MIDWAY — As American Fork’s Nathan Jaster made the final turn toward the final mile to be run, he had an inkling that he had it.
Sure enough, the junior soon passed by the two runners in front of him to cross the finish line as the 6A state cross-country individual champion, outdistancing Skyridge’s Creed Thompson by just a little over 11 seconds and third-place finisher Davin Thompson, also from Skyridge, by 24 seconds.
“When I caught Davin in the last mile, I found I had a lot more energy than expected,” Jaster said. “So after that I just felt great, caught Creed and then just finished out stronger than I expected.”
Few things came as expected for Jaster on Thursday, given the new venue of Soldier Hallow, although the same could be said for most of the runners. But for Jaster, he prepared well and felt the new venue gave him the necessary advantage.
“My strategy was to go out a bit slower than normal, so that definitely helped me have more energy at the end,” Jaster said. “I think all the hills you have to run up and then down was an advantage for me. No doubt.”
Following Jaster across the finish line was a trio of Skyridge runners, with Seth Wallgren finishing right behind Creed Thompson and Davin Thompson.
As one could well imagine, placing three runners within the top four finishers played big in giving the Falcons the team championship, although the margin proved very close with the Cavemen finishing just five points behind.
“I was running around trying to keep track of where we were and what we needed to get the win,” said Skyridge coach Jamie Alvizo. “It’s tougher here with this course, but when it all came together and I realized we won — just an amazing feeling, obviously.”
Helping Skyridge’s cause was specific training put in for the Soldier Hollow course, along with forming a great team bond.
“Lucky that Skyridge is kind of built on a hill, so that helped, but more so is how these boys are so dedicated,” Alvizo said. “The culture this year was amazing and I think a lot of it was due to them realizing how fortunate they were to be able to run with COVID going on and all that. There’s a lot of kids around the country who didn’t get this same chance.”
Winning out in the girls competition was Lone Peak, whose low 29 points placed it far ahead of second-place American Fork, which finished with 74.
It was the second-straight 6A championship for the Knights with top finishers proving to be Eliza Mason and Reagan Gardner, who finished second and third, respectively.
Winning the individual girls championship was Layton’s Emma Thornley.
“It feels pretty great,” Thornley said after her race. “I was expecting to do well, not necessarily expecting to win, but things worked out, and this feels amazing with me being a senior and knowing it’s my last race.
6A boys team results
- Skyridge, 57
- American Fork, 62
- Corner Canyon, 105
- Davis, 107
- Riverton, 113
- Westlake, 186
- Herriman, 199
- Weber, 229
6A boys individual results
- Nathan Jaster, American Fork, 16:09.8
- Creed Thompson, Skyridge, 16:20.4
- Davin Thompson, Skyridge, 16:33.8
- Seth Wallgren, Skyridge, 16:55.2
- Jedidiah Megargel, Westlake, 16:55.9
- Carson Day, Corner Canyon, 16:59.2
- Jayden Fitzgarrald, American Fork, 17:11.1
- Hunter Kitchen, Davis, 17:13.0
6A girls team results
- Lone Peak, 29
- American Fork, 74
- Layton, 105
- Corner Canyon, 183
- Riverton, 187
- Davis, 191
- Skyridge, 197
- Herriman, 197
6A girls individual results
- Emma Thornley, Layton, 20:14.8
- Eliza Mason, Lone Peak, 20:25.3
- Reagan Gardner, Lone Peak, 20:31.9
- Addi Bruening, Herriman, 20:32.3
- Sariah Hernandez, Pleasant Grove, 20:35.3
- Hailey Low, Layton, 20:38.1
- Taylor Rohatinsky, Lone Peak, 20:41.1
- Katie Bybee, Lone Peak, 20:45.6