Nevada Cross Country Preview: Round up the Usual Suspects

There are some new looks to the alignment of high school cross country here in Nevada this season. The numbers have been reversed—the top division is now 4A; the old D-1A becomes 3A; and the small schools are now 2A (1A and 2A combined for cross country). In Southern Nevada four schools have been moved up to Division 4: Faith Lutheran, Clark, Spring Valley, and Sierra Vista, all in the Sunset Region.

What impact will this have on teams qualifying for State? In the new 4A it’s still a 9-team state meet: Sunrise-Sunset-North, 3 each. In 3A there is subtle change from a 6-team state meet by adding one more team from the South. A2 will remain a 6-team state meet, 3 each from North and South.

Some things don’t change. The powerhouse programs in cross country, North and South, seem firmly established for 2016. Starting with the girls first, South and then North, from A4 down to A2, here is how I see things.  

If there is one team that is the overwhelming favorite among the girls. North and South, it is Centennial, the defending state champions. In fact this may the first team from Nevada to compete on the National stage since the heydays of Reno (girls) and Galena (boys) back eons ago. Centennial plans three trips to California this fall, including the Stanford Invitational, which certainly will put them center stage for potential national rankings and a trip to Oregon for the NXN Championships. Time will tell.

New girl’s coach at Centennial, Kisha Finch, takes over for Roy Session, who will confine himself to coaching just track this year. Not exactly a newcomer—Kisha was an assistant coach under Session in 2015—Coach Finch retains defending state champion Karina Haymore, as well as veteran runners Alexis Gourrier and Kayla Roberts. All three were on the R-J’s All-State Girls Cross Country first team in 2015, along with sophomore McKenzie Morgan who made the All-State second team. How deep is Centennial in talent? Loaded! Based on top times for returning runners in Sunset, Centennial has 9 of the top 13. For good measure, the Lady Bulldogs have two incoming 9^th graders who are expected to make an immediate impact, according to my sources.

Palo Verde, in Sunset, is also awash in talent and likely headed to State again (they were 3^rd at State in 2015, losing out to Reno on a tie-breaker). The Lady Panthers are led by Emma Wahlenmaier, runner-up at state in 2015. Long-time Palo coach Robert Davis has 10 girls returning who were on the top-50 Sunset returning-runners list (3 among the top 10). He also picks up a transfer from Arkansas, Baily Lebow, who had a 2015 5K PR of 20:50 (according to Athletic.net).

The rest of the girl’s team in Sunset will likely battle for the scraps, a third spot at State. Two of the Sunset newcomers, Faith Lutheran and Clark; Shadow Ridge; and Arbor View appear to have the most returning talent.

Sunrise girls are headed by Green Valley, the defending champs, with Sunrise individual champion Mia Smith leading the way. The Gators are, according to an unnamed source, “not deep”. But who is? Still, Green Valley has 8 runners in the Sunrise-returning top 50, the most of any Sunrise team. Smith, who was on the R-J’s All-State second team in 2015 is the only Sunrise runner with a 2015 5K PR under 20 minutes. By comparison the top-8 returning runners in Sunset all recorded faster times last fall.

Foothill appears to have the best shot of joining Green Valley at State. They return 4 runners in the top 15 and a total of 6 in the Sunrise top 50. The Falcons also gain a promising freshman in Erica Schultz, who currently ranks #2 on the team (behind Erica Williams, the #4 returning Sunrise runner), according to one of my sources.

I expect the fight for the third spot to State this fall to come down to perennial power Coronado—hit hard by graduation, but still deep in numbers—and Liberty. Liberty’s Skyler Free and Sydney Groom give the Patriots a strong pair of strikers. Basic’s Raquel Chavez is the #2 returning runner in Sunrise, but the Wolves den appears sparsely habitated this fall, at least on the girl’s side.

If there are teams who benefit by the realignment, they are SECTA and the rest of the teams in 3A in the South. Not only does 3A get a fourth spot in the State meet, two of the top programs, Faith Lutheran and Clark, move to 4A. SECTA, Boulder City, and Moapa Valley are all thus projected to make it to State on the girl’s side. After that it appears wide open among as many as seven schools: Western, Virgin Valley, Del Sol, Sunrise Mountain, Mojave, Cheyenne, and Pahrump Valley.  The top returning 3A runner is Boulder City’s Sierra Selinger. Sierra suffered nagging injuries during the 2015 season and despite winning the Southern Regional never fully recovered in time for State, where she finished 16^th  against a much stronger field. She is now healthy again.

