A young Sedona Red Rock High School cross country team got its first official look at competition on Wednesday, Sept. 11 when it was one of 13 teams to compete in the Payson Multi-Invitational held at the Payson Events Center.
First-year coach Ben Scamihorn came away with a number of good feelings from this event. First and foremost was his team’s attitude. Upon becoming coach, Scamihorn hoped that he could convince kids to participate in cross country by promoting how fun it is. At the first meet, the Scorpions looked to be having a good time.
“Most importantly, it looked like the kids had a lot of fun, which has always been my main goal,” Scamihorn said. “It was a fun team atmosphere.”
The coach was pleased about more than just his team’s attitude. He was also pleased with how well the team ran. What really stands out is not just the times, but that most of the top SRRHS performers in Payson were underclassmen. Freshman Carlos Villegas, a complete newcomer to the sport, recorded the lowest time for the Scorpions, finishing at 24:05. Coming in close to Villegas were teammates sophomore Brandon Arias (24:08), freshman Octavio Prieto (24:27) and sophomore Caleb Moyer.
The top SRRHS girls were also generally young and finished similarly close to each other. Sophomore Hannah Lanchbury led the way at 25:39. Behind her were freshman Bridget Nichols (26:00) and senior Cheyenne Javey (26.26).
Scamihorn noted that the individual times were close to what he was expecting. What exceeded his expectations was not only how close his top runners ran with each other, but also how well they complimented each other during their runs to help themselves all put up better times.
“They ran better as a team than I thought they would,” Scamihorn said. “It’s an indi¬vidual sport, but it’s also a team sport, which gets forgotten sometimes. So that was really fun to see.”
Scamihorn noted that things will likely change throughout the year. Especially on a young team, the times should drop. Additionally, the runners who finished towards the back of the pack on Wednesday might be closer to being frontrunners later in the season. That has him not only upbeat about how the first meet went, but also how the balance of the season will play out.
“I’m just really proud of how they performed and really excited to see how the rest of the season goes,” the coach said.
The Scorpions will continue their season on Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Four Corners Invitational held in Buffalo Park.
Michael Dixon can be reached at 282-7795 ext 131 or email to mdixon@larsonnewspapers.com
