Utter dominance is probably the only phrase needed to describe the Cottonwood Middle School cross country team’s efforts at the Lobos Invitational meet at Riverfront Park on Sept. 15.
The seventh- and eighth-grade girls team for the Lobos took first overall, scoring six points to beat out Rim Country Middle School, who scored 31 points in a distant second.
Cottonwood runners took the first six places in last Wednesday’s race, with Penny Fenn setting a new course record with an 11:47 time, good enough for first overall.
Jasmine Banks took second with a 12:22 time while Karen Arellano was third with a 12:57 time. Megan Goettl took fourth with a 13:05 time and Anissa Urueta wrapped up the top five with a 13:11 time.
In sixth place was Mary Earl who finished only two seconds behind Urueta with a 13:13.
“I’m shocked this race turned out like it did,” Mingus Head Coach Micah Swenson said laughing. “I mean, I’ve been around a long time, and have coached cross country for a lot of years, and I’ve never seen a team take the first six places in a race.”
Heritage Middle School took third with 33 points while Prescott Middle School was fourth with 65 and West Sedona School wrapped up the top five with 96.
In the boys seventh- and eighth-grade race, the Lobos finished second overall with 22 points, only seven behind eventual champion Rim Country’s 15 points.
Jordan Bramblett took third overall for Cottonwood with an 11:28 time while Keenan DeVore was seventh with a 11:57 time.
Other notables for Cottonwood included Jordan Prouty, who took 12th overall with a 12:27 time, while Traygon Ullery took 21st with a 13:51 time.
“Overall, I think our team did quite well. We will continue to improve but this race was a good marker for us as to how well we can do,” Swenson said.
Next up, the Lobos will participate in the Prescott Invitational at Pioneer Park on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
The scheduled start time for today’s race is set for 4 p.m.
