ROUNDUP: Ferraro, Gator boys narrowly win Lake Mead Invitational

Little did Jason Ferraro know how important he’d be to Green Valley’s boys cross country team on Saturday.

Ferraro didn’t factor in the Gators’ scoring in the Lake Mead Invitational at Veterans Memorial Park, but his 21st-place finish ensured Green Valley the team title in the large school boys race.

Green Valley and Arbor View each had a team score of 40, forcing a sixth-runner tiebreaker to determine a champion. Ferraro finished two seconds and two places ahead of the Aggies’ Brandon Peck, giving Green Valley the edge.

Arbor View’s girls easily won the girls large school race. Moapa Valley’s boys and Boulder City’s girls took the small school titles.

On a day when a handful of the Gators’ top runners were absent, Ferraro’s time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds for the 3.1-mile race was key for Green Valley, which had three of the top six finishers, including race winner Julius Kim, who finished in 16:47.

“I felt like our team had a fairly good race, but we have so much more hunger and passion to burst out at divisions, regionals, and state,” said Kim. “Today we had a few of our top guys injured, sick, or missing because they were taking the SATs, but we’re glad that we had the chance to run on this course before regionals and feel more comfortable and confident about the terrain.”

D.J. Padilla-Montello was fifth in 17:14, and Green Valley teammate Matt Campa-Moreno took sixth in 17:16.

Arbor View’s Greg Marschik was second in 16:55, followed by Shadow Ridge’s Sam Mahar in 17:03 and Del Sol’s Colin Smith in 17:05.

Shadow Ridge was third in the team standings with 56 points.

 

In the large school girls race, Arbor View placed five runners in the top nine to breeze to the team title.

The Aggies had a team score of 27 points. Shadow Ridge was second with 54 and Green Valley third at 108.

Arbor View junior Kourtney Willey won the race in 20:22, pulling away from the Shadow Ridge duo of Michelle Schenck (20:36) and Mallory Reese (20:49). Valley’s Anne Underwood was fourth in 21:04.

The Aggies packed wonderfully, though, with Amberly Halstead (fifth), Taylor Ingraham (sixth), and Tiffany Carmona (seventh) all finishing in a span of 1.8 seconds. Randi Withoft followed in ninth.

“We have a very balanced and strong team with a lot of depth, and they always try to motivate and support each other in every practice and race,” said Arbor View coach Tyrel Cooper. “I am very proud of these girls for their hard work and the success they have achieved thus far.”

In the small school girls race, Jessica Tobler won in 21:41 and teammate Stephanie Adams was right behind in 21:53 to help Boulder City take the team title with 27 points. Laughlin was second with 40.

The one-two punch of Josh Thompson (17:10) and Chase Witter (17:45) led Moapa Valley to the small-school boys title with 21 points. Laughlin was a distant second with 67.