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WEST VALLEY PREPS

West Valley Preps Surprise cross country preview

Posted 9/7/21

The high school boys and girls cross country season began last week at schools across the state.

West Valley Preps and the Surprise Independent asked local high school coaches about their teams. …

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WEST VALLEY PREPS

West Valley Preps Surprise cross country preview

Posted

The high school boys and girls cross country season began last week at schools across the state.

West Valley Preps and the Surprise Independent asked local high school coaches about their teams. Here are their responses.

Dysart Demons

Boys and Girls Coach: Ivory Carson (6th year boys, 16th year girls)
Section: Division II Northwest
Who are your top returning runners?
• Boys: All of the boys are new to the program.
• Girls: For the girls’ team Junior Captain Danielle Lemoine and Eva Lopez are returning from last year.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year?
• Boys: Freshmen Nicolas Delgado and Caleb Williams are performing well, as well as sophomores Caden White, Dylan Tellef and junior Chad Carter.
• Girls: Senior Mira Fassbinder, a foreign exchange student from Germany. Also, senior Karolina Quinonez-Corrales, a varsity soccer player, has join the team.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season?
The best attribute is attitude and leadership displayed by the older athletes. Most of the athletes are new to the sport but not novices to hard work. The older athletes are inspiring the freshmen. The boys’ team has seven freshmen.
What are the primary individual and team goals?
• Boys: We set individual goals on Friday. The senior girls expect to run faster than the school record of 19:53 held by Gabby Gomez.
• Girls: Most of the boys are shooting for below 18 minutes. As a team, the girls want to qualify for the state meet which was missed last year. The boys have a similar goal. They want ti qualify as a team as only individuals qualified last year.

Highland Prep Honey Badgers

Boys and Girls Coach: Roger Campbell (fifth year for both)
Section: Division IV Metro
Who are your top returning runners?
• Boys: Logan Delise, Ociel Salas, Andrew Livaudais
• Girls: For the girls’ team Savannah Villasenor and Frida Aguilar.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year?
• Girls: Ella Rodriguez
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season?
Our school has very little in the way of training supplies and no track or course. But the kids show up and work hard every single practice regardless of what we do have.
What are the primary individual and team goals?
Primary team goals — We have seniors graduating this year, and we just want them to go out on a great note doing cross country at our school, and possibly into college (They also run track and field 3200 meters). Individual goals — We have some returning students who are trying to drop their times by two minutes at least by the end of the season, even with everything the state is dealing with currently.

Paradise Honors Panthers

Boys and Girls Coach: Ron Steinhilber (first year for both)
Section: Division III Metro

Who are your top returning runners?
I only have five total returning runners from last year’s team (three girls/two boys). The girls are Lainey Tsosie (senior), Kennady Rolfe (senior) and Nessa VonDerAhe (sophomore). The boys are Jacob Shoulders (junior) and Trevor Larson (sophomore). Lainey will be one of the top five runners. Kennady is not going to have any impact. Nessa is overcoming an injury and I’m not sure if she will even be able to run at the level she is capable of this year. Jacob looks to be one of the top runners on the boys side. Trevor will probably be the No. 5 or 6 runner.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year?
• Boys: On the boys side, William Spalding (sophomore) and Tyson Mariner (junior), two boys who have never run competitively before, could lead the team, along with Shoulders. I expect Gabriel Klenner, a freshman, to have an impact as well.
• Girls: We are all about newcomers. I think we have the West Valley’s best “secret weapon” in Annabelle Floyd, a sophomore who ran a 21:04 at Shadow Ridge’s time trial. She is a dedicated athlete who is striving for greatness. We also added Olivia Cuestas (junior) and Mariajose Rosas (junior), who returns after not running last fall. Our top freshmen will be Addison Seabaugh and Lauren Kucik.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Our team’s best attribute is how well the runners are getting along with each other. I am trying to create a culture at PHHS where the various individuals come together as a team, where they truly care about each other, and other students take notice and want to be a part of the team. PHHS has lost too many athletes to other schools over the years, and I want that to change. We are young and very inexperienced, but the athletes have a desire to improve, and I expect us to become better as the season goes on.
What are the primary individual and team goals? First, I want the athletes to trust that the process I use works. I feel like some of my philosophies are different than other coaches, but it has been successful at the club level – Steinhelber is the head coach of his own club team, Distance University, since 2016 — and I have faith that it will work in the high school system as well. I’ve been a runner for a very long time, and I know just about everything a runner goes through, mentally and physically, on and off the course. If they believe in what I’m putting out there, I know they will improve, which is my goal for the individuals. I just want them to get better and enjoy a sport that they can compete in for a very long time. And if we happen to make state this year, that will just be icing on the cake..

Shadow Ridge Stallions

Boys Coach: Arrick Nietert (fifth year)
Girls Coach: Haley Ruebsamen (fourth year)
Section: Division I Southwest
Who are your top returning runners? • Boys: Kaden Passey, Eli Levin, Jackson Bland, Brayden LeVander, Andrew Retzlaff, Jacob Bacome and Erik Winter.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? • Boys: Ryland LeVander, Noah Levin, Parker Klippel, Curtis Aguirre, Ryland Shoulders, Matthew Retzlaff, Andrew Nevarez and Kaleb Goltiao.
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? • Boys: Depth. Our summer training and year round training has really produced some great depth. It is awesome. Our JV is running our Varsity times from last year in our time trials and our training runs.
What are the primary individual and team goals? • Boys: Our primary team goal is to bring back the fun and togetherness that was stripped from us last season. As a performance goal, we want to break into the top five this year in the state meet. The individual goals for some have already been smashed. We intend to have them all PR throughout the season.

Valley Vista Monsoon

Boys Coach: Chris York (sixth year)
Girls Coach: Omar Ortega (first year)
Section: Division I Southwest
Who are your top returning runners? • Boys: Junior Kade Ruff, Nicolas Delgado, • Girls: Junior Madi Yazzie
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? Too early to tell  
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? Perseverance, they keep working despite challenges.
What are the primary individual and team goals? Getting better every day.

Willow Canyon Wildcats

Boys Coach: Shane Tamez (10th year)
Girls Coach: Esmeralda Ortega (ninth year)
Section: Division II Northwest
Who are your top returning runners? • Boys: Chaz Miller, Adam Covarrubio, Adrain Torres, Eli Holman, Tyler Hernandez and Evan Branham. • Girls: Isabella Pineda, Iris Baker, Ashlynn Williams and Lauren Weber.
Who are some of the newcomers that may have an impact this year? • Boys: Bodey Lutes, Dylan Farnswoth, Jason Pohl. • Girls: Maria Munar Rodriguez-Navas (exchange student), Evelyn Perez,
What is your team’s best attribute entering this season? As a team they work hard to support each others individual goals and have very ambitious goals for the season.
What are the primary individual and team goals? • Boys: Boys varsity is striving to achieve top 5 runners, running sub 18 