Division 2A was a wasteland for the South in 2015. The North dominated and will likely do so again. The only returning runner worthy of mention is Ellen Hirsberg from The Meadows. Ellen had a 5K PR last fall of 19:54. No other 2A returning runner from the South was under 22 minutes for the distance. Likewise, The Meadows would appear to be the top girl’s team in 2A from the South, returning 4 of the top 6 among the top-50 returning girls.

My projections of the top girl’s teams and individuals from the North are strictly based on the returning numbers. Such data are always sketchy, since it doesn’t take into account transfers and incoming 9^th graders (especially significant with girls). That said, here is what the numbers tell me.

In 4A the North sends three teams to state, which is being held in the South this year. This is another added advantage to the South, which sends six teams to state and twice as many individual qualifiers.

Reno’s girls finished 2^nd at State in 2015 and they should easily make it back to State this fall. The Huskies were led by Kyra Hunsberger, who was 7^th overall last fall. Kyra was first team All-State and two of her teammates Sofia Young and Mikayla Shults were on the R-J’s All-State second team in 2015. All three are returning. Reno has six girls returning who are among the top 20 of the 50 returning 4A runners from the North. The other two teams favored to make it to State are Damonte Ranch and McQueen. Damonte Ranch has 10 runners on that top-50 list and McQueen has 7. Other teams who will likely contend are perennial powers Galena, Reed, Douglas, and Carson.

In 3A this year the South should have an advantage. The meet is held in the South and the South fields four teams, to the North’s three, as previously noted. Advantage, not! Last year in the same division the North runners swept 1-12. And the top three teams demolished all three Southern teams. Expect the same this year. Spring Creek, Tahoe-Truckee, and Elko are all stronger than their counterparts in the South. Home course advantage? Forget it. You could hold the meet on the Moon and the results would be the same. The top returning runner from the North in 3A is Kacie Bell from Elko, but 6 of the top 8 are from Tahoe-Truckee. The Wolverines, invaders from California, should be a lock to win State, not just the North Regional. Spring Creek and Elko will likely join Tahoe-Truckee at Craig Ranch Park in North Las Vegas, where State will be held in November.  

2A will likely see similar North dominance. The Meadows’ Ellen Hirsberg, as noted previously, finished 5^th overall at State last year. The other 14 in the top 15 were all from the North. Team wise, The Meadows finished 3^rd behind North Tahoe and Sierra Lutheran, beating out Wells, the only other school from the North. Elaine Marchegger from Sierra Lutheran won 2A State last year and she returns, along with three North Tahoe runners who finished 2-4 behind her. Look for those two teams to finish 1-2 again this year. (At least Sierra Lutheran is a Nevada school. North Tahoe, like Tahoe-Truckee is located in California.) 

That’s it for the girls. Turning to the boys, South and then North, we start again with the Sunset Division.

Unlike the 4A girl’s programs, Sunset does not dominate. And Centennial is not the same program now that Nick Hartle, Dajour Braxton, and their teammates have become collegians. Still, the Bulldogs, under new coach Chris Martinez, is one of four teams I expect to contend strongly it to make it to State—along with Palo Verde, Arbor View, and Shadow Ridge.  The team with the most runners in the top-50 returning runners from Sunset is Palo Verde, led by Daniel Ziems. Daniel is the only Sunset runner to make the R-J’s All State team. He won the Sunset Regional in 2015. The Panthers have an overwhelming presence in the top-50 returning runners with 15 in the top 50, although only 5 are in the top 30. Palo Verde finished 6^th at State in 2015. Centennial has 6 returning runners who make the Sunset top 50. I expect the Bulldogs to count heavily on sophomore Alexander Miller, who most recently posted the 7^th fastest time among high school runners at the 2016 Legends Run. Ian Jackson is the top returning runner from Arbor View. The Aggies have 7 returning who are in the top-50 Sunset. And if Shadow Ridge is going to the Dance this year—they missed last year—they will need to find a front runner to replace Jonathon Blaine—state qualifier in 2015— who graduated.  Lurking behind those four teams, hoping to make it to State, are Bishop Gorman and newcomers Clark and Faith Lutheran.

The strongest 4A team in the South this year is clearly Green Valley, the Sunrise champion in 2015 and 3^rd at State. The Gators graduated their Sunrise champ, Austin Rogers, but may have found a replacement in Omar Rubio. Omar had to sit out the 2015 season as a result of his transfer (from Del Sol), but he ran post season at the NXN SW Regional in Arizona and posted the fastest time of any returning runner from the South (16:13). More recently, Rubio was the first high school runner at the Legends Run, finishing 5^th overall. He is joined by teammate Lenny Rubi, who was 7^th at State last year and made the R-J’s All-State first team. Coach Bud Beam’s Gators have 12 runners among the Sunrise-returning top 50.

