Cross country runners from seven schools gathered at Camp Verde High School on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 3, for the Camp Verde XC Invitational.
The runners ran on a variety of terrain throughout the day. The race began and ended on the grass of the Cowboys’ football field. Runners also ran on the dirt of the Camp Verde track, pavement of the adjacent road and through the rocks and dirt of the hills across the street from the high school.
Despite the challenges of running the different surfaces and having to navigate hills, the race was a popular one for the participants.
“The trail was excellent,” Cowboys Coach Dave Castillo said. “I had a lot of positive feedback. We had a lot of kids coming through saying ‘I love this course. I love this course.’ The coaches had a lot of positive feedback about the different kinds of terrain. I think they loved it.”
Camp Verde sophomore Jordan Keeley said the variety made the race interesting.
“Going up the hill was kind of hard but I pushed through it and passed a couple of people,” he said.
On the boys side, the Mingus team was well represented. Sophomore Cesar Diaz was the first runner to cross the finish line at 17:22.31, while his teammate junior Isaac Reynolds was second with a time of 18:04.22. Marauders senior Jehiah Rogers [18:43] and sophomore Keenan Brekke [19:27] both finished in the top-10, finishing seventh and 10th, respectively, while junior Retief was 12th with 19:56.
Round Valley senior Jessica Madrid was the star of the girls race. In addition to winning the race, her time of 19:42 broke 20 minutes, set a course record for the girls and was better than all but 11 finishers in the boys race. Mingus again had its share of strong performers, with sophomores Makena Bliss [21:11] and Maisie Babcock [21:35] finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, and Nina Willoughby coming in 14th with 23:22.
Keeley was the fastest runner on the home team, finishing in 20th place with a time of 21:03. Freshman teammate Rodrigo Ariza [21:05] was right behind him while junior Steven Bahe [21:43.31] was 23rd. Rounding out the Camp Verde boys was freshman Calvin Pitroff [23:10], junior Aaron Mathews [23:54], sophomore Austin Dexter [25:02] and freshman Kevan Carr [37:29].
On the girls side, freshman Sierra Bleak was the first finisher of the Cowboys with a time of 27:42. She was followed by senior Destiny Ello [28:48] and freshman Maysea Dupuy [36:30].
Camp Verde’s first two meets of the year — the Chino Valley Multi and Ray Wherley Invite — were both on the road. The remainder of the Cowboys’ season will also be away from home. So, it was nice for the Camp Verde team to get to run on a more familiar trail.
“It was really nice to actually run the course and not feel lost,” Bleak said. It went good. This was one of my best races — but the hill was hard.”
The 2020 race was the second Camp Verde XC Invitational. Immediately after the meet’s conclusion, Castillo was upbeat about how it went and already excited about next year’s.
“I think it went great,” he said. “We always have nerves going into this, from the kids to the coaches. I like to make sure that we host a great event — and I think it went great. We had tons of volunteers. I appreciate that. Seven schools showed up. It was a beautiful morning. The weather was perfect. You can’t ask for anything more. Thank you to everyone who came out. We look forward to doing it again next year.”
