Northland Preparatory Academy’s boys cross country team took its biggest step yet in defending its AIA Division 4 cross country title on Thursday in Page, winning the North Sectionals with 39 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Round Valley, who had 78.
The Spartans showed great pack running and spacing in the 5K race, with seniors Delani Hanson and Aaron Nichol finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in 17:49 and 17:51. (St. Michael Indian School’s Evans Tracy won in 17:13).
NPA’s third and fourth runners cracked the top 10 as well, with Harrison Kessenich (18:09) and David Hayes (18:12) placing eighth and ninth. Emilio Haubert, the all-important fifth and final scoring runner for NPA, placed 14th in 18:23 to assure the victory.
AIA rules dictate that exactly half the teams that finish at least five runners in the sectionals advance to the state meet, so Basis’ boys squeaked in by finishing fifth overall in a 10-team field.
Sophomore Everett Evans had a terrific race for the Yeti, placing 10th in 18:14 — the first time this season he’s been the team’s top runner. Fellow sophomore Miguel Rodriguez Rosero placed 17th in 18:34 and senior Ben Hutchinson 20th in 18:55. Basis had to wait a while for its fourth and fifth runners to finish, but Josh Nelson’s 42nd place finish and Tyler Montoya’s 43rd place proved enough to elevate Basis to fifth with 113 points.
In the girls race, NPA also dominated with arguably a more impressive showing than thre Spartan boys.
NPA ran bunched together most of the way. Junior McKenna Marino placed fifth overall in 21:45 — and, after that, the Spartans had the 9th, 10th and 11th finishers with Jaelyn Weiss, Eva Madsen and Sarah Drexler. Sister Laura Drexler was NPA’s fifth scorer coming in 15th.
Basis Flagstaff girls finished third out of six fully scoring teams, meaning it advanced to state as well. Sophomore Jasmine Hall placed second overall in 20:53 (Round Valley’s Callie Latham easily got the win in 20:43), and teammate Sammy Mullaney was fourth in 21:28. It was the first time this season Hall has beaten Mullaney.
As with the Yeti boys, the girls had to wait a while for the third through fifth runners to cross the line. Arribella Gunderson was 17th, Olivia LaBenz 27th and Abigail Papez 40th — giving Basis a three-point edge over fourth place Round Valley.
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