Cox leads young runners with 5K win at Payson1 min read

Sophomore Mychael Saczalski, center, runs a warm-up lap around the Sedona Red Rock High School stadium with seniors Tia Myers, left, and Natalie Cox, right, prior to drills around the track in preparation for their first cross-country meet at the Payson Invitational.
Jordan Reece/Larson Newspapers

Senior Natalie Cox finished first in her 3.1-mile race to highlight the first Sedona Red Rock High School cross-country meet under head coach Taryn Kunkel at the Payson Invitational.

“It’s exhilarating,” Kunkel said. “The energy at the meet leaves you very excited.”

Fellow senior Tia Myers finished fourth individually in the 5K, while junior Wyatt Stevenson placed seventh to pace the Scorpions boys and girls cross-country teams, which traveled with 10 runners to the meet at Payson Golf Course and hope to pick up one or two more freshman girls.

“We’re still waiting on one or two physicals,” Kunkel said. “There’s a new foreign exchange student joining the team, too.”

Senior Meri Magrone, from Belgium, will be running in Flagstaff for the girls team at the Scorpions’ upcoming meet, the Peaks Invite, beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.

Cox, a transfer last year with sister, teammate and 2013 graduate Sammie Cox from Newbury Park, Calif., has taken the leadership role with both teams along with Myers. Cox finished at Payson in just under 22 minutes, 11 seconds, while Myers came in less than a minute later, ahead of 70 other runners from Camp Verde, Blue Ridge, Valley Christian, Show Low and other high schools.

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For the full story, please see the Friday, Sept. 5, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.

George Werner

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