Rincon, Sahuarita shine in Los Mesquites CC Invitational

September 26, 2011 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Rincon University enjoyed the best day on Saturday at the Los Mesquites Cross Country Invitational at Kennedy Park in Tucson. The boys team title and the boys and girls individual crowns made that distinction a mute point.

Not as high profile, but equally fulfiilling was the girls team champ as Sahuarita raced past several bigger schools to win a rare team title in the sport.

Top individual honors went to Rincon junior Ryan Silva, who won the title for the second year in a row. Silva completed the 5K course in 17 minutes, 30 seconds. That was 10 seconds faster than Sabino's Tyler Stamp. Silva finished 18th at state last year in the Division I race. Following Silva across the finish line to score for Rincon were Noah Kenyamani (4th overall), Paul Hein (8th), Brandon Dorr (24th) and Sam Winsten (35th).

Rincon senior Emily Page was the girls winner, taming the course in 20:16.  Page was 36 seconds faster than Pusch Ridge's Sarah MacDonald, the runner-up. Page's time improved her ninth-place finish at Los Mesquites in 2010 by 1 minute, 42 seconds. Page placed 20th at the Division I state meet in 2010.

With only one of its top five runners in the top 10 overall (Melissa Williams in seventh place), Sahuarita managed to edge Buena by 10 points. Williams was followed by Lauren Herd (14th),  Sydney Giddings (17th), Fanny Buscha (20th) and Shawndra Steemers (43). For scoring purposes Williams was 6th, Herd (10th), Giddings (13th), Buscha (16th) and Steemers (34th).