Throughout the season, both the boys and girls cross country teams at Sedona Red Rock High School have steadily improved. With the exception of one especially difficult trail, the races have all featured multiple runners setting personal records. But the Dave Conatser Invitational on Friday, Oct. 9 was a little bit more of a challenge.
Senior Nick Rubin was the only SRRHS to set a personal record at the Winslow meet with 24:43.5. That, in and of itself, wasn’t a surprise to coach Ben Scamihorn, who said that slower times were expected on this particular trail. But beyond the times, he didn’t love how his team raced.
“The course was hard,” he said. “Not only hilly but also with rough footing and I think that got to them a little bit. But because of the hard course, I think some of them gave up. Which is something we can’t do, especially come sectional time. I think it pointed out a couple weaknesses for us that we can work on, especially come sectional time. It wasn’t our best meet but it wasn’t awful.”
There were some other good performances from the SRRHS runners. Sophomore Korbin Burke won the open race with 19:41. Junior Shota Yabuuchi [18:46.7] finished ninth in the varsity race to earn a medal. On the girls side, freshman Skyla Bird [23:01.5] finished eighth to earn a medal of her own. Scamihorn was also happy with the effort of Jackie Palmer [24:20], who finished 18th in the girls varsity race.
Freshman Ava Witte [35:41.1] noted that while the course was challenging, she found the Ray Wherley Invite trail at Kuebler Field in Prescott to be more difficult. This time, though, her attitude heading into the race wasn’t as good.
“It wasn’t the course, it was more mental.” she said. “The Prescott course was harder, definitely a harder course but I had a better mindset. This time I was a little more negative. I was hurting a little bit.”
Of course, not every meet is going to go according to plan.
One of the keys in sports in general is to let every outing — especially the ones that don’t go especially well — be learning experiences. And the Scorpions definitely learned lessons coming out of the Dave Conatser Invitational.
“It taught us to keep going even if it’s a hard course,” freshman Leila Bradley said. “To think about your teammates and finish.”
“You get times in cross country but times don’t matter, who wins is who has the lowest score,” Scamihorn said. “That meet showed them that place is all that matters. It doesn’t matter what the time is. That we can’t give up when we’re hurting. Even if we’re not running a great time. Because that’s going to affect their teammates and that’s something I’ve really been trying to work with on them.”
The Scorpions have three, possibly four races remaining. Next up is the Bradshaw Mountain Invite on Saturday, Oct. 17. After that is the Holbrook Invitational on Friday, Oct. 23. Then, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, the Sedona runners will partake in the AIA Crossroads Sectionals at Crossroads Park in Gilbert. If they qualify, the state meet will be the following week.
And while the Dave Conatser Invitational didn’t go as well as the Scorpions would have liked, the runners are optimistic that it will give them a preview of the challenges still on the horizon.
“This one had more difficult terrain — it was a lot harder of a trail,” senior Francsico Bekele said. “But I think it really prepared us for the trail run courses. Sectionals won’t be perfect either. So I think it gets us mentally prepared.”
Rubin had a similar mindset.
“That track was one of the harder ones we did,” he said. “I really think mentally and physically it’s going to push us to get better. We’re really going to push for state.”
