SALT LAKE CITY — They did it again, and this time in record-breaking style.
Desert Hills’ boys cross country team placed five runners in the top seven at the 3A State Cross Country Meet Wednesday afternoon at Sugarhouse Park, netting a record-low 22 team points and beating second-place Stansbury by 40 points. In doing so, the Thunder successfully defended their state championship from 2013.
Sophomore Jaiden Melendrez was the top finisher for the champs, taking second overall with a time of 15:44.3 on the three-mile course. Not far behind were teammates Joshua Thatcher (third place with a time of 15:44.8), Spencer Ford (fourth, 15:55.9), Kale Sharp (sixth, 16:02.5) and Sage Ducote (seventh, 16:07.7).
The only runners to break through the Desert Hills armada were overall winner Jaden Torgerson of Stansbury (first, 15:40.3) and Dakota Lange of Payson (fifth, 16:00.5).
Torgerson’s Stallions were second overall in the team totals, with Piercen Mayez placing ninth and Tyson McKeon in 12th.
Park City was third overall and Pine View placed fourth. Panther Nick Hill was 11th among the boys with a time of 16:15.2
Other Region 9 racers who finished in the top 20, include Cedar’s Eric Lambert in (10th, 16:09.2), Canyon View’s McKade Steffensen (16th, 16:30.1), Pine View’s Jake Taylor (18th, 16:38.7) and Dixie’s Bronco Hollowell (20th, 16:41.8).
On the girls side, Park City edged Pine View for the team title with Cedar cruising in at third.
The overall race winner was Kashley Carter from Juab with a time of 17:54.0. The top Region 9 finisher was Canyon View’s Mallory Hendricks in fourth place. Laynee Wells of Desert Hills was seventh and Hurricane’s Kamryn Watts was ninth.
Pine View’s top finisher was senior Nicole Heinrich in 14th place, but all the counting scores from Pine View finished in the top 27, including Caroline Clements (14th), Josie Bushar (17th), Meskerem Stucki (24th) and Alli Peterson (27th).
Find all the results for the UHSAA Cross Country Championship by clicking here.
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