Joseph City’s Talon Smith had performed well at nearly all the local meets and he capped a tremendous season with an individual state title at the Division IV state meet held at Cave Creek on Saturday. Smith’s time of 16:39 was seven seconds ahead of Hopi’s Jihad Nodman who placed second. Ben Black from Pusch Ridge placed third with a finishing time of 16:53.
Smith was joined by teammates Jacob Bushman 79th, Kaden Moss 108th, Kovascics Kinlicheenie 134th and Seth Hutchens 171st at the season ending meet. As a team the Wildcats finished in 15th place with a total of 438 team points. Northland Prep took the team crown in what had to be considered a big upset of Hopi. Northland finished just ahead of the Bruins in team points with 57 compared to Hopi’s 68. Alchesay was third with 149, Many Farms fourth with 160 and Chandler Prep placed fifth with 190. Twenty-six teams competed in the race.
In the Division IV girls race Northland Prep also claimed first place with 70 team points. Hopi followed in second with 134, St. Michael 137, Scottsdale Prep 165 and Glendale Prep with 190 rounded out the top five in the 20-team race.
