LAYTON — Davis High has long been synonymous with excellence in cross country, but the past few years have been lean by the Darts' lofty standards.
Davis once again regained its dominance with a vintage performance at the Region 1 cross country championship on Oct. 10. Both the boys and girls took home the title.
The girls crushed their competition, defeating Weber by a whopping 26 points. The boys decided to cut it a little closer, edging Weber thanks to the sixth-runner tiebreaker after the score ended 41-41.
"In years past, I thought there was no way we would lose it," said Davis coach Roger Buhrley. "This year, that wasn't the case. This wasn't routine."
There was certainly nothing routine about the performance of Candace Eddy. The senior runner finished the course in 18:15.2, only five seconds off the course record. Running next to her nearly the entire race was teammate Natalie Haws, who finished second with a time of 18:22.5.
Haws credits much of her success to the push she gets from her teammate.
"I wouldn't be as good as I am without Candace there to push me," Haws said.
The girls team's performance was so complete that five of the top 10 finishers were from Davis. Head coach Corbin Talley was excited to finally defeat perennial powerhouse Fremont.
"I'm very proud of our girls," Talley said. "This is my first time as a coach beating Fremont."
Although the competition for the boys title was much tougher, the end result was the same.
Going into the region race, the Darts were missing their second-best runner, but they had just enough depth to take the title. Jared Ward claimed the top boys individual time. His 15:24.5 finish was 23 seconds better than second-place finisher Kyle Mckenna of Viewmont. Ward made a big push in the final mile of the race.
The Darts boys team was by no means a one-man show. Seth Gutzwiller, Jake Van Weezep, Jared Clouse and Chris Burnett all finished in less than 17 minutes.
Proving that cross country truly is a team sport, it was the performance of Bryson Snow that ultimately won the crown for the Darts. Davis tied Weber with 41 points, and region rules dictate that a tie is broken by the finish of the sixth runner. That runner was Snow, who defeated Weber's sixth-best runner by 15 seconds.
"It feels really nice," Snow said. "This was my first varsity race."
The state competition took place Oct. 18 at Sugarhouse Park.
CROSS COUNTRY REGION 1
Girls
Team scores: 1, Davis 26; 2, Weber 52; 3, Fremont 53; 4, Viewmont 110; 5, Clearfield 131; 6, Northridge 181.
Individual results: 1, Candace Eddy, Davis, 18:15; 2, Natalie Haws, Davis, 18:22.5; 3, Jessie Chugg, Fremont, 18:39.1; 4, Angela Baker, Weber, 19:08.4; 5, Tiffani Morphet, Weber, 19:42.9; 6, Corinne Johnson, Davis, 19:43.5; 7, Hollie King, Davis, 19:44.0; 8, Jackie Bodily, Fremont, 19:46.2; 9 Allyson Deeter, Weber, 19:49.9; 10 Kelsey Valentine, Davis, 20:02.8; 11, Jo Gullo, Fremont, 20:08.8; 12, Rachel Gillette, Clearfield, 20:13.4; 13, Erica Christensen, Davis, 20:14.4; 14, Kaylie Pulver, Weber, 20:15.9; 15, Heidi Krebs, Fremont Girls, 20:28.1; 16, Cherice Chugg, Fremont, 20:29.4; 17, Jami Dixon, Davis, 20:38.5; 18, Amber Rassmussen, Viewmont, 20:39.8, 19, Aubri McSwain, Viewmont, 20:41.8; 20, Melissa Warren, Weber, 20:50.2.
Boys
Team scores: 1 (tiebreaker) Davis, 41; 2, Weber 41; 3, Viewmont, 44; 4, Northridge, 104; 5, Fremont, 123; 6, Clearfield, 184.
Individual results: 1, Jared Ward, Davis, 15:24.5; 2, Kyle McKenna, Viewmont, 15:47.2; 3, Stuart Roskelley, Weber, 16:03.2; 4, Jason Nance, Viewmont, 16:05.5; 5, George Barlow, Weber, 16:06.5; 6, Seth Gutzwiller, Davis, 16:06.9; 7, Jason Parrish, Viewmont, 16:23.6; 8, Tyler Dove, Weber, 16:25.0; 9, Jake Van Weezep, Davis, 16:32.9; 10, Jake Lemmon, Northridge, 16:36.4; 11, Jared Clouse, Davis, 16:40.3; 12, Shay Warren, Weber, 16:43.5; 13, Tyson Butler, Layton, 16:46.9; 14, Devan Radle, Weber, 16:47.1; 15, Chris Burnett, Davis, 16:47.7; 16, Jake Hillyard, Viewmont, 16:56.2; 17, Tyler Arbuckle, Viewmont, 16:59.6; 18, Marcus Charlesworth, Fremont, 17:00.5; 19, Josh Jones, Northridge, 17:00.7; 20, Bryson Snow, Davis Boys, 17:02.3.