ARIZONA STATE MEET

Highland Girls, Hamilton Boys Run To Dominant Victories In Division 1 Finals

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Photos by Ethan Buck

The Highland girls won a fourth consecutive Division 1 team title at the Arizona Cross Country State Championships on Saturday at the Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix, scoring 32 points behind six individuals finishing in the top 15.

Stella Hall guided the Hawks with a third-place effort of 18 minutes, 19.5 seconds for the 5-kilometer race, with Cloe Baugh (18:35, fifth), Audra Huempfner (18:57.9, seventh) and Camryn Delancey (19:07.6, ninth) joining her in the top 10.

Charlotte Greer completed the scoring for Highland, finishing 14th in 19:24.5, and Natalia Morris rounded out the top 15 individuals, running 19:27.

Taylor Drewry of Basha held off Rincon University’s Amelia North by four seconds to win her second consecutive individual title in 18:09.6.

Zarian Rodriguez won the Division 1 boys final in 15:20.5, leading the Hamilton Huskies to repeat as team champions with 26 points over Highland's runner-up finish with 101 points.

Rodriguez was one of five Huskies finishing in the top 10, including Dominick Muller (15:48.2, fourth), Ryan Estrada (15:52.3, fifth), Chase Markunas (16:03.5, seventh) and Theo McDaid (16:06.8, ninth), who all completed a 46-second spread for Hamilton’s top five runners. Jude Crawford (16:21.3, 17th) and Brady Nieto (16:30.3, 21st) earned top 25 finishes for the Huskies.

Flagstaff completed a sweep of the Division 2 team and individual titles, with the boys team scoring 84 points behind Alex Bland winning in 15:54.8 and the girls scoring 47 points behind Olivia Baker running 18:59.3.

The Page boys won their 20th overall state title in program history, beating American Leadership of Queen Creek by four points 101-105 for the Division 3 title. Eastmark’s Bryson Nielsen took the individual title in 15:37.5.

American Leadership of Queen Creek girls repeated as Division 3 champions, scoring 66 points to win by 35 points. Janessa Segay of Chinle ran a personal best 18:49.2 to win her first individual title.

Glendale Preparatory Academy outscored Northland Preparatory by three points, winning 68-71 for the Division 4 boys team title. Valley Lutheran’s Benjamin Benally won the individual title in 16:22.8.

Northland Preparatory scored 61 points to win the Division 4 girls team title. Glendale Preparatory Academy’s Taryn Janssen won the individual title easily by 51 seconds in 19:29.3.

Team Champions - RESULTS

Division 1 – Hamilton boys 26 points, Highland girls 32 points

Division 2 – Flagstaff boys 84 points, Flagstaff girls 47 points

Division 3 – Page boys 101 points, American Leadership of Queen Creek 66 points

Division 4 – Glendale Preparatory Academy boys 68 boys, Northland Preparatory girls 61 points