Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

SALT LAKE CITY — Ogden High’s cross country coaches told the Tigers’ girls team that competition with Canyon View would be close at Tuesday’s state meet.

The Ogden runners ran for their lives on Tuesday. It wasn’t close in the end.

For the second time in three years, Ogden’s girls cross country team lifted the team championship trophy with four runners finishing in the top 15 of the 5,000-meter 3A girls race.

The Tigers’ 69 points were well in front of Canyon View’s 94. Ninth-grader Clara Geddes led Ogden with a sixth-place finish and a time of 19:24.1. Senior Kaitlyn Blackham finished 10th in 19:32.2.

“It was super exciting,” Blackham said. “We were coming off a low year. Last year, we raced really poorly at state. It’s my senior year and I really wanted to end on a high note.”

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Julia Draper (14th, 20:22.1), Berlin Bartlett (15th, 20:30.6) and Bella Gray (24th, 21:21.5) rounded out Ogden’s scoring contingent.

Gray celebrated her second team state championship in a span of four days after scoring a goal and assisting another in Saturday’s girls soccer state championship win over Morgan.

Both Blackham and Gray were on the title-winning cross country team two years ago when the Tigers narrowly beat Carbon 72-82.

“We knew we were in it, especially after we won our divisionals, so we knew we were in it but Canyon View has an extremely good team this year and they really pushed us today,” she said.

Blackham said the Tigers stuck to their plan of running relatively conservative during the first half of the race before speeding up in the second half. That plan revolved around not trying to keep pace with runners who went out too fast.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Four of Ogden’s five scoring runners broke their personal best marks in the 5K.

“I mean, cross country is always hard, but this is a really fast course … even pushing to our limits, you’re still able to run pretty fast on this course,” Blackham said.

The race wasn’t technically over yet when parents started telling the Ogden runners they’d won the team championship. The runners celebrated in a group near the medical tent.

Blackham also had another reason to celebrate with her top-10 finish individually.

“I’m so excited. I’ve had this goal since sophomore year and missed it every year, and so it being my senior year and my last chance to go make a name for myself at the state meet, it’s really exciting and I’m really happy with it,” Blackham said.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Ogden now has four cross country state championships in school history, coming in 2010, 2013, 2021 and now 2023. The title will get Ogden into the state record books — the school is tied with Alta and Whitehorse for the 10th most girls cross country team championships in state history.

6A MEETS

Layton’s Davis Rydman finished 10th in the 6A boys race with a time of 15:27.8, just 0.10 seconds ahead of Davis High’s Isaac Lundberg. The Lancers were fifth as a team with 166 points. American Fork pipped Herriman 33-39 for the team championship.

Farmington led the Region 1 girls contingent, finishing seventh in the 6A girls team race. Farmington was led by Skye Siddoway, the high Region 1 finisher, in 18th place (19:02.3). Fremont’s Hailey Atwater took 19th (19:03.9).

Lone Peak dominated the girls race with 19 points, with its runners finishing first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth as the Knights nearly pulled off a perfect team score. LP’s Andie Aagard won with a time of 17:25.9.

5A MEETS

Box Elder High’s girls team finished fourth place with a score of 162. Maya Lee led the Bees with a 20th-place finish in 19:23.4, followed by Macie Lee in 22nd (19:29.5) and Kassidie Douglass in 30th (19:40.8).

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Bonneville was seventh as a team, helped by Nicole Wayment and Sienna Barton finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.

Timpview won the team championship with 62 points as all five of its scoring runners finished in the top 25, led by individual champ Jane Hedengren (17:14.7).

On the boys side, Northridge finished in 10th with a score of 235. The Knights were led by Jordan Jensen’s 24th-place finish with a time of 16:13.

Box Elder was 12th, led by Zenock Larson, who took 27th place with a time of 16:16.1. Anthony Gonzalez was Bonneville’s high finisher in 36th with a time of 16:27.6.

Olympus’ JoJo Jourdon won the 5A boys race with a time of 14:58.3. Maple Mountain won the team championship with 92 points.

4A MEETS

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

Bear River’s Ren Hunter took 29th place in the 4A boys race with a time of 16:34.1.

Orem’s Austin Westfall won the 4A boys title in 15:00.1, and Mountain View won the team title.

Bear River’s Bethan Richard and Mattie Windward finished in 47th and 48th, respectively, in the 4A girls race.

Mountain View’s Julie Moore ran 18:01.6 and won the individual girls championship. MV won the team title with 54 points.

3A MEETS

Ben Lomond’s Lundi Ferrier finished 13th in the 3A girls race in 20:14.8 and teammate Lola Barkema was 21st in 20:56.3. The Scots’ girls team was 12th overall. Alexis Cox (Morgan) was 23rd, helping the Trojans finish 11th as a team.

In the 3A boys race, Morgan’s EJ Lee finished eighth (16:35.1) and Ogden’s Colton Scharmann was ninth (16:35.4).

Rustin Reddish (Ogden, 16th) and Bradley Ekstrom (Ogden, 18th) were in the top 20, helping the Tigers to a third-place team finish with 112 points, just two behind second-place Manti. Canyon View smoked the field, winning with 63 points and four racers in the top 12.

2A MEETS

St. Joseph Catholic High sophomore Emilia Pinchak finished 39th in the 2A girls championship race with a time of 23:13.8. Freshman Anysia Pinchak was 47th with a time of 24:09.6.

Grand County’s Cadence Kasprick won the individual championship in 17:49.7 and North Summit beat Grand 40-41 for the girls team title.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

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