The Chinle High School cross country teams won the Arizona Division III state cross country titles on Saturday at the Cave Creek Golf Course. The races were delayed an hour due to flooding on the course.
In the boys’ race, Chinle took first place with a low score of 72. Rio Rico took second place with 86 points. Tuba City was third with 94 points. Saguaro was fourth with 100, followed by Mingus in fifth with 140, Page in sixth with 151 and Blue Ridge in seventh with 175.
Winslow took eighth place with 230. The Bulldogs finished ahead of Sabino, Tempe, Higley, Empire, Fountain Hills, Verrado, Estrella Foothills, Sahuarita, Youngkers, Camp Verde, Wickenburg and Desert Edge.
The individual state champion was Jake Wynn from Saguaro, who ran a time of 15:39. Tyler Stamp of Sabino took second place in a time of 15:44 and Juan Wells of Mingus was third in 16:03.
For the Winslow Bulldogs, Cody Sangster took 22nd place overall (21st out of scored runners) in a time of 17:05; John Hoskie, 43rd (38th out of scored runners) in 17:42; Milland Thomas, 54th (48th out of scored runners) in 17:58; Lorin Greenwood, 63rd (57th out of scored runners) in 18:09; DeSean Spencer, 75th (66th out of scored runners) in 18:25; and Matt Honvantewa, 86th (76th out of scored runners) in 18:36. There were exactly 80 seconds between Winslow’s first and fifth runner. Sangster was one minute and 26 seconds behind the race winner, and he averaged a time of five minutes 30 seconds per mile on the 3.1-mile course. Hoskie averaged 5 minutes 42 seconds per mile.
All together in Division III, there are three cross country sectionals. Sectional I contains 14 teams (including Winslow High School), Sectional II contains 17 teams, and Sectional III contains 17 teams; therefore, 48 total teams are categorized as Division III in the state of Arizona. Out of the 48 teams, 20 teams qualified to compete at the state meet. At the state meet, six of the top eight teams were from Sectional I: Chinle (first), Tuba City (third), Mingus (fifth), Page (sixth), Blue Ridge (seventh) and Winslow (eighth). Rio Rico represented Sectional II in second place and Saguaro represented Sectional III in fourth place.
The team championship in the Division III girls’ race went to Chinle High School with 74 points, followed closely by Page High School with 77. The third place team was Saguaro with 99 points. Six out of the top nine teams in Division III were from Sectional I: Chinle (first), Page (second), Tuba City (sixth), Mingus (seventh), Blue Ridge (eighth) and Window Rock (ninth). Tempe took fourth and Rio Rico took fifth.
The individual state champion was Rolanda Jumbo of Chinle, a senior who ran a time of 18:27. Second place went to Diana Garcia, a junior from Tempe, who finished in 19:12. Third place went to Leticia Shaban, a senior from Tempe, who ran a time of 19:25.
Winslow did not have a team in the girls’ race, but had plenty of reason to cheer the exploits of its only individual competitor, talented and excellent freshman runner Aaliyah Lewis. She took 23rd place in the Division III girls’ race in a field of 131 runners. She was the sixth freshman across the finish line in her race. She finished two minutes and 27 seconds behind the winner, and averaged a pace of six minutes 44 seconds per mile on the 3.1-mile course.
