Cross country season concludes for Cougars, Warriors

Taylorsville High’s cross country teams bested their neighbors from Kearns in both team races, as the state 5A championships finished on Oct. 19 at Sugar House Park.

Both teams entered the races hoping for better finishes than the end results—Taylorsville taking 15^th place in girls and 14^th in boys, with Kearns one spot behind them in both divisions.

In the boys race, it came as no surprise that two nationally-ranked teams—American Fork and Davis—battled it out for the title. The Cavemen won their second straight title with a team score of just 25 (low score wins in cross country, as finishing places are added together for a team total). Davis finished second with 33 points. Taylorsville had 397 points, and Kearns 401. Fremont was last with 406 points.

The top finisher among the two local schools was Kearns junior David Bass, who took 45^th place in a time of 17:04.8 for the 3-mile course. Senior Jacob Wolfe of Taylorsville was his team’s top finisher and the second fastest of the locals, taking 62^nd in a time of 17:32.6. Other top Kearns finishers were Ben Shrewsbury in 67^th, Jeff England in 101^st, Darian Leavitt in 113^th and David Frias in 116^th.

For Taylorsville, the four other scored runners (top five from each team) were Randy Ivins in 74^th, Steven Fitzgerald in 95^th, Zach Mauritz in 96^th and Sergio Martinez in 111^th.

Davis High won the girls’ team title with 44 points. Taylorsville had 433 points, and Kearns 436. Among the local runners, freshman Morgan Taylor of Taylorsville was top finisher in 49^th place, in a time of 20:59.4. Kearns’ top finisher was junior Kiersten Jonas, 73^rd at 22:04.7. Other Warriors who scored were Aferdit Sadrija in 103^rd, Amy Huynh in 106^th, Aubrey Thomson in 112^th and Dakota Hansen in 113^th.

For Kearns, Melanie Pena finished 96^th, Shelby Holmquist 97^th, Dania Rodriguez 104^th and Kenzie Kane 116^th.