Page boys sweep 3A North titles
Special to the Times | Reginald Chee
Window Rock Scout Bearren Kee (center) keeps pace with the Page Sand Devils during the 3A North Championships cross country meet at Lake View Primary School in Page on Saturday morning, Oct. 19.
WINDOW ROCK – The game plan was to stay behind Page sophomore Alek Scott.
The Sand Devils followed that scheme for half of the 5K race during Saturday’s 3A North Championships in Page. After they reached the midway mark, his teammates made their move to the finish line as Page swept the individual and team titles at the region meet.
“Alek has been a really good fifth-, sixth-man all year,” Page coach Tim Martin said. “They keyed off of him and they all moved through the pack the last half of the race.”
With an emphasis on the state championships, Martin said they used last week’s race as a workout in preparation for the final race of the year.
“It’s nice to have this title, but our focus is state,” Martin said. “We had one of our hardest weeks of the season last week, and we treated this as a workout and the kids responded well.
“I mean, most of them ran course PRs,” he added.
Leading that charge was Page junior sensation Symond Martin, who toured the 5K course in 16:29.0 with runner-up Bearren Kee of Window Rock finishing 21 seconds back at 16:50.2
The Sand Devils took up the next three spots with sophomore Nyall Prather placing third ahead of teammates Jaiden Jordan (fourth) and Desmond Goldtooth (fifth).
Junior Maximus Reid completed the team score with a ninth-place finish. The deep Sand Devils squad also received a 10th-place finish from Justin Rivers and a 12th-place effort from Scott.
“They were all pumped, and they were ready to run,” the Page coach said of his squad.
Page will host the state-qualifying North Section races today at Lake Powell National Golf Course. The Division III boys race starts at 2 p.m. (MST) followed by the Division III girls at 2:30 p.m. The Division IV boys race begins at 3 p.m., followed by the Division IV girls at 3:30 p.m.
The Page coach designed the course for the section meets, and he created it to look like the state meet course, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix.
“The kids will get a little preview of what they’re going to deal with at the state meet,” Martin said. “It’s got rollers, it has a semi hill and a flat section just like state. We’re trying to get the kids ready, so they’ll know what to expect on the state course.”
Highway 264,
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