After four straight state titles, Thunder attempts to secure first NXN berth

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Desert Vista has heard all the chatter around Arizona about the drought, one that has nothing to do with the state’s arid climate.

The Thunder has been well aware of the nationwide noise when it comes to the program’s postseason performances, especially during the 13-year history of Nike Team Nationals and Nike Cross Nationals.

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And veteran coach Chris Hanson has endured repeated disappointment as teams from Colorado, New Mexico and Utah have traveled to his state each November for the NXR Southwest Regional and earned bids to the national championship meet in Portland, Ore., while Desert Vista’s season has reached its untimely end.

Following the program’s fourth consecutive Division 1 state title, Habtamu Cheney, Reece Donihi, Aksel Laudon, D’Angelo Piasecki, Bryce Schmisseur, Nick Thatcher and Sammy Van Alstine look to finally produce a breakthrough performance at Saturday’s regionals at Grande Sports Academy in Casa Grande by helping the Thunder become the first Arizona boys cross country team to secure a berth to compete at NXN.

“We know what our past has been, but all we can do is focus on what it is front of us this year,” said Hanson, who has coached Desert Vista since the program’s inception in 1996.

“I haven’t figured it out yet, so obviously it’s still a work in progress. But these kids know they have a great opportunity (Saturday) and we feel like we’re in a good place (after state).”

Hanson sought the insight and experience this season of Dr. Jeff Messer, who guided Desert Vista girls teams to a pair of NXN appearances, including a sixth-place finish last year following a fifth-place result in 2014.

Messer decided not to return as girls coach this year, resulting in Hanson adding him to the Thunder staff as a volunteer assistant in an effort to help Desert Vista improve after placing seventh, 11th and 20th the past three years at regionals.

“Chris wanted me to bring an NXN mentality to a state championship-level program,” Messer said. “We needed to start to think differently in terms of our approach and how we structured the training. Our mindset all year has been focused on not just competing at regionals, but nationals as well. I guess the answer if it all worked will come (Saturday).”

Desert Vista is among five leading contenders to secure the two automatic berths to compete Dec. 2 at NXN, along with Utah 5A state champion Springville and runner-up Timpanogos, Utah 6A winner American Fork and Colorado 5A champ Mountain Vista.

Timpanogos is seeking its third NXN berth, with Springville and Mountain Vista both attempting to advance to race in Oregon for the second time. Perhaps equally as significant as Desert Vista’s quest to become Arizona’s first boys national qualifier is American Fork’s own pursuit of history, looking to make its ninth consecutive trip to NXN and match the record consistency of Fayetteville-Manlius NY.

“The region is so loaded this year. I mean Desert Vista had a 15:24 average at Desert Twilight and I don’t how many teams I’ve ever had run that fast on the Casa Grande course, maybe one or two, so they’re really running fast,” said American Fork boys coach Timo Mostert, whose teams have placed second at NXN three times in the past five years.

“Springville had four guys run faster than our top finisher (at state), so we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ll go in there with confidence, but it’s still a long shot for us to make it out of there because we are such a young, inexperienced team.”

Despite racing on the same 5-kilometer Casa Grande course during the regular season at the Desert Twilight Festival, Arizona teams haven’t been able to keep pace with Utah powers at the regional meet. Utah programs have advanced to NTN and NXN 21 times, looking to extend the state’s streak to 10 years in a row of sending at least one boys team to Portland.

Even Corona del Sol, which set the all-time Arizona record by running 79 minutes, 50 seconds at the 2013 state final on the 5,000-meter Cave Creek Golf Course, finished sixth that year at the regional meet. Desert Vista ran 80:45 at Cave Creek with a 25-second spread among its five scoring runners Nov. 4 at the state championship.

“It gives us a lot of motivation because we know we can do better going forward. We came out and showed we’re still the No. 1 team in the state and one of the best in the region and the nation. Now we just need to do it again,” said Cheney, the team’s top returning athlete after placing 41st at last year’s regionals.

“It’s amazing looking through the race and seeing ‘Thunder’ on the back of someone’s jersey and being able to work off each other. It’s just been unbelievable.”

Desert Vista shined its two biggest regular-season tests, winning the Desert Twilight sweepstakes title for the first time since 2014, relying on an 18-second gap among its top five to secure a 76-112 victory Sept. 29 over two-time champion El Paso Eastwood TX.

The lone setback for the Thunder came Sept. 16 against Great Oak CA by an 83-118 margin at the Woodbridge Classic in Norco, Calif., where Desert Vista still boasted a 26-second scoring spread and had seven athletes under 15 minutes on the 3-mile course.

“From Woodbridge and (Desert Twilight), our team has learned that we can compete not only in November, but in December,” Schmisseur said. “To see us be up there and be so close together in races, it’s really reassuring that we can do it (at regionals).”

The emphasis on a few quality racing opportunities and a commitment to excelling in every facet of training has given Desert Vista a level of focus and perspective that could finally result in a podium finish at regionals after several years of disappointment.

“Based on our past experiences and our racing throughout the season, we’re very confident in our fitness, no matter who our competition is, be it Springville or Great Oak or Loudoun Valley,” Thatcher said. “Any team we’re racing, we’re 100 percent confident in each other and we have confidence in our coaching and our fitness and we’re going to go out and perform to the best of our abilities. We have really good packing and we feed off each other and I believe that’s a large part of our strength.

“We feel like we have the best coaching staff in the entire nation and I really appreciate all the work and dedication they’ve put into it and the work and dedication my brothers have put into it in order to make this happen.”