Two young local cross-country teams, including host Camp Verde High School, will face their toughest course of the fall season Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Camp Verde Invitational.
The Cowboys, under veteran head coach Mike O’Callaghan, host Mingus Union High School and 10 other teams at the invitational, a 5K that climbs notorious CV Hill in the back of CVHS beginning with the boys run at 8:30 a.m.
“This is a challenging course, one that is not a park or golf course,” O’Callaghan said. “We start by the softball field, run on school grounds, run over CV Hill [and] finish on the track.”
Alhambra and Apache Junction high schools return for the sixth straight year to challenge a Cowboys team that has just two returning runners, sophomores Corina Crittenden and Laddie Willis, who should form the core of “what can be a strong team by their senior year,” O’Callaghan said.
She added that Crittenden has been ill with a “flu-type bug,” but should be healthy enough to run with the rest of the girls at 9 a.m. Sept. 24.
The two other CVHS runners are in their first year of high school cross-country, including junior Claudia Escobedo.
Freshman Chaeli Hoehn is a California transfer juggling running with volleyball matches. Her 26:31.75 in the Cowboys’ Sept. 7 meet was the top time on the team but not enough to crack the top 50 girls at the Payson Invitational.
The leading boys runner at Payson was sophomore Dominic Pittman, a transfer from Alaska.
“He is adapting well to the heat and has a tremendous work ethic,” O’Callaghan said, “which is already showing good returns.”
He joins Willis and first-year runner Logan Pratt as sophomore boys.
Freshmen Levi Monroe and Bryon Mina are the other full-time runners representing the Cowboys at meets. Another freshman, Benji Perez, is a fall dual-sport athlete like Hoehn who will run with the team on days there are no CVHS soccer games.
While the first two meets for both the Cowboys and Marauders were scored according to top boys and girls runners at varsity and junior varsity levels, the Camp Verde Invitational is not scored, instead awarding the top 15 boys and girls in each high school class.
“This affords an opportunity for those who may not always be in the front to be recognized for their efforts,” O’Callaghan said. “It is a great spectator course.”
For the full schedule of Cowboys and Marauders meets, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 21, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
