Bobcats take first in Willcox meet
By Raymundo Frasquillo
BENSON – A total of 16 schools are scheduled to be represented in the Benson Cross Country Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 18. Listed entrants 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. Starting times are 4 p.m. for the open run, 4:40 p.m. for varsity boys, and 5:20 p.m. for varsity girls.
Last season, Empire was first with 81 points, Morenci second (87), Benson third (103), Safford fourth (92), Tombstone fifth (132), Thatcher sixth (140), Nogales seventh (140), Pima eighth (187), Saint David ninth (204), Willcox 10th (222), and Bisbee 11th (247). The sixth place tie-breaker between Thatcher and Nogales was decided on the No. 6 runner’s times. Thatcher freshman Jackson Mulleneaux finished in 22:42.11 while Nogales had only five runners.
Among the expected returnees from the 2024 Top 20 finishers of 76 are Benson junior Jace Myatt with 18:21.18 for second, Safford senior Grady Lackner third (18:29.21), Empire junior Ukiah Dziadosz fifth (18:39.04), Thatcher senior Gavin Reed ninth (19:05.44), Morenci sophomore Ryder Nelson 13th (19:43.26), Safford senior Noah Gonzales 14th (19:45.07), Fort Thomas senior Aiden Victor 16th (19:57.30), Pima junior Oliver McCray 17th (20:02.92), Pima senior Isaac Thompson 18th (20:09.64), and Saint David junior Braydon Posey 20th (20:25.21).
The quickest time turned in has been 15:50.0 by Saint Augustine Catholic senior Nicolas Montanez in 2011. Myatt ranks 26th in the Top 100, Lackner 34th, Dziadosz 42nd, Reed 61st, Nelson 87th, and Gonzales 89th.
At the 2024 state meets, Lackner was 80th (17:53.2) of 258 and Gonzales 168th (19:08.5) in Division III andNelson 62nd (18:58.0) of 188 in Division IV.
Willcox Boys Invitational
Benson came in first with 32 points, Thatcher second (49), Tombstone third (58), Pima fourth (120),Bisbee fifth (130), Fort Thomas sixth (148), Saint David seventh (175), and Willcox eighth (183). Morenci or. Douglas, both with four entrants, did not field a full team.
Last season, Thatcher placed first with 54 points, Benson second (65), Sells Baboquivari third (73), Morenci fourth (81), Tombstone fifth (103), Saint David sixth (159), Fort Thomas seventh (180), and Douglas eighth (191). Safford junior Grady Lackner set the pace with a 20:06.89 clocking.
Benson junior Jace Myatt was first in 18:30.0, Thatcher freshman Brysen Kartchner second (19:31.70), Benson freshman Brody Upshaw third (19:37.66), Thatcher sophomore Weston Dement fourth (20:05.03), Tombstone sophomore Aiden Werkheier fifth (20:22.30), Tombstone junior Colten Thursby sixth (20:48.08), Benson freshman Jacob Rubio seventh (20:53.23), and Bisbee junior Pete Noperi eighth (20:54.07).
Benson sophomore Orion Allred was ninth (21:56.52), Douglas junior Elayan Gonzalez 10th (21:01.61), Douglas sophomore Antonio Rascon 11th (21:09.69), Tombstone freshman Robert Smith 12th (21:13.67), Tombstone senior Joshua Givens 13th (21:16.69), Benson sophomore Hunter Pratt 14th (21:26.16), Morenci sophomore Ryder Nelson 15th (21:43.27), and Thatcher sophomore Blake Bingham 16th (21:44.50).
Thatcher sophomore Ryan Griffin was 17th (22:03.06), Fort Thomas freshman Elijah Titla 18th (22:05.55), Thatcher sophomore Jason Hansen 19th (22:11.58), Pima senior Keaton Bryce 20th (22:12.63), Saint David junior Braydon Posey 21st (22:13.17), Pima junior Edgardo Flores 22nd (22:16.29), Pima junior Oliver McCray 23rd (22:19.60), and Pima freshman Tell Richardson 24th (22:37.60).
Pima junior Joel Mattice was 25th (22:41.79), Benson sophomore Prisco Capangpangan 26th (22:43.62). Fort Thomas senior Leandro Kenton 27th (22:46.00), Thatcher junior Caden Burkett 28th (22:50.15), Douglas junior Ramon Chavez 29th (22:54.04), Morenci senior Lyndale Waterhouse 30th (22:55.98), Tombstone sophomore Jacob Rodriguez 31st (22:66.12), and Thatcher junior Hudson Gibson 32nd (23:00.54).
Willcox junior Nathan Riggs 33rd (23:17.73), Benson junior Marcus Torres 34th (23:27.84), Morenci sophomore Joaquin Ma 35th (23:34.42), Willcox freshman Cooper Allred 36th (23:42.18), Fort Thomas junior Keon Williams 37th (23:43.71), Bisbee senior Luis Ramirez 38th (23:54.65), Saint David junior Zak Barten 39th (23:54.96), and Saint David junior Nathan Merrell 40th (23:55.10).
Bisbee senior Ramon Gonzalez-Vasquez was 41st (24:20.01), Bisbee sophomore Spencer Linde 42nd (24:25.13), Fort Thomas sophomore Aaden Anderson 43rd (24:26.31), Willcox junior Mark Wilson 44th (24:31.14), Willcox sophomore Landon Hooper45th (24:56.72), Pima junior Cartsen Cluff 46th (24:56.95), Fort Gthomas freshman Demari Anderson 47th (24:58.44), and Bisbee senior Luis Saavedra 48th (25:05.96).
Saint David junior Ezra Fry was 49th (25:14.42), Douglas junior Francisco Santana 50th (25:49.41), Morenci senior Samuel Kitcheyan 51st (25:54.80), Pima freshman Seth Perkins 52nd (26:10.50), Fort Thomas frshman Michael Rogers 53rd (26:14.61), Fort Thomas sophomore Amare Ethelbal 54th (26:51.57), Saint David senior Jaxen Brogan 55th (27:07.09), Willcox sophomore Brigham Nolan 56th (27:07.41), and Willcox freshman Ruben Sanchez 57th (27:16.21).
Thatcher sophomore Milan Miller finished first (22:37.29) in the boys open.
