Region 9 cross-country recap: Desert Hills boys, Pine View girls repeat region titles

CEDAR CITY — The Region 9 high school cross-country championships were staged at Canyon View High School in Cedar City on Saturday, with the Desert Hills boys and the Pine View girls both repeating as region champions.

Region 9 cross-country championships, Cedar City, Utah, Oct. 10, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Team scores are based on having the lowest point totals in the finish placement of each team’s top five runners.

Individually, two standout runners from Hurricane High won their respective varsity races. In the boys event, Joshua Armstrong of Hurricane held off a strong challenge from Cedar High’s Logan Peel, with Armstrong crossing the finish line first with a time of 15:36.51. Peel was just over one second behind, at 15:37.57.

The next three finishers in the boys’ race were all from Desert Hills: Carson Helmer, Carson Wall and Hunter Stucki all finished in under 16 minutes to help the Thunder edge Cedar for the region boys title.

Meanwhile, the top finisher in the girls varsity race was Hurricane junior Caila Odekirk, the defending individual state 4A champion. Odekirk finished Saturday’s race in 17:49.22, approximately 55 seconds ahead of runner-up Sarah Ellis of Crimson Cliffs, who finished in 18:45.74.

Pine View’s top four girls finished among the top 11 spots, helping the defending state 4A champion Panthers repeat as this year’s Region 9 champs. Pine View’s top finishers were Brooklyn Hill in sixth place with 19:05.73, followed closely by teammate Brinley Peterson, who finished seventh with a time of 19:07.15. Also for the Panthers, sophomore Adri Baker and senior Alli Baker placed a respective 10th and 11th overall.

Region 9 cross-country championships, Cedar City, Utah, Oct. 10, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

More than 500 athletes participated in Saturday’s events, including more than 100 varsity competitors. The remainder were runners at the junior varsity and middle school levels.

To see full results from the region championships, click here. The top individual varsity winners, along with team standings, are listed at the bottom of this story.

Next up for the Region 9 runners is the state championship meet on Oct. 21. As previously reported in St. George News, Utah High School Activities Association’s 4A state cross-country championships (along with the 1A and 2A races) will be staged in Cedar City at Cedar High this year, instead of the customary location at Salt Lake City’s Sugarhouse Park.

This year’s state races will be staged at Cedar High School. That same venue, albeit with a slightly different course path, was the site of the Cedar Invitational meet on Oct. 2. 

At the Cedar Invitational, Odekirk finished first in the girls varsity race, posting a time of 17:22, while Ruby Ludlow of Dixie placed second with a time of 18:23. Meanwhile, Armstrong won the boys varsity race in 15:11.8, less than a half second ahead of Peel, who finished in 15:12.2. They were closely followed by the Desert Hills trio of Helmer, Wall and Stucki, who occupied the next three spots, just as they did at Saturday’s region championship at Canyon View.

For more information about the Oct. 21 state meet, click here to read the UHSAA’s document regarding safety guidelines and other details.

Region 9 cross-country championships, Oct. 10 at Canyon View High

Region 9 XC championship, boys team results

  1. Desert Hills 39
  2. Cedar City 46
  3. Snow Canyon 67
  4. Hurricane 88
  5. Pine View 115
  6. Crimson Cliffs 165
  7. Canyon View 225
  8. Dixie 226

Boys top 10 individual finishers

  1. Joshua Armstrong, Hurricane 15:36.51
  2. Logan Peel, Cedar 15:37.57
  3. Carson Helmer, Desert Hills 15:45.62
  4. Carson Wall, Desert Hills 15:54.21
  5. Hunter Stucki, Desert Hills 15:57.37
  6. Scottie Bushar, Pine View 16:14.72
  7. Matthew Monson, Cedar 16:15.64
  8. Carsyn Richins, Snow Canyon 16:26.62
  9. Daniel Verespey, Snow Canyon 16:27.78
  10. Spencer Shakespeare, Cedar 16:29.40

Region 9 XC championship, girls team results

  1. Pine View 49
  2. Desert Hills 67
  3. Snow Canyon 95
  4. Hurricane 99
  5. Cedar City 113
  6. Dixie 147
  7. Crimson Cliffs 172
  8. Canyon View 195

Girls top 10 individual finishers

  1. Caila Odekirk, Hurricane 17:49.22
  2. Sarah Ellis, Crimson Cliffs 18:45.74
  3. Gwen Sepp, Dixie 18:50.67
  4. Ruby Ludlow, Dixie 19:01.45 
  5. Brea Bulkley, Snow Canyon 19:03.74
  6. Brooklyn Hill, Pine View 19:05.73
  7. Brinley Peterson, Pine View 19:07.15
  8. Carissa Hofeling, Cedar 19:14.68
  9. Madison Strasner, Desert Hills 19:18.88
  10. Adri Baker, Pine View 19:28.29

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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