Rio Rico's Samantha Schadler moments after tying course  record at Ojo Rojo XC Invite (Photo by AzPreps365)

 

Not a lot of runners who figure to contend for state titles in their respective divisions in November were on hand Saturday for varsity races at the 29th Annual Ojo Rojo Cross Country Meet at Tumbleweed Park. But a couple who will be fnished in the limelight. 

Rio Rico junior Samantha Schadler, runner-up in D-III last year to older sister, Allie, tied the course record in winning the girls race with a time of 18 minutes, 10 seconds. That equalled the course record mark set in 2014 by Corona del Sol's Kelly Naumann. Sam Schadler recorded the second-fastest time of any runner last year at state regardless of division, again behind only her sister.

in the boys varsity race, Desert Mountain senior Caden Hercules bested runner-up Jacob Lewis of Boulder Creek by 3.5 seconds. Hercules time was 15:50.6 over the 5,000 meter course. Hercules placed sixth at state last year. A group of juniors from other schools were fourth through 10th at last year's state meet and most of them appear to be prime contenders later on.

In the varsity team compeitition, Centennial's boys ended Corona del Sol's five-year run as team champ. There were no dominant boys teams, but Centennial prevailed with 112 points followed by Corona del Sol (125), Chandler (132), Desert Mountain (142) and Basha (167). Top finisher for Centennial in fourth place was senior Daniel Avila. Also scoring for Centennial were seniors Joseph Martinez (17th), Jonathan Raben (31st), Aaron Fawley (32) and sophomore Alexander Coyle (28th).

Chandler's girls placed its top five runners in the top 17 to easily take the team title for the third year in a row with 36 points. All seven of Chandler's runners crossed the finish line no worse than 25th. Chaparral (91) was second followed by Xavier Prep (101), Corona del Sol (141) and Horizon (157). Chandler's effort was led by Kerri Welch (3rd), Kylie Welch (5th), Mikalja Milovanovic (6th), Brooke Eversden (10th) and Ava Hamilton (17th).