If anyone gives Green Valley a run for the money it will be Basic. The Wolves were runner-up to Green Valley in Sunrise a year ago and finished a respectable 5^th at State. Steven Birch will be the leading Basic runner, most likely. He was 9^th at State in 2015 and joined Rubi on the All-State first team. Basic has 6 or 7 runners among the top15 returning from Sunrise. (I’ve been told that one of the 7 may opt out of cross for another sport.)

After those two in Sunrise, it’s back to the usual suspects: Coronado, Liberty and/or, less likely, Foothill or Las Vegas.

In 3A this year in the South, the one bright light is an individual, Bryce Odegard from Pahrump Valley. Odegard, as a sophomore, finished 4^th at State in 2015. He and Chase Wood from Faith Lutheran (now graduated) were the only Southern runners to crack the top 10. Now with Clark and Faith Lutheran in 4A, Pahrump is the only returning team in their division who made it to State in 2015 (where they finished 6^th and last). Odegard is the only other 3A runner from the South (besides Wood) to make the R-J’s All-State team. He will not likely be seriously challenged in 3A until State.

Team wise look for Pahrump to fill the void left by the departure of Faith and Clark and make it back to State, this time joined by SECTA—who just missed qualifying for State in 2015—and Moapa Valley, Cheyenne, or Del Sol.

2A is not a haven for cross country runners from Southern Nevada. Tucker Hansen from The Meadows shows up as the fastest returning runner from the South (2A). His 2015 5K PR is 18:26. That time doesn’t crack the Top 50 times in either Sunset or Sunrise. He would be competitive in 3A, however; 18:26 would be the 11^th best time among returning runners.

The two teams most likely to make it to State from 2A in November are The Meadows and West Wendover. In 2015 West Wendover, located in Elko County, represented the South at State, along with the Meadows; the Wolverines are still in the South for cross country again this year. Talk about “out of area”!

So, finally wrapping up this preview, we have the boy’s teams and individuals from the North.

The North dominated in all three divisions in 2015. In 4A the defending champions McQueen were led by individual champion Henry Weisberg, who is returning for his senior year. Runner-up Spanish Springs was led by Andrew Riberio, a sophomore, who finished 7th; Daniel Horner, a freshman, who finished 8^th; and Matthew Hakin, a sophomore, who finished 14^th. All three were on the R-J’s All State second team. Douglas, the third team from the North to make it to State last year, finished 4^th at State and the Tigers return 8 runners from the North’s 4A top-50, including John Munyan, who was 3^rd at State in 2015 and made All-State first team. Galena, who failed to qualify for State in 2015, returns 7 who are among the top 50. And then there’s Reed, which sent two individual qualifiers to State last year and this year has 5 runners among the top 50. The good news for the South is that only three of those northern teams can qualify to come to Craig Ranch Park in November.

The 3A boy’s teams from the North dominated in 2015 just like their girl’s counterparts. That’s not likely to change, even though traditionally, the South does better when the site is in the South. Last year Elko, Spring Creek, and South Tahoe went 1-2-3 over the three teams from the South. This year I project that it will be Tahoe-Truckee or Spring Creek for the title, with Elko edging out South Tahoe for that third spot. Spring Creek has the defending champion, Cole Campbell, now a senior, along with 5 other runners in the top 30. Tahoe-Truckee has 6 returning runners among the top 20, including two runners who qualified and ran State in 2015 as individuals. Elko has 3 returning runners among the top 6 returning, while South Tahoe’s top 4 runners from last year were all seniors.  

In 2A it’s all North as well. North Tahoe, Silver Stage, and Sierra Lutheran ran the table, going 1-2-3, with North Tahoe completely dominating (29 points to runner-up Silver Stage’s 72). The individual winner was Samuel Stewart of White Pine, a junior. His chief northern challengers this year would appear to be Ricky McNeely of Sierra Lutheran and Cole Snyder of Whittell. Team wise, Sierra Lutheran looks like the team to beat. North Tahoe’s top duo from 2015 were both seniors. That said, you can never count out North Tahoe. Ironically, no boy’s team in Nevada, regardless of division, has won more state titles than those Lakers from California. Coach Warren Mills, the North Tahoe coach, has won 19 state titles with the boys and 9 state titles as the girl’s coach. No other coach has won more than 7. Bruce Susong, Reno boys, and Bill Devine, Incline girls, each won 7 state titles.

I’ll end on that factoid.

(Phil Lawton)