Results

Preview

the meet's own web site

Battle for Southwest bragging rights between the top 25 boys and girls from Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

Mike Elder's report

Cormier and Lawrence are impressive; Team Arizona sweeps. Meet proceeds under USATF and Arizona Road Races auspices after Arizona Athletic Association ruling against all star meets

by Mike Elder

The second running of the Border War, between the top runners from Arizona, Nevada, and this year's new-comer, New Mexico was held at Kiwanis Park in Tempe, Arizona. Under sunny skies with temperatures in the low-70's, a total of 60 girls and 72 boys towed the line.

Individual winners, Marie Lawrence and Kenny Cromier did not disappoint and ran away from two very good fields.

Using the top 10 scoring format from each team, or respective state, Team Arizona repeats and remains undefeated in the short history of this event in both the girls and boys races. Team Arizona girls scored 133 points, ahead of Team New Mexico with 146 and third place Team Nevada scoring 186 points. Team Arizona boys finished with 106 points, ahead of second place Team New Mexico with 140 points, with third place Team Nevada scoring 219 points.

The race was run under a cloud of disappointment after the Arizona Athletic Association issued a ruling stating in essence that no all-star competition would be allowed in the post-season. By the time the ruling was made public the New Mexico and Nevada teams were in town and warming up on the course and members from Team Arizona, from points located in the hinder-lands who had made their way to Tempe early were all oblivious to the decision. But the race was run under the sanction of USATF and the Arizona Road Racers Association production crew and once the runners got under way, all came away excited and looking forward to next year when host New Mexico will stage the event in Albuquerque.

Nike Team Nationals qualifier, Los Alamos, had their #1, #3, and #4 girls present and South Lake Tahoe girls, the other NTN qualifying team, who could have run in the Border War, made the decision to skip this year's meet due to the issue of missing school, but instead drove to San Francisco Saturday to compete in a Junior Olympic meet Sunday. The Los Alamos girls finished with Hemphill 3rd in 18:50, Anna Miller, 26th in 19:46, and Megan Stockton 32nd in 19:58.

Marie Lawrence explodes from a cannon

In the girls race, 100 meters from the start, Marie Lawrence looked as if she exploded from a cannon and never looked back, winning by 1:07 over Ashley Wimmer, in 18:49.5, who finished second to Marie in their state meet last month. Finishing third was New Mexico's 5-A state champ Kristen Hemphill of Los Alamos, who ran 18:50.5. In fourth place was Wendy Harris, in 18:53.7, Nevada's 1-2A state champ, from Lund. Finishing 5th, and was the first finisher for victorious Team Arizona, was the 5-A state champ Kristin Phillips, from Mountain Pointe, Mesa, who ran 18:57.8. Winner Marie Lawrence posted splits of 5:30 at the mile and 11:15 at two miles. The sophomore said after the race that she felt great during the entire race and is looking forward to Footlocker Regions. The 2003 Foot Locker national finals runner up looked very, very strong.

Kenny Cormier just as impressive

Kenny Cormier in the boys race looked just as impressive as Lawrence did in the girls, taking the lead from the gun and opened a huge gap on the rest of the field, winning by 16 seconds. Cormier passed the two mile marker in 10:09 and completed the course in 15:46 -- a time that was one second slower than he ran here on the same exact course back on October 2 in the Doug Conley Invitational. But Cormier, who regularly trains 90 to 100 a week was not disappointed with his performance today. He did admit that he "rested" by only running 80 miles the week prior, since he said, "I wasn't sure of who my competition would be." He said he felt ten times better then his performance here back in the beginning of October, and that was enough to give him confidence in going into Footlocker Regionals in two weeks, where he obviously becomes a favorite.

Alex Mason, from Team Arizona finished well in second place running 16:02 (a 12 second improvement from his race at Doug Conely, to give a comparison). In third place was Nevada 4-A state champ Joseph Parker, from Reno, who finished with a time of 16:03. Finishing behind Parker was Team Nevada partner Daniel Geib of Galena, in 16:05, who finished second behind Parker in their state meet. Fourth place went to New Mexico's 5-A state champ, Matt Tebo, of Eldorado who ran 16:13.

Besides the excellent competition afforded to the runners who attended the Border War II, another element that this race provided is the camaraderie for those runners competing from their respective states. They warmed-up together, cheered for one another, and congratulated each other. Friendships were formed and knowledge was shared. In the end, all athletes went away better athletes, better people. And we spectators got to witness one heck of a cross country race!

