By Raymundo Frasquillo
RIO RICO – The high school at 590 Camino Lito Galindo will have six sectional races in three divisions, three for girls and three for boys, run on Wednesday, Oct. 23. The top 50 percent of teams and the next seven individual finishers will qualify for the state meet on Nov. 2.
The Division IV – South Sectional meet, with girls starting at 4 p.m. and boys at 4:30 p.m., will include Benson, Bisbee, Florence American Leadership – Anthem South, Fort Thomas, Morenci, Pima, Saint David, Sells Baboquivari, Tombstone, and Willcox along with Tucson teams Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind, Desert Christian, The Gregory School, and Saint Augustine Catholic.
Races in the Division III – South Sectional will be held for girls at 5 p.m. and boys at 5:30 p.m. Douglas, Rio Rico, Sahuarita, Sahuarita Walden Grove, Safford, and Thatcher, as well as Tucson schools Amphitheater, Andrada Polytechnic, Catalina Magnet, Empire, Palo Verde Magnet, Pusch Ridge Christian, Sabino, Sahuaro, Salpointe Catholic, and Tanque Verde, are scheduled to participate.
The Division II – South Sectional races start at 6 p.m. for girls and 6:30 p.m. for boys.
Thatcher Invitational – Boys Varsity
Morenci left Discovery Park with the first-place team award. The quickest team quintet was Morenci with senior Anthony Heathman at third (18:36.84), senior Trent Nelson at eighth (19:47.90), freshman Ryder Nelson at 11th (20:14.14), junior Lyndale Waterhouse at 16th (20:54.90), and freshman Braxton Merrill at 33rd (22:13.82). The sixth and seventh Wildcats, junior Aaron Esquivel and senior Tristan Burke were 37th (22:35.49) and 67th (26:30.40), respectively.
The Morenci Wildcats had 66 points, followed by Safford (81), Thatcher (88), Alchesay (102), Benson (104), Tombstone (105), San Carlos (187), Miami (196), Saint David (236), and Willcox (242). There were 77 participants from 13 schools, with Pima and Fort Thomas having four entrants apiece and Globe two.
The top five individual finishers were Alchesay sophomore Yonah Beatty (18:33.19), Safford junior Grady Lackner (18:51.99), Heathman, Thatcher senior Callum Winkler (18:29.76), and Safford senior Andrew Ortega (19:01.09).
Safford was second with Lackner, Ortega, junior Noah Gonzales at 21st (21:15.86), sophomore Kendrick Fritz at 23rd (21:23.03), and freshman Karlos Enrico at 41st (23:06.40). The sixth and seventh Bulldogs, freshman Cort Konrath and sophomore Justin Hatchet were 45th (23:15.14) and 46th (23:17.57), respectively.
Thatcher ended third with Winkler, freshman Westen Dement at 10th (20:12.76), junior Bryson Nielson at 20th (21:15.30), senior Wallace Haller at 26th (21:36.58), and freshman Ryan Griffin at 39th (22:57.75). The sixth and seventh Eagles, freshman Blake Bingham and freshman Milar Miller were at 42nd (23:08.01) and at 48th (23:2-.54). respectively.
Fourth place Alchesay had Yonah Beatty, sophomore Yohan Beatty at ninth (20:08.75), sophomore Micah Yazzie at 31st (22:01.86), junior Nikhil Anderson at 35th (22:23.53), and sophomore Joshua Alchesay at 38th (22:50.21). The sixth and seventh Falcons, sophomores Talan Alchesay and Dionta Aday were 56th (24:34.48) and 61st (25:10.23), respectively.
Benson was fifth with senior Syric Ramirez at 13th (20:22.98), sophomore Salomon Crowley at 24th (21:24.88), sophomore Kolten Maxwell at 27th (21:37.75), junior Makai Pralgo at 28th (21:37.92), and freshman Prisco Capangpangan at 29th (21:37.94). The sixth and seventh Bobcats, freshmen Dallin Jones and Orion Allred were 49th (23:24.97) and 54th (24:10.53), respectively.
Sixth place Tombstone had senior Landen Pease at sixth (19:42.17), senior Danary Jackson at 15th (20:41.30), freshman Aiden Werkheiser at 25th (21:28.00), sophomore Colton Thursby at 32nd (22:04.04), and freshman Logan Masters at 40th (23:06.16). The sixth and seventh Yellow Jackets, Chase Davidson and junior Diego DeLosReyes were 52nd (23:55.75) and 57th (24:41.25), respectively.
San Carlos was seventh with sophomore Dakota Edwards at 18th (21:11.66), senior Demyen Andrews at 30th (22:01.12), sophomore Talen Pechuli at 47th (23:19.19), sophomore Kris Church at 50th (23:24.97), and senior David Dude III at 62nd (25:10.68). The sixth and seventh Braves, junior Aaden Patterson and sophomore Christian Chapman were 65th (25:40.40) and 66th (26:26.29), respectively.
Eighth place Miami had Rudy Dozal at seventh (19:47.10), Joshua Dillon Jr. at 36th (22:28.85), Devon Castillo at 55th (24:29.71), Bo Dickenson at 58th (24:46.45), and Isaiah Marquez at 60th (25:09.22). The sixth and seventh Vandals, Dan Ivins and Trayson Brewer were 72nd (28:55.28) and 75th (33:33.39), respectively.
Saint David was ninth with senior Corban Fry at 14th (20:25.44), sophomore Brayden Posey at 43rd (23:11.31), sophomore Ezra Fry at 63rd (25:24.94), sophomore Zak Barten at 68th (26:44.61), and Saint David sophomore Jaryn Brogan at 76th (42:06.16). The sixth Tiger, sophomore Nathan Merrill at 77th (42:07.04).
Tenth place Willcox had sophomore Nathan Riggs at 34th (22:14.03), junior Sawyer Thompson at 44th (24:14.45), sophomore Mark Wilson at 51st (23:42.67), freshman Landon Hooper at 69th (26:48.79), and freshman Brigham Nolan at 70th (27:27.71).
Fort Thomas and Pima both had four entrants apiece while Globe entered two. Pima had sophomore Oliver McCray at 12th (20:15.90), junior Keaton Bryce at 17th (21:05.21), junior Isaac Thompson at 22nd (21:21.43), and freshman Kia Nieves at 59th (24:47.46); Fort Thomas junior Aiden Victor at 19th (21:12.28), junior Leandro Kenton at 53rd (24:03.89), freshman Aaden Anderson at 64th (25:32.22), and junior Koby Hunter at 71st (27:54.88); and Globe junior Easton Phillips at 73rd (28:36.61) and sophomore Karmyne Dude 74th (29:01.98).
Thatcher Invitational – Boys Open
Thatcher senior Hudson Gibson had a time of 22:13.10 to place first of 26 open runners. The field included nine from Thatcher, eight from Alchesay, six from San Carlos, two from Morenci, and one from Safford.
