XC: Course records fall at 44th Doug Conley Invite
September 24, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365
The only thing not different about the 44th Doug Conley Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning was the course in the meet's second year at Shalimar Country Club in Tempe. The weather was exquisite cool and team and individual champions were new. And so were course records in five of the six races.
In the marquee races -- elite girls and boys -- Highland and Brophy Prep emerged as team champions displacing Chandler and Mesa Mountain View. Chandler's Morgan Foster and Saguaro's Michael Barney took care of the individual crowns with record-smashing times.
"The weather was really nice," Foster, who was runner-up at last year's meet, said. "It was very hot last time. I made up my mind to go out the first two miles and so did (Chaparral's Abi Archer). I had a good kick at the end."
Temperatures for this year's race were 15 to 20 degrees cooler than last year. The first races started in the mid 60's and ending races were in the mid-70s. Last year the ending races were in the 90s.
Foster, a sophomore, completed the 3.0 mile flat layout in 17 minutes, 37 seconds. That was 33 seconds faster than her time last year and 17 seconds better than the winning time in 2015. She bested Archer by seven seconds with her burst the last quarter mile or so.
Chandler lost its grasp on the team title as Highland emerged victorious with 82 points. The Hawks placed their top five runners in the top 28 led by Sydney Rhodes seventh-place finish and Alena Ellsworth's eight-place mark. Rachel McCleve (16th), Marisa Kennedy (23rd) and Hannah Hernandez (28th) rounded out the 3-5 finishers.
Other top-10 individual finishers in the girls elite race were Chaparral's Rachel Turner (third), Mountain View's Kailey Welch (fourth), Desert Mountain's Alexis Hocken (fifth) and Stephanie Stewart (sixth), Chandler's Gabrielle Enns (ninth) and Prescott's Makenna Mills (10th).
Chaparral was team runner-up (128), followed by Page (150), Hamilton (189) and Ganado (208). Chandler tied Ganado at 208, but the fifth spot went to Ganado by virtue of a higher finish by Ganado's sixth-place finisher. Chandler was missing three of its top seven runners, who were competing with the swim team trying to earn state qualifying times.
The elite boys race went to Saguaro's Michael Barney in a frantic finish over Chinle's Santiago Hardy. Barney, a senior, whacked 35 seconds off last year's winning time. He crossed the finish at 14:50. Barney didn't compete at the Conley last year while Hardy did and finished seventh. Hardy's time was 14:53. Hardy cutoff 56 seconds from his time a year ago.
"My plan was to go out and sit on the leader," Barney said. "Just stay with whoever it was. I made my move the last 600 or so."
Brophy managed to take the team crown with 102 points. The Broncos were led by Hociel Landa, Luke Mason and Drew Burns, who finished 3rd, 11th and 13th, respectively. Jose Acuna and Anekin Hetman also scored for the Broncos at 35th and 40th.
Other top-10 fijnishers in the elite boys race: Boulder Creek's Jacob Lewis (fourth), Mountain View's Carson Klepinger (fifth), Perry's Anthony Haren (sixth), Hamilton's David Nelson (7th), Corona del Sol's Slade Sumners (8th), Ganado's Jalen Chee (9th) and Rincon University's William Hewings (10th).
Page was eilte boys runner-up with 139 points. Perry (162), Corona del Sol (164) and Mesa Mtn. View (171) completed the top five.
Winners in the other four races -- girls and boys non-varsity and girls and boys invitational -- were HIghland's Ashlyn Carson, Page's Javon Yazzie, Tolleson's Annie Hancock and Central's Aron Orar, respectively. Carson's time of 19:51 was a a record by three seconds, Hancock's 18:24 was 35 seconds better than the inaugural and Orar's 15:31 took 28 seconds off the former mark.