Arizona high school cross country teams test competition at California event
Seventeen high school cross-country teams tested themselves against out-of-state competition earlier this month in the 41st Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine, California.
Schools were divided into four different divisions and competed on Sept. 15-16, with more than 450 schools overall, including teams from from California, Nevada and Oregon.
On the boys side, Phoenix Shadow Mountain took first place team finish in the White division. The Matadors finished with a team score of 84 — 39 points better than the second place team.
Senior Ryan Brass was the leading runner for the Matadors, finsihing fifth, with a time of 15:33.
"Woodbridge was a great experience for us, as most of the guys on our team have never raced out of the state before," said Gregg Pestka, head coach of Shadow Mountain. "This meet was a great test for our guys and showed us that they can compete with whoever they line up with, even the big Cali schools and the bigger Arizona schools."
Xavier College Preparatory was able to finish third among girls' teams in the Gold division. The Gators finished with a team score of 103.
Senior Reese Brown was the leading runner, finishing fifth in a time of 18:06.8. Freshman Ella Wadsworth was not far behind, finishing sixth at 18:10.3.
Coach Dave Van Sickle welcomed the chance for his runners to compete against other teams they wouldn't normally see.
"We know that the competition is off the charts," said Van Sickle. "We like to put our team in a position to race with girls of their caliber, so we opted to race in the varsity race which is not as competitive as the rated or sweepstakes."
The Woodbridge Cross Country Classic tends to play fast in terms of speed, as it's mostly run on turf for a three-mile course. This course served as a good prep race for Shadow Mountain and Xavier as they get ready for Desert Twilight Cross Country Invite on Friday.
"Our win at Woodbridge was huge for us, and they bounced back well after a rough race at the Chandler Invite," Pestka said. "This win was a big confidence booster for our squad and gives us a lot of momentum going into Desert Twilight and the rest of the year. Our main focus is to be running our best by the state meet, and this early season win helps us get ready for that."
The state sectionals take place the first week of November, with the finals on Nov. 12 at Cave Creek Golf Course in north Phoenix.
Shadow Mountain entered the California invite with nine boys, all of whome achieved a three-mile personal best and medal.
Xavier left the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic with personal bests from 17 of their runners.
"Many PRs for three miles," Van Sickle said. "We had 17 of 19 PR and the two that didn't are just getting over a nasty sinus infection and are not 100%. As it turned out, after they merged all of the races, we were 53 out of 450 or so schools. Better than we expected."
Here is a list of Arizona finishes:
Team Results Boys/Girls
Brophy College Prep (Gold B) 3rd (Boys)
Campo Verde (Gold B) 27th (Girls)
Casteel (Red B) 7th/6th
Coconino (White B) 22nd/4th
Deer Valley (Gold A) 31st (Boys)
Gila Ridge (Gold B) 31st (Boys)
Glendale Prep (White A) 16th/7th
Hamilton (Blue B) 1st/10th
Hopi (White A) 7th/17th
Marana (Red B) 9th/14th
Mountain Ridge (Blue A) 10th/21st
Northwest Christian (Gold A) 16th/11th
Perry (Blue B) 13th/9th
Poston Butte (Gold A) 24th (Boys)
Queen Creek (Red B) 11th/8th
Shadow Mountain (White B) 1st (Boys)
Xavier College Prep (Gold A) 3rd (Girls)
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Schools test competition at Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine california
