Page pack leads to 4th straight state crown

PHOENIX

The Page Sand Devils did not get the start they wanted during the Arizona Division III state boys’ cross-country meet last Saturday at the Cave Creek Golf Course in north Phoenix.

Heading into the first half-mile, Page had four harriers running in the middle of the pack. Nearing the two-mile mark the four made some ground as the Sand Devils captured its fourth consecutive state title.

The Sand Devils packed four runners in the top 11 headed by the 3-4-5 finish from junior Bowen Martin (16:14), senior Dorian Daw (16:17) and junior Morgan Fowler (16:25).

Freshman Trent Holiday (16:52) placed 11th overall while senior Cullen Nockideneh (17:07) came in 22nd to complete the team score of 45 points. Tuba City came in a distant second with 100 markers.

“It’s hard to put in words but I am super proud of them,” Page coach MacArthur Lane said. “All the work they put in took off. This was something they wanted and it was in their drive to be the best. Coaching them was easy. I just had to point them in right direction and watching their performance was icing on the cake.”

The pack time from the first runner to the last was 1:35 with senior Jacob Secody (17:46) and junior Kaipo Uejo (17:49) placed 44th and 47th, respectively.

“They all ran well,” Lane said. “The back four guys did not clear as well so they did a super job of being patient through the first part of the race and they made their move as the race progressed. They were probably 70th or 80th at the start and they did a marvelous job of moving up.”

Fowler said going into the state meet the underclassmen wanted the seniors to end their prep career on a high note by being part of fourth straight championship team.

“We just wanted to go out strong for them,” he said.

Moreover, Fowler said they were inspired to compete at a high level after placing second at the Doug Conley meet in mid-September.

“We got second and lost it by one point,” he said. “We vowed to each other that we would not do that again. That was stupid that we lost by one point.”

Since then the Sand Devils have blew their Arizona counterparts out of the water.

“That lit a fire under us and we wanted to push ourselves even harder,” Daw said of their second-place efforts at Doug Conley. “This is our fourth straight title but I think (the underclassmen) can keep it going.”

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