Even after he watched Skyline's Stephen Clark pass him in the final 100 yards to win the 5A boys individual cross country championship on the track of Highland High School, Davis senior Jared Ward was getting encouragement from coach Roger Buhrley. After all, the veteran Dart coach knew that the difference between first and second place wouldn't decide the team championship.
Buhrley was right, as the Darts held off Mountain View to capture the team title on Wednesday at Sugarhouse Park. It was a day filled with both surprises and expectant winners, run under almost ideal "running" conditions on a cool but dry afternoon.
"Jared ran his guts out, and I know he gave 100 percent," Buhrley said after his senior star was passed by Clark just before the finish. "I told him to keep his chin up and that we'd be OK if the preliminary scores we were figuring held up."
They did. Clark's first-place finish in a time of 15 minutes, 47 seconds gave him the medalist honors. Ward was just under eight seconds behind, and Bingham's Nate Jewkes held off Timpanogos' Matt Reeves for third.
Timpview edged Mountain Crest by two points for the Class 4A title, despite the victory by Mountain Crest's Justin Hedin. Judge Memorial's Luke Puskedra won the Class 3A title, while Cedar took the team honors. In Class 2A boys, it was Manti's Daniel Howell with medalist honors, and Richfield nipped Parowan by two points for the team gold. And in Class 1A, Panguitch ran off with the win, though the top honors individually went to Navajo Mountain senior Javier Jim.
Clark's victory was not a surprise and completed a clean sweep by the Eagles for medalist honors (sophomore Shalaya Kipp was the girls winner). He was the Region 2 champion and has consistently been one of 5A's top runners. Ward also looked strong this year in his races, and when the two broke free from the rest of the pack in the final half mile, it looked like Ward would hold Clark off. But once they reached the track at Highland, the final 100 yards or so belonged to the Skyline star. Rounding out the top five was Viewmont senior Kyle McKenna in fifth.
Hedin won with the time of 15:55.5, pulling away from Springville junior Spencer Gardner for a six-second win. Those two were well in front of Lehi's Chris Dorton, Mountain Crest's Kevin Dickey and Provo's Adam Smith. Hedin was third a year ago.
Timpview placed four runners in the top 14, led by sophomore Nathan Fletcher in seventh and senior Michael Denovas in eighth. The T-Birds' fifth scoring runner, senior Nate Sandholtz, finished three places ahead of Mountain Crest's Neal Ferrin, and earned the team a two-point win.
It was no surprise that Puskedra won the 3A race, and he did it rather dramatically in a time of 15:43.9, best of all runners on the day. Park City's Prescott McCarthy was second at 16:25. Cedar earned the title with a score of 48, as last year's medalist John Hart took third, Chris Sillitoe sixth, and Chris Rhoton ninth. All three are seniors. Tooele's Jon Lee was fourth in 3A, and Brandon Doolin of Canyon View finished fifth.
Richfield defended its 2A title with some solid efforts from senior Drake Mason and sophomore Josh Monsen. The Wildcats were considered to be one of the favorites along with North Summit and Parowan, but Rowland Hall-St. Mark's came on for a third place finish.
Richfield edged Parowan by two points, placing all five of its runners in the top 23. Parowan sophomores Robbie Tripp and Tyler Robinson finished third and fourth, but it wasn't enough to top Richfield. Manti junior Daniel Howell won the race by just over a second from North Summit's Jordan Snyder. Nathan Fowles of North Summit was fifth.
Panguitch unseated defending champ St. Joseph's in 1A, scoring 62 points to St. Joe's 93. Junior Josh Bateman led Panguitch with a third-place finish behind Jim and Wasatch Academy's Elijah Rono. Adam Butler of Monticello was fourth and Jose Bustillos of Escalante placed fifth.
Boys team champions
5A — Davis
4A — Timpview
3A — Cedar City
2A — Richfield
1A — Panguitch
Girls team champions
5A — Jordan
4A — Mountain Crest
3A — Park City
2A — North Sevier
1A — Milford