When Ben Scamihorn became the cross country coach at Sedona Red Rock High School in 2019, he inherited a program with runners limited in experience. Despite that, the girls team ended up qualifying for state while the boys narrowly missed. Going into year two, the boys lineup looks like one that could potentially clear that hurdle.

Five boys — juniors Shota Yabuuchi and Jack Pierce, sophomores Carlos Villegas and Korbin Burke as well as freshman Benji Cook — participated in a mile-long time trial held on Friday, Aug. 21, just before the start of the official practice season. Despite spending much of the optional summer practices working more on endurance than speed, all of them completed the mile in 6:09 or faster.

That’s given the team a sense of optimism with the start of the season nearing.

“I think we have a pretty good chance of maybe going to state,” Villegas said. “I feel pretty confident.”

Experience is a key to the boys team. Villegas and Pierce are both returning runners from 2019. Yabuuchi didn’t do cross country in 2019 but did it as a freshman in 2018. If his time in the mile was any indicator, his return will spell only good things for the Scorpions, as he completed it in 5:17, the fastest of his team. Burke was second at 5:33, while Cook, despite being limited in practice, was just over six minutes.

There’s also reason to be optimistic about the girls team. Despite being a freshman, Skyla Bird is experienced in the sport, having run cross country in junior high. Junior Yaritza Landa is new to cross country and, despite expecting her time trial to come in at over eight minutes, completed it in less than seven.

“I’m excited to see what the season holds,” Landa said. “Especially with COVID, it’s going to be different, but I’m excited for the season.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has created uncertainty about what the season might hold. Official practices got underway on Monday, Aug. 24. Despite that, the Scorpions don’t yet have a schedule. Scamihorn is working on trying to get meets scheduled.

Additionally, while Bird and Landa create a good starting point, they comprised the entirety of the girls team as of the time trial. Five runners are needed to field a competitive team for meets. One advantage is that student athletes can participate in cross country and another fall sport — something both Burke and Landa are doing with soccer and volleyball, respectively.

The positive news for Scamihorn is that he has prior history with recruiting athletes to the cross country team, having done so at the beginning of last school year. With the Aug. 24 return of in-person learning to SRRHS, he’s hopeful that he can do the same this year and bring anyone who might be looking for a fall sport to participate into the fold to add depth to the current team.

“While the trial went really well, I’m still looking for boys and girls — especially girls — to do cross country,” Scamihorn said. “Even if you’ve hardly ever ran before, cross country is a sport that as long as you put the work in, you’ll improve. I’d encourage anyone out there who’s thinking about trying it to reach out to me and actually try it.”