High school cross-country: Southern Utah teams make strong showing at divisional meet

Written by Jeff Richards
October 11, 2023
4A athletes compete in a divisional meet to qualify for state, Lakeside Park, Orem, Utah, Oct. 10, 2023 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — All seven Region 9 high schools have qualified to compete in the upcoming state cross-country championships. 

At the inaugural Utah 3A-6A Divisionals staged Tuesday on a 5K course at Orem’s Lakeside Park, the boys and girls teams from Cedar, Desert Hills and Pine View all finished among the top three teams in their respective races.

The purpose of Tuesday’s qualifying meet was to pare down the number of teams for the state meet, which will be staged at Salt Lake City’s Regional Athletic Complex on Oct. 24. 

In the case of the 4A classification, the field was narrowed down from 26 schools to 20. Dixie High’s boys team was the only Region 9 squad to miss the cut for state. Although Dixie’s girls finished 11th in the Section B race, they still qualified for state, as they had five individual runners make the cut.

In the 4A girls B race, Desert Hills took second as a team with 63 points, just three points behind Orem’s 60 (points correspond to each runner’s order of finish, so lower scores are better). Desert Hills also was the runner-up in the 4A boys B race, scoring 56 points to winner Mountain View’s 24.

The Cedar Reds placed third in both the girls B and the boys A races, while Pine View captured third in both the girls A and boys B races. 

4A athletes compete in a divisional meet to qualify for state, Lakeside Park, Orem, Utah, Oct. 10, 2023 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

Teams were assigned either the A or B races based on their order of finish at their region championships, with the odd numbers competing in the Section B and even in Section A.

Individually, the top Region 9 finishers were as follows:

In the 4A girls B race, sophomore Kendra Raiger of Desert Hills finished fourth overall with a time of 20:07.1. Her teammate Olivia Lay placed ninth in 20:16.5. Cedar’s Lucy Eckley (20:14.4) and Kendee Corry (20:32.6) placed eighth and 11th, respectively.

Meanwhile, in the 4A girls A race, Snow Canyon sophomore Maggie Crosby placed ninth overall with a time of 20:29.

In the 4A boys B race, Desert Hills senior Walker Brinkerhoff took second place overall (out of 90 runners), posting a time of 16:22.6. Pine View’s Bridger Jaggi (16:46.9) and Talmage Wright (16:54.1) finished in fourth and seventh, respectively. Besides Brinkerhoff, Desert Hills saw four other runners place among the top 17, namely Tucker Larsen (10th), George Watkins (11th), Jack Wells (16th) and Logan Boyer (17th).

And in the 4A boys A race, the top four Region 9 finishers were all from Cedar High, led by senior Ben Norton, who placed fourth with a time of 16:52.2. Also for the Reds, seniors Britton Butterfield, Charlie Davidson, and Caleb Barrows came in 10th, 12th and 13th, respectively.

In the 3A classification, Cedar City’s Canyon View High School won both the girls A and the boys B races. THe Lady Falcons were led by a trio of seniors, namely Lydia Forsyth (fourth place, 20.08.8), Lara Sorensen (9th place, 21:43.1) and Jenna Fife (11th place, 21:52.5).

The Canyon View boys were paced by junior Thomas Daniels, who placed third overall with a time of 17:28.5. Also finishing among the top 12 for the Falcons were Payson Slade (fourth), Bret Sorensen (seventh), Nathaniel Callison (ninth) and Logan Hadley (12th).

For complete meet results on Athletic.net, click here.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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