Freshman Benji Cook runs in Sedona Red Rock High School’s intrasquad meet on Saturday, Sept. 5. Cook was the third-best finisher on the day, completing his 2-mile run in 13:28. Photo by David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers

When the Sedona Red Rock High School cross country team, as it was then constructed, met at the school’s track on the evening of Friday, Aug. 21, it was for a 1-mile time trial. Just over two weeks later, they met there again on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 5. This time, though, pretty much everything was on a bigger scale.

Coach Ben Scamihorn laid out a loop that covered the school’s track as well as multiple trips around the baseball field and practice soccer field. The complete loop covered 5 kilometers — the distance of a normal race during the season. And while everyone running was a member of the SRRHS team, Scamihorn made it clear that it was a competition.

He divided the team into two squads, the black team and purple team. Four runners — sophomores Korbin Burke and Carlos Villegas as well as juniors Shota Yabuuchi and Jack Pierce — ran the entire 5K, while the rest of the team ran 2 miles. Several runners had only been running since official practices began on Monday, Aug. 24, while a number of others joined in the following days. Because of that, Scamihorn didn’t know what to expect. When it was over, the coach was upbeat.

“Honestly, they surpassed what I was expecting today,” Scamihorn said. “I wasn’t expecting a ton because they have, at most, two weeks of practice under their belts. But I saw that they all have their all and saw a lot of good talent. In a month’s time, those newcomers are going to be in much better shape and their times are going to keep dropping.”

The black team was victorious, winning 25-30. In an effort to have everyone finish at around the same time, Scamihorn sent the 5K runners out first and didn’t send the rest of the team out until that quartet had two miles remaining. Yabuuchi finished first, running the 5K in 19:15 and had the best pace per mile of 6:12.

The next four finishers were all on the black team. Burke ran his 5K in 19:45, or 6:21 per mile. Freshman Benji Cook ran his 2 miles in 13:28, while sophomores Max Metzger and Kale Emerson finished theirs at 13:43 and 13:50 respectively. And while Burke has been training with the team through the summer, none of them ran cross country last year.

Scamihorn also touted the efforts of freshman Alexis Pedroza and sophomore Jackie Palmer, who are both new to the team. Pedroza finished in 15:02 while Palmer crossed the line at 16:13. Palmer isn’t new to running. As a freshman, she ran track during the abbreviated spring season, but her focus was more on shorter events. Wanting to make herself a better athlete, she decided to join the cross country team and was happy with the early returns.

“It went pretty well,” she said. “Toward the end I felt that I could have given a little more. I’m excited but a little nervous for our races to come because I’m new to the sport. I learned that I’m definitely pretty strong minded and can go through the pain.”

Saturday’s intrasquad meet was bigger than the previous time trial in another perspective, as well. There were a lot more runners. The time trial featured only seven runners, Yabuuchi, Burke, Villegas, Pierce, Cook, freshman Skyla Bird and junior Yaritza Landa. At the time, Scamihorn was hopeful that he could recruit a bigger roster once in-person schooling returned. His hopes came to fruition, as Saturday’s meet featured a total of 18 runners.

Someone who joined since the time trial was senior Francisco Bekele. He ran cross country for the Scorpions in his freshman and sophomore years. He returned this year with hopes of making the most out of his senior year at SRRHS.

It’s a sport that he clearly gets a lot out of.

“Everything I’ve learned from not just today, but cross country running and long distance running in general, is that it applies to life,” he said. “Getting through your job, getting through school or getting through whatever. Even though it’s just a run, if you look at it like that, having that sort of willpower and motivation really does affect everything else in life.”

Michael Dixon

Michael was born and raised in Northern California. After living there for all of his life, he moved to Northern Arizona in summer, 2019. He has more than a decade's experience covering sports for his hometown paper in California as well as writing for Bleacher Report and Sportsnaut.com. Always feel free to let Michael know about things that you and your family and friends are doing in sports.

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