Bobcat girls place first in Willcox meet
By Raymundo Frasquillo
BENSON – Sixteen schools have committed to participate in the Benson Cross Country Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 18. The schools include Tucson Desert View from the Division II Southern; Florence from the Division III East; Douglas, Tucson Empire, Safford, and Thatcher from the Division III Southern along with Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, Benson, Bisbee, Fort Thomas, Morenci, Pima, Saint David, Sells Baboquivari, Tombstone, and Willcox from the Division IV South. The starting gun sounds at 4 p.m. for the open run, 4:40 p.m. for varsity boys, and 5:20 p.m. for varsity girls.
Last season, Thatcher placed first with 55 points, Nogales second (55), Benson third (87), Morenci fourth (92), Pima fifth (94), and Forth Thomas sixth (115). The first place tie-breaker between No. 6 runners had Thatcher sophomore Addison Williams with a 25:42.37 clocking compared to Nogales freshman Ivanna Gomez with 25:48.51.
Among the expected returnees from the 2024 Top 20 finishers of 43 are Benson senior Rayleigh Olsen with 21:47.01 for first, Empire senior Taryn Baldwin third (22:51.44), Fort Thomas senior Sadie Harvey third(22:58.74), Tombstone junior Kihanna Yocupicio fifth (23:16.54), Thatcher senior Jade Richardson seventh (23:59.65), Pima sophomore Kaylen Minor ninth (24:21.34), Pima junior Hinckley Nelson 11th (24:23.22), Thatcher junior Emily Welker 12th (24:23.29), Morenci junior Hazel Salinas 13th (24:24.96), Thatcher senior Clara Barron 14th (24:33.28), Thatcher sophomore Grace Daley 15th (24:37.80), and Benson senior ArayaStanley 16th (24:47. 52).
Olsen ranks eighth overall in the meet, behind Thatcher senior Lily Richardson (20:36.0) in 2017, Tanque Verde freshman Anna Summer (20:54.2) in 2016, Safford senior Kaitlyn McDougal (20:54.7) in 2016, Bisbee freshman Kierra Lumpkin (21:19.0) in 2017, Douglas senior Kaycie Cormier (21:27.0) in 2016, Morenci junior Kayla O’Connell (21:35.2) in 2019, and Mew Mexico Silver senior Sammantha Larish (21:40.0) in 2016.
Baldwin is 23rd, Harvey 26th, Yucupicio 34th, Jade Richardson 52nd, Minor 66th, Nelson and Winkler tied for 68th, Salinas 70th, Barron 77th, Daley 80th, and Stanley 84th in the Top 100.
At the 2024 Division IV state meet, Olsen finished 11th (21:35.6) of 109 and Harvey 21st (22:13.0).
Willcox Girls Invitational
Benson finished first with 39 points, Thatcher second (57), Pima third (73), Tombstone fourth (75), and Fort Thomas fifth (90). Full teams were not fielded by Morenci with two entrants and Willcox with one. Douglas and Saint David both competed in the open race.
Last season, Thatcher was first with 39 points, Morenci second (51), Pima third (60), and Fort Thomas fourth (75).
Individually, Benson senior Rayleigh Olsen clocked in with 23:19.19 for first of 34, Fort Thomas senior Sadie Harvey second (24:55.77), Thatcher sophomore Brightyn Stevens third (25:02.24), Benson sophomore Sasha Canales fourth (25:28.56), Benson sophomore Savanna Meza fifth (25:29.56), Pima sophomore Kaylen Minor sixth (25:30.92), Tombstone junior Kihanna Yocupicio seventh (25:32.27), and Pima freshman Jacey Tilley eighth (25:40.91).
Thatcher junior Addison Williams was ninth (25:52.62), Tombstone junior Ayrianna Canez 10th (26:14.21),
Pima freshman Ella Ashby 11th (26:37.82), Thatcher junior London Rhoton 12th (27:08.82), Morenci junior Hazel Salinas 13th (27:17.91), Morenci sophomore Peytin Corbell 14th (27:18.10), Benson freshman Arden Tucker 15th (27:25.67), and Thatcher senior Sophie Martinez 16th (27:26.17).
Fort Thomas freshman Maya Kessay was 17th (27:46.13), Benson senior Araya Stanley 18th (27:50.74), freshman Hailey Yocupicio 19th (28:02.99), Tombstone sophomore Savanna Meza 20th (28:10.62), Thatcher senior Clara Barron 21st (28:26.29), Thatcher sophomore Delila Sanchez 22nd (28:29.87), Fort Thomas junior Corey Cody 23rd (28:32.56), and Pima senior Merrill DeCrow 24th (28:35.01).
Tombstone freshman Isabel Aguilas was 25th (29:10.12), Tombstone junior Anastacia Lopez-Gonzales 26th (29:33.68), Fort Thomas senior Makayla Chapman 27th (29:44.98), Willcox freshman Katelyn Millenaar 28th (330:05.77), Pima junior Hinckley Nelson 29th (30:08.44), Fort Thomas sophomore Leilynn Wesley 30th (30:14.44), Pima sophomore Jailey Tilley 31st (30:16.13), Pima junior Page Ashby 32nd (30:28.30), Fort Thomas freshman Alanah Harvey 33rd (31:02.98), and Fort Thomas senior Talia Pike 34th (31:21.42).
Thatcher senior Sadie Dorr finished first (30:00.29) of 27 in the girls open run.
