Mesquite's Tyler Day and Corona del Sol's Kelly Naumann didn't win many races last year, but  were consistently top-five to top-10 material in big meets.

On Saturday morning each scored a breatkthrough as top finisher winning the respective boys and girls races at the 26th annual Ojo Rojo Invitational at Tumbleweed Park in Chandler.

Corona del Sol's boys defended its team title again with a total of 40 points to outdistance runner-up Buena (124). McClintock was third (128). Catalina Foothills had its top five finish no worse than 13th to score 45 points to take the girls title. Vista Grande (73) was second and Corona del Sol (104) was third.

Back to Day and Naumann. Day, a senior, finished fifth at the D-I state meet last year while Naumann nabbed fourth in D-I at state. Each did similar work at the 2013 Ojo Rojo and Doug Conley invites. Both enjoyed being at the top for a change on Saturday.

"I didn't expect to win," Naumann said. "I was trying to break 19 (minutes). There are a couple of schools taking a look at me and I wanted to get on their radar."

Naumann was pushed hard by Canyon del Oro's Bridgette Doucet, which she was appreciative of and had anticipated. Naumann's winning time was 18 minutes, 10 seconds. She caught a break dueling Doucet as Doucet made a wrong turn that cost her precious seconds.

"I was a little worried at first because the group went out quicker than I thought," Naumann said. "I knew I had to keep pace or try to keep up with Bridgette. I ended up cutting a lot of time off what I ran here two weeks ago (at Chandler Invite)."

Naumann did indeed cut time. She sliced off 90 seconds from her finish in the senior race at Chandler (19:40). Doucet's runner-up time was 18:15 and she figures to be a force in the D-II ranks this year. Doucet brought a first-place finish to the Ojo Rojo earlier this month in a race in Tucson. Rounding out the top five finishers were Chandler's Ava Hamilton (third), Buena's Morgan Woodman (fourth) and a fifth-place tie between Chandler's Alexis Nichols and Catalina Foothills Allison James.

Day's title was a bit tighter than it should have been. He battled most of the way with Corona's Marcus Wheeler, who won on the same course two weeks ago at the Chandler Invite. Day had several yards on Wheeler as they entered the finish chute. Day thought the opening of the chute was the finish and slowed enough that Wheeler made a late push to the actual finish line. Day recovered in time for a one-second triumph (15:41 to 15:42).

"I wanted to make sure I stayed with him," Day said of Wheeler. "I never looked back, but I knew someone in orange was right there and that it was him. He is a talented runner. I didn't want to have to get in a sprint with him at the end."

Day was a model of consistency last year. Along with taking fifth at state, he was fifth at Ojo Rojo and fifth at Doug Conley and a fourth in another invitational. Two weeks ago he was second at the Peaks Invitational in Flagstaff.

The rest of the boys top five: McClintock's Emmanuel Hidalgo, McClintock's Abdi Aden and Corona's Alex Hart.

Top five finishers for the team champs: Corona boys -- Wheeler, 2nd; Hart, 5th; Slade Sumners, 8th; Andrew Eversden, 10th and Liam Kovatch,  Catalina Foothills girls -- James, 5th; Katie Watson, 9th; Richelle Sandlin,  10th; Maya Collier, 12th and Katie Pekarske, 14th.