Alta finishes in middle of pack at state cross country

Several groups of runners could be seen pushing each other to train harder on the Porter Rockwell trail in Draper throughout the summer. Now the training, running the hills and valleys of the gully running between 9800 South and 10600 South, has helped Alta to sixth and seventh-place finishes in the state 5A cross country championships held Oct. 19 at Sugar House Park.

Entering the season, coach Rob Murphy was optimistic about the Hawks’ chances.

“Both of our teams are much improved over last year,” Murphy said. “They have been training hard and should be able to do well this year.”

At state, freshman Whitney Paskins took a strong third individually, finishing the challenging three-mile course in a time of 18:36.7. That was only eight seconds behind the winner, Davis’ Shea Martinez. Senior Carolyn Webber came home in 11^th, senior Celeste Gutzman was 22^nd, senior Kimberly Arbon 57^th and senior Sierra Murri 63^rd, to round out Alta’s team scoring. The Hawks finished with 145 points. Davis won its fourth straight title with 44 points (low score wins in cross country).

The boys were also led by au underclassman, as sophomore Kramer Morton took ninth overall in a time of 15:56.4. American Fork’s MacKenzie Morrison won medalist honors with a top time of 15:22.4. Other Hawks among the team’s top-five scoring finishers were senior Tyler Ross in 16^th, junior Brad Riggs in 43^rd, junior Conner Anderson in 46^th and senior Taylor Swallow in 66^th. Alta finished with 165 points. Nationally-ranked American Fork won the title with 25 points.

The Hawks returned all but one runner from last year’s varsity squad, including Webber. The Sandy senior finished 24^th at the state meet last year, with a time of 20 minutes flat over the three-mile course.

The girls team won its first outing of the season in a pre-region match up preparing the teams for regional contests.

The boys’ side looked to return to the form that won them the 2008 state title. Last year’s team sent only two runners to state.

“We had six of our seven runners last year that were in their first year of competition running,” Murphy said. “Now, we have just about everybody back and they have the experience.”

The boys won the pre-region meet. Ross and Swallow will graduate, but the three other state scoring runners should return for Alta next year.