Michael Elder
Southwest Regional Co-Editor
southtwest@dyestat.com

Bib No

Grade

O'All Place

Cum Place

Time

Cum Time

1

86

12

1

1

15:46.2

15:46.2

2

90

12

2

3

16:02.0

31:48.3

3

89

12

6

9

16:15.7

48:04.0

4

88

11

9

18

16:18.7

1:04:22.7

5

84

11

10

28

16:19.3

1:20:42.1

6

91

10

12

40

16:20.6

1:37:02.8

7

85

12

13

53

16:23.2

1:53:26.0

8

92

11

15

68

16:30.8

2:09:56.9

9

104

12

18

86

16:36.5

2:26:33.4

10

112

10

20

106

16:38.6

2:43:12.0

Bib No

Grade

O'All Place

Cum Place

Time

Cum Time

1

49

10

5

5

16:13.5

16:13.5

2

37

11

7

12

16:16.9

32:30.4

3

36

12

8

20

16:17.5

48:48.0

4

39

12

11

31

16:19.8

1:05:07.8

5

46

10

14

45

16:27.7

1:21:35.6

6

26

12

16

61

16:33.7

1:38:09.3

7

42

11

17

78

16:35.1

1:54:44.5

8

43

11

19

97

16:37.4

2:11:21.9

9

28

12

21

118

16:43.5

2:28:05.5

10

40

12

22

140

16:44.9

2:44:50.4

Bib No

Grade

O'All Place

Cum Place

Time

Cum Time

1

52

11

3

3

16:03.0

16:03.0

2

53

11

4

7

16:05.1

32:08.2

3

54

12

23

30

16:53.8

49:02.0

4

57

12

24

54

17:03.7

1:06:05.8

5

55

12

25

79

17:04.4

1:23:10.3

6

67

12

26

105

17:13.0

1:40:23.3

7

60

12

27

132

17:24.7

1:57:48.0

8

59

10

28

160

17:34.1

2:15:22.1

9

65

10

29

189

17:41.3

2:33:03.4

10

62

11

30

219

17:48.4

2:50:51.9

Bib No

Grade

O'All Place

Cum Place

Time

Cum Time

1

118

11

5

5

18:57.8

18:57.8

2

108

10

6

11

19:02.5

38:00.3

3

114

11

7

18

19:03.5

57:03.9

4

109

10

8

26

19:10.2

1:16:14.1

5

121

12

9

35

19:11.2

1:35:25.3

6

120

9

16

51

19:24.2

1:54:49.6

7

122

10

17

68

19:25.2

2:14:14.9

8

134

12

20

88

19:29.4

2:33:44.3

9

128

9

22

110

19:33.7

2:53:18.0

10

119

12

23

133

19:38.5

3:12:56.6

Bib No

Grade

O'All Place

Cum Place

Time

Cum Time

1

4

12

3

3

18:50.5

18:50.5

2

2

11

10

13

19:13.8

38:04.3

3

7

11

11

24

19:15.4

57:19.7

4

9

11

12

36

19:17.6

1:16:37.4

5

3

12

13

49

19:18.1

1:35:55.5

6

24

11

15

64

19:21.5

1:55:17.0

7

13

12

18

82

19:26.7

2:14:43.7

8

8

12

19

101

19:28.2

2:34:12.0

9

10

11

21

122

19:31.9

2:53:44.0

10

22

10

24

146

19:41.3

3:13:25.3

Bib No

Grade

O'All Place

Cum Place

Time

Cum Time

1

1

10

1

1

17:42.0

17:42.0

2

70

9

2

3

18:49.5

36:31.6

3

81

11

4

7

18:53.7

55:25.3

4

82

12

14

21

19:18.7

1:14:44.1

5

72

10

25

46

20:15.3

1:34:59.5

6

75

9

26

72

20:17.6

1:55:17.2

7

77

12

27

99

20:18.8

2:15:36.0

8

71

10

28

127

20:38.1

2:36:14.1

9

76

9

29

156

20:44.8

2:56:59.0

10

78

9

30

186

20:50.7

3:17:49.7

Preview

Mel Lawrence and 16 other state XC champs highlight Border War II.

by Adam Kedge

This Saturday, November 20th, 25 of the top boys and girls from AZ, NV, and NM go head to head representing their state. The race will be held at 20 Kiwanis Park, in Tempe Arizona on a certified 3.1 course. Scoring is ten deep for each state.

