Juan Miranda. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

Los Mezquites Cross Country Invitational

Sept. 23: Kennedy Park

 

Just like the runners on its course, the Los Mezquites Invitational is steadily pacing its way back to one of the premier cross country races in Southern Arizona. 

The invitational began around 1990, which means it would be nearing its 30th anniversary, but a recent break in competition, along with the loss of elementary and middle school runners, caused a decrease in numbers but the invitational is still a proud gauge of talent with one month left before sectionals.

Hosted by Sunnyside and ran at Kennedy Park, teams such as Nogales, Flowing Wells, St. Augustine, Cholla and Sahuarita remain the constant in the field with the girls from Nogales winning back-to-back titles and the boys from Flowing Wells improving from second last year to champions on Saturday.

Nogales senior Karen Renteria ran 21:56 to out-pace the field with Cholla junior Andrea Michel (22:57.8) and Nogales senior Janae Quihuis (23:03.7) following behind.  Nogales (37) came in ahead of Flowing Wells (85) and Sahuarita (93) and Sunnyside (93).

“We have a big hill on our course at home and the hills here made for an overall good race,” Renteria said. “I felt really good about one mile in and I knew this was my race. I couldn’t feel anything at the end.”

Renteria finished in 17th place in the state tournament last year with a time of 20.36 and Nogales took 12th in the Division II state final.

Juan Miranda (18:05.6) won the boy’s race and the Flowing Wells senior has some big shoes to fill with the loss of Morgan Risch to graduation.

“There were some hills on the course but I pushed through until I couldn’t hear anyone behind me,” Miranda said. “Our team will be competitive because we run like a family.”

Cholla junior Uriel Fernandez (18:43.3) took second and Sunnyside senior Stephen Gonzales (18:45.9) took third.  As a team, Flowing Wells (45) finished ahead of Sunnyside (61) and St. Augustine (63),

Longtime starter Paul Sitter was entered into the Los Mezquites Invitational Hall of Fame after the race by legendary race official Dan Reynolds and fellow Hall of Fame member, Sahuarita head coach Joe Prince.

The Rio Rico Rattler Invitational will be held on Saturday, Oct. 24 in preparation for the various sectional races from Southern Arizona (Oct. 28).