State cross country: Senior-heavy Ogden High boys team repeats as state champions
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- Ogden High’s boys cross country team celebrates winning the 3A state championship at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Ogden High cross country runners lay on grass at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
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- Runners compete at the 2022 cross country state championships at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.
SALT LAKE CITY — Coming into Tuesday’s state cross country meet, the question wasn’t so much whether the Ogden High boys cross country team would repeat as 3A champions, but rather how much the Tigers’ margin of victory would be.
The answer is 54. That’s how many points separated Ogden from second-place Canyon View as the Tigers did indeed repeat as 3A team champions in Tuesday’s state meet held at the Regional Athletic Complex in Rose Park.
It’s the third time that Ogden boys cross country has gone back to back at the state level (2000-01, 2011-12, 2021-22).
Senior Carter Parsons finished in second place to lead a Tigers’ group that finished second, third, 14th, 18th and 20th. Parsons ran the 5-kilometer race in 16:11.5 and did his post-race interview next to a garbage can because he was certain he was going to puke.
“I felt not great the first mile, fell back through the second mile. Halfway through I just kind of felt the second wind and started to move up again,” Parsons said.
For the most part, it was a business-like day for the Tigers, who showed little emotion after the race and during the trophy presentation, which took place an hour after their race ended due to technical difficulties with the timekeeping software.
Part of that was exhaustion. Six Ogden runners — five seniors and one junior — finished in the top 24, and all six were lying down on the grass in some fashion afterward.
If any of them did vomit, which is somewhat common at the finish line, they did it while no one was watching.
“Last year I struggled with throwing up during the races. This year it didn’t really happen as much, but there’s been some moments, kind of dry heaving,” Parsons said. “First mile, I threw up a little bit in my mouth.”
Jack Blodgett, a senior, finished in third for Ogden. He won last year’s race by about seven seconds over Richfield’s Richard Crane.
Crane won this year’s individual race and did a Michael Jordan-esque shrug at the finish line. Blodgett twice threw a water bottle on the ground in the finisher’s area to show how he felt about finishing third.
“I didn’t have that good of a race, but Carter balled out, a lot of the guys did what they needed to do,” Blodgett said. “I just went into it thinking I had it and didn’t hear the music, I had my moves covered a lot by Richard and he just surged when I started to fall back, kind of broke me down.”
Coby Wight, a senior, crossed the finish line in 14th place, followed by senior Thomas Stark in 18th and junior Noah Judd in 20th. Ben Nielson, another senior, finished in 24th.
“We’re super stoked, we’ve been working hard all season. As sophomores, we made it a goal to win both our junior and senior year,” Stark said.
Last year, Ogden’s girls team nipped Carbon 72-82 for the team title by finishing 10, 14, 15, 17 and 21.
The Tigers finished fourth this year with 132 points, backed by Bella Gray (19th), Kaitlyn Blackham (25th), Gem Garner (27th), Donna Gonzalez (32nd) and Julia Draper (46th). Carbon took first with 63 points.
Morgan High’s boys team was fourth, helped by Josh Nicolaides and EJ Lee finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. The Morgan girls were fifth, led by Alexis Weiers’ 13th-place finish.
Individually, five additional area runners finished in the top 10 of their respective races. Bonneville’s Sienna Barton took sixth in the 5A girls race with a time of 18:43.3 and Northridge’s Will Lumoa finished fifth in the boys race at 15:16.0.
In 6A, Layton’s Hailey Low, the Region 1 individual champion, finished in fifth place and was the only Region 1 racer in the top 20. Farmington’s Spencer Bradshaw (fourth) and Weber’s Andrew Harris (sixth) finished in the top 10 in the 6A boys race.
Though it missed out on the Region 1 team title a couple weeks ago, Weber High’s girls team led the Region 1 contingent by finishing in seventh place at the state meet, two spots ahead of region champ Farmington.
Freshman Gracie Rodarte finished in 30th place, followed by sophomore Sarah Dye (33rd), junior Merin Urban (50th), sophomore McCall Dalpais (52nd) and freshman Andenelle Marker (57th).
On the boys side in 6A, Farmington led the Region 1 group with a seventh-place finish ahead of Weber, which was in ninth.
Phoenix senior Spencer Bradshaw finished in fourth place, followed by senior Aaron Miller (30th), senior Kohen Reed (32nd), junior Tyler Muirbrook (45th) and junior Izaac Crosland (53rd).
GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
6A
5. Hailey Low, Layton, 18:14.4
24. Skye Siddoway, Farmington, 19:10
25. Carli Nelson, Layton, 19:10.2
30. Gracie Rodarte, Weber, 19:31.2
5A
6. Sienna Barton, Bonneville, 18:43.6
49. Molly Emerson, Box Elder, 20:00.8
54. Elisabeth Hill, Northridge, 20:07.0
4A
13. Bethany Richard, Bear River, 20:02.0
36. Rebecca Curtis, Bear River, 21:12.0
40. Livia Meeds, Bear River, 21:21.2
3A
13. Alexis Weiers, Morgan, 20:13.7
19. Bella Gray, Ogden, 20:37.2
24. Lundi Ferrier, Ben Lomond, 20:52.2
25. Kaitlyn Blackham, Ogden, 20:56.1
27. Gem Garner, Ogden, 20:59.1
2A
29. Emilia Pinchak, St. Joseph, 23:01.0
37. Lucia Hernandez, St. Joseph, 24:13.7
43. Sammy Russo, St. Joseph, 24:31.9
BOYS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
6A
4. Spencer Bradshaw, Farmington, 15:20
6. Andrew Harris, Weber, 15:29.6
23. Landon Hart, Weber, 15:52.4
26. Simon Petersen, Fremont, 15:57.3
30. Aaron Miller, Farmington, 16:00.5
5A
5. Will Luoma, Northridge, 15:16
42. Carter Frost, Northridge, 16:29.1
48. Noah Marvel, Northridge, 16:34.4
4A
29. David Bourgeous, Bear River, 16:55.0
35. Ren Hunter, Bear River, 17:10.7
39. Ryan Pace, Bear River, 17:14.2
3A
2. Carter Parsons, Ogden, 16:11.5
3. Jack Blodgett, Ogden, 16:15.8
4. Josh Nicolaides, Morgan, 16:18.3
5. EJ Lee, Morgan, 16:23.8
14. Coby Wight, Ogden, 16:50.4
18. Thomas Stark, Ogden, 16:59.5
20. Noah Judd, Ogden, 17:06.0
24. Ben Nielson, Ogden, 17:12.2
2A
56. Tristen Ellis, Utah Military Academy, 19:54.6
61. Dalton Rorabaugh, St. Joseph, 20:05.7
65. Jack Brooks, St. Joseph, 20:13.3
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
6A
7. Weber, 214
9. Farmington, 225
11. Layton, 281
15. Fremont, 400
5A
12. Northridge, 316
15. Bonneville, 403
17. Box Elder, 452.5
4A
8. Bear River, 212
3A
1. Carbon, 63
4. Ogden, 132
5. Morgan, 157
2A
9. St. Joseph, 188
BOYS TEAM SCORES
6A
7. Farmington, 164
9. Weber, 227
12. Fremont, 325
13. Davis, 339
5A
10. Northridge, 271
19. Box Elder, 496
4A
7. Bear River, 203
3A
1. Ogden, 52
4. Morgan, 132
2A
10. Utah Military Academy, 316
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.