History: This will be the first time that New Mexico participates in the Border War. Last fall Team Arizona won both the boys and girls competition. In 2003 Charles Hampton of Team Arizona (15:46.8) out leaned Patrick Swick of Team Nevada (15:46.8). On the girls side the Hardt sisters of Team Arizona went 1 - 2 with Whitney Hardt winning in
19:02.3.

Last Year's results are on Nevada TrackStats

Schedule:
10:00am Open Race All ages Adults $10.00 Youth $5.00
11:00am Elite Race Girls
11:35am Elite Race Boys

Arizona headliners: Boys

All four 2004 Arizona individual state champs are scheduled to run making Team Arizona the favorites again in 2004. 4A sr. Kenny Comier of Douglas HS won the Arizona state meet with the fastest time of the day.

Comier was 12th in the inaugural Border War last fall. He'll look to lead 5A sr.Craig Breinholt of Highland HS, 3A sr. Gordan Segay of Window Rock HS, and 2A jr. Weston Jones of Red Mesa HS. Adding to Team Arizona's depth will be Levi Lomeland of (SW #6) Page HS. Lomeland finished 18th last
fall to assist Team Arizona's victory.

Arizona Headliners: Girls

The girls race will also feature all four Arizona state champs. Leading the team will be last year's Border War runner-up Kari Hardt of Queen Creek HS. Two weeks ago at the state meet she posted the fastest time of the event (18:12) regardless of classification. The other state title holders scheduled to run are 5A jr. Kristen Phillups of Monte Pointe HS, 4A so. Kelsey Greathouse of Bradshaw Mountain HS, and 2A so.
Jillian Klassen of Scottsdale Christian HS.

2004 Arizona State Results

Nevada Headliners: Boys

2004 4A state champ Joseph Parker of Reno HS lead a deep team for NV.
Runner-up Daniel Geib of Galena HS and 4A 5th place Nick Schenk of Silverado HS make for a strong team of front runners for Nevada.

Noteables not attending: At this time the state champs from the Class 3A (Jake Steinman - Lowery) and Class 2A (Matt Trachok - Sage Ridge) were not on the current roster for Team Nevada.

Nevada Headliners: Girls

The hands on favorite for the 2nd Annual Border War has to be Mel Lawrence of Reno HS. She is scheduled to compete and will lead a Nevada team that looks to have the top-4 Nevada State Meet individuals from the combined results on the roster. Included in that team is 2A state champ Wendy Harris of Lund HS (19:12), 4A runner-up Ashley Wimmer of Palo Verde HS (19:16), and Laurence's teammate Nicole Lajeunesse of Reno HS (19:44).

Mel Laurence did not compete in the 2003 Border War. Her season was highlighted by a runner-up finish to Katelyn Kaltenbach at the Foot Locker National Championships. She should help remedy the near top-10 sweep by Team Arizona from 2003 when they posted a 1 - 8 finish.

Notables not attending: Addie Devine of Incline won the 3A title and is not currently on the updated roster. In addition, girls from South Tahoe who compete in the Nevada State Meet do not compete in the Border War.

2004 Nevada State Results:

New Mexico Headliners: Boys

The new kids on the block at the 2004 Border War is Team New Mexico.
Three out of the 4 newly crowned state champs are scheduled to run.
Leading the way will be 5A so. Matt Tebo of Eldorado HS. He had the second fastest time (15:56) of the day regardless of classification at the New Mexico State Meet. Other individual title winners are 3A sr.
Jerome Tafoya of Santa Fe Indian School and 2A sr. Marvis Aragon of Laguna-Acoma HS.

Notables not attending: The invitees from SW #2 Albuquerque Academy have elected to stay home and prepare for NTN. Included in that group is 4A champ sr. Mitch Bible.

New Mexico Headliners: Girls

Sr. Kristen Hemphill of SW #1 Los Alamos HS should help Team New Mexico to a favorable showing against the front runners of both Nevada and Arizona. Hemphill was the 4A state champ two weeks ago at Red Rock State Park. Surprisingly, Hemphill did not have the fastest time of the day at state. That honor goes to 3A champ jr. Irena Ossola of St. Michael's HS in Santa Fe. 5A champ jr. Jocelyn Calderon of Carlsbad HS makes for a team with both depth and front runners.

Notables not attending: 8th grader and 2A state champ Kelly Barman of Cimmeron HS and sr. Marisa Sandoval of Los Alamos HS have declined invitations.

2004 New Mexico State Results: