Coronado, Foothill excel at Falcon Invitational

Coronado and Foothill ruled the day at the Falcon Invitational cross country meet Saturday at Foothill.

Coronado won three of the four team races and had one individual champion, while Foothill produced one team win, three second-place finishes and two individual champions.

Coronado won the boys and girls freshman-sophomore titles along with the girls junior-senior win. Foothill captured the boys junior-senior race and was second in both freshman-sophmore races at the event, which drew 14 local teams, mostly from the Sunrise Region, and more than 400 individual runners.

The junior-senior boys race produced the closest team finish and the fastest time of the day. In team competition, Foothill (60) edged Basic (68), Durango (69) and Coronado (70). Individually, Foothill senior Carl Greene led from start to finish to win the 2.5-mile race in 13 minutes, 1.6 seconds.

“This is the fastest course in town,”  Greene said. “I was just running for place and decided to relax and let it happen.”
Foothill junior Kyler Campbell (13:15.9) was second.

Campbell, who last year ran for Basic and earned a trip to state before being rezoned for Foothill, is one of the reasons the Falcons are among the favorites to go to state.

“Our team is coming together,” Greene said. “We have at least 14 guys on our team (who are competitive), and everyone wants to win. We’re looking towards region and state.”

Foothill coach Tim Simonis was effusive in his praise for Greene.

“He listens and does what you tell him,” Simonis said. “He was 16 seconds faster over this course from last year.”

Durango senior Matt Shelton (13:26.2) was third, followed by  Del Sol senior Walter Casey (13:26.6) and Coronado senior Cameron Neal (13:32.0).

In the junior-senior girls race, Coronado senior Erin Smith took it out fast and never looked back in leading the Cougars to the team victory with 31 points.

Foothill (54) was second, followed by Tech (76) and Basic (77).

Smith’s time of 15:44.8 was more than 10 seconds faster than that of the runner-up, Foothill senior Cheyenne Jones (15:54.9).

“Today’s race was hard, but I love this fast course,” Smith said.  “Last year I would just stay with the pack; now I try to lead myself.”

Smith and Jones were the only two girls to break 16 minutes. Coronado senior Kristal Hosaka finished third in 16:00.3, followed by Boulder City senior Stephanie Adams (16:20.3) and Foothill junior Sage Long (16:30.6).

Coronado coach Mark Tondryk also was pleased with Saturday’s results.

“The girls are 12 deep,” Tondryk said. “Erin and Kristal usually lead, but after that I never know from one week to the next.”

The freshman-sophomore boys race went to Coronado (33) over Foothill (40), Tech (71) and Basic (106).

Foothill sophomore Brian Marshall was the individual winner in 13:28.8.

The freshman-sophomore girls race also went to Coronado (35) over Foothill (52), Basic (64) and Tech (119).

Tech sophomore Taylor Coss led for most of the race until she was overtaken in the last half mile by Boulder City sophomore Jessica Tobler, who won in 16:00.9. Coss finished second in 16:06.4.

Tobler finished second at the Class 3A state meet as a freshman.

 “It was faster than I expected,” Tobler said. “I caught (Coss) on the second loop.

“I feel good about my chances of winning state this year since the race is on our home course.”