While they had taken part in a pair of intrasquad scrimmages, Sedona Red Rock High School’s cross country team got its first taste of official competition at the Western Equinox XC Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, in Gilbert’s Freestone Park. For many Scorpion runners, it was the first cross country meet of any kind. Coach Ben Scamihorn was impressed with what he saw.
The Sedona boys actually finished ahead of any school in their division. Junior Shota Yabuuchi led the way with a time of 18:29.9. Following Yabuuchi, the Scorpions’ top five was rounded out by sophomore Korbin Burke [19:12.5], freshman Benji Cook [20:22.2], senior Francisco Bekele [20:31.4] and sophomore Carlos Villegas [21:41.6].
“The boys average time was 19.50, which was way lower than we were ever close to last year,” Scamihorn said. “That is a good sign and I think we’ll be able to get close to a 19 minutes flat average by the end of the year.”
The impressive times came despite some obstacles.
One was the heat. The team didn’t get to run until 11 a.m. and by that point it was already 103 degrees F. Another was that Sedona’s team had done most of its training on flat trails. Running in his first official meet, Cook noted that he was expecting something similar out of the Freestone Park trail and was surprised to see slopes.
Despite the obstacles, Cook set a personal record and even surprised himself by finishing strong.
“I was expecting to slow way down at the end,” Cook said. “But at the end coach Scamihorn said I did good. In the last 15 yards or so I caught two people, which helped us out. I ended up beating them by a couple of seconds. It kind of surprised me that I had that much energy at the end.”
“I was a little bit nervous going into it,” Cook added. “But I’ve been training since I started doing cross country, I’ve got a good coach, coach Scamihorn, and good teammates who motivated me.”
Cook was actually one of five SRRHS runners to set a personal record that day. Others on the boys side included Burke — who broke his record by 30 seconds, Alexis Pedroza, who got 22:11.5, and Villegas. On the girls side, Yaritza Landa also set a personal record at 25:30.9. Scamihorn additionally pointed out that a number of other racers were in their first 5K and performed well, but technically couldn’t set a personal record in their first 5K.
Another top performer was freshman Skyla Bird, who finished at 22:52.9, good enough for ninth place and a medal in the girls race. The coach also touted the efforts of both Burke and Bekele for putting themselves in the race and consistently competing for positioning, which ended up helping the team.
Another Scorpion in her first race was freshman Soyoka Yabuuchi, the younger sister of Shota. She noted that the bus was late, leaving the Sedona team somewhat rushed. Struggling in the heat was another challenge, she said.
Despite those obstacles, Yabuuchi not only did better than expected but also had a lot of fun at the event.
“I beat more people than I expected — that was good,” she said. “I’ve been running over the summer by myself and it’s fun to run as a team.”
The Scorpions will be back in action again on Saturday, Sept. 26 — in conditions that figure to be a little cooler — when Sedona will partake in the Ray Wherley Invite at Kubler Field in Prescott.
