi was 3rd in the NBNO 2M last June with a 10:16.20.
In the boys’ race, Ridgefield got both the team and individual wins, with sr Trevor Hopper running a CR 15:15 to edge Darien sr Alex Ostberg 15:18, and his team taking 27 markers to easily top NE#5 Darien (59) and 15 other schools.

RHODE ISLAND

Brown Northeast Champs, Oct. 18, Goddard State Pk, East Greenwich, 5k – Two PSAL athletes from New York captured the individual titles in the championship races.  Collegiate jr Marco Pompilj outkicked new St. Benedict’s NJ soph Edwin Rutto, 15:13.4 to 15:17.4, for the boys’ victory while Benjamin Cardozo sr Denise Branch nipped Miller Place NY sr Tiana Guevara, 17:52.2 to 17:53.8 for the girls’ crown.  Also vying for the best time of the day for the boys was Varsity Div. 2 race winner Steve Maine, a Highland Regional NJ sr, who clocked 15:18.7.
The championship boys team title went to Cambridge Rindge and Latin MA, which scored 65 to top St. Anthony’s NY 85, Collegiate 112, Bayport-Blue Point NY 122 and 8 others.  For the girls, it was Northport NY 69, Miller Place 75, Tyngsborough MA 92 and Barrington 96 leading the field of 9.

UTAH

UHSAA Regionals, Oct. 10-16, various locations, 3M – Davis routed each field in Region 1 (10/14, Layton Commons Pk, Syracuse), scoring 23 in each case.  Their US#1/#3 girls were 43 pts up on Syracuse, led by frosh Aubrey Argyle’s 17:56 win (and a 4th-10th sweep), while the US#25(DS) boys were paced by the 1-2 of Skylar Williams and Josh Ward in finishing 27 pts ahead of Weber ... American Fork swept Region 4 (10/16, Westlake HS, Saratoga Springs), with the SW#1/US#3/#6 boys cruising with 30 pts (Westlake 73, SW#3/US#16(DS) Lone Peak 79 among 7 teams), led by the 1-2 finish of US#28(DS) Connor McMillan 14:32.9 and Zac Jacklin 14:42.2.  Herriman’s US#15/#19 Lucy Biles rolled to the Reg. 4 individual girls title by 41 seconds in 16:53 ...
Also nabbing both titles was Ogden in Region 5 (10/16, Weber Cty Fairgrounds, Ogden), with the US#15(DS) boys going 2-3-4 behind Sky View’s dominant winner, Conner Mantz (14:32.5) and scoring 31 to Sky View’s 77.  US#28 Sarah Feeny ran 17:00.34, winning by 34 seconds, to front the US#38 girls to a 33-pt total (Sky View 66, Mtn Crest 67) ... The SW#2/US#7/#21 Park City girls cruised to the Region 10 crown with 15 pts ... In Region 3 (10/12, Cottonwood Complex, Salt Lake City), Bingham doubled up as the SW#3/US#17(DS) boys got a 2-3 finish and scored 34 to Alta’s 42, while the girls nipped Jordan, 27-31.  Individual titles went to Alta’s US#19(MS) Kramer Morton in 15:12.56 and Jordan’s Tavia Dutson in 18:00.79.

VIRGINIA

Milestat.com Invitational, Oct. 19, Pole Green Park, Mechanicsville, 5k – James Robinson HS didn’t have a finisher higher than 19th, but packed their first five within 13 seconds for a 125-pt total to lead the 31-team Varsity ‘A’ field ahead of Midlothian 151, Chantilly 169, Lake Braddock 194, Blacksburg 196 and the rest.  US#30/#24 Thomas Edison sr Louis Colson, 4th in the Great American ROC, won decisively with 15:21, followed by George Marshall’s Mackenzie Haight 15:33, Midlo’s Tommy Mulroy 15:37 and Lake Braddock’s Alex Corbett 15:39.
SE#1/US#28/#10 Blacksburg, the Great American ROC runnerups, countered SE#2/US#29(DS) Lake Braddock’s 1-2 finish in the girls Varsity ‘A’ race – by Hannah Christen 18:08 and Katy Kunc 18:18 – by leading with 10-11-12 and finally moving ahead with a 24-pt marker for their #5.  They scored 76 to LB’s 90, followed by Washington-Lee 136.  Individually, 2nd through 7th were separated by just 7 seconds behind Christen, with Robinson’s Macey Schweikert just behind Kunc in 18:19.

Also ... Unbeaten US#11/#8 West Springfield sr Caroline Alcorta continued her reign of domination with a scorching 17:10.4 at the Third Battle Invite (10/19, Winchester Battlefield, 5k), winning by 1:33.