AMERICAN FORK — Neither rain nor wind nor the threat of sleet could keep Fremont's Cassie Ricks from winning another race, this time at Saturday's Pre-Foot Locker Invitational sponsored by the Utah High School Track Coaches Association.
The talented senior, who led her teammates to the 5A state championship last month, easily won the girls race with a time of 19:23, just one second off the mark set last year by Judge Memorial's Samantha Gaffney. Despite a slight drizzle and powerful gusts of wind, Ricks defeated her nearest competitor, Fremont teammate Jessie Chugg, by a full minute to win the first-place trophy. The meet, now in its fifth year, is designed to be a tune-up for those runners entered in December's Foot Locker regional and national races.
"I wish I could have gone a little faster today, but it was kind of hard because I didn't really feel pushed," Ricks said. "It was good to get in a race before we go to regionals." The meet was not scored as a team event, but Fremont, the 5A state champions, would have won another team title if it had been. The Silver Wolves had six runners among the top 15 finishers, and two of the team's top runners weren't even in the competition held at American Fork High School.
In the boy's division, Davis High junior Jared Ward held off teammate Patrick Hall by a second to take the top honors. Ward finished in a time of 16:57. He placed fourth in the 5A state championships this year. Hall, a senior, finished 12th at state.
"This is a great way for these runners to have a little competition between the state finals and Foot Locker," stated Timo Mostert, coach of American Fork. Ironically, the season traditionally begins for Utah prep cross country with Mostert's Grass Relays races in late August, and this year it finished with Saturday's meet.
Ricks, who is still mulling a number of collegiate offers for next year (BYU and Weber are on her list, along with Arkansas and Seattle Pacific), led from the get-go, pacing the 44 entrants over the mostly grass course. Woods Cross's Trisha Wright was third at 20:25. She finished her brilliant career for the Wildcats and will now focus on collegiate running at either Southern Utah University or Utah Valley State College next year. Rounding out the top five were Spanish Fork's Chelsea Loss (20:45) and Sonja Ponis (20:59).
Ward and Hall, who battled all year for Davis' top spot, were pretty much neck and neck the whole race before Ward leaned into the finish line at the very end. Juan Diego's Kyle Jarrett was third at 17:07, Prescott McCarthy of Park City fourth at 17:27, and American Fork's Mike Felix fifth at 17:40. A total of 53 boys were entered in the race. Top 30 finishers in each category received medals.
The next event for Utah's top runners is the Foot Locker West Regional Championships set for Dec. 3 at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California. Qualifiers there will advance to the national championships Dec. 10 at Balboa Park in San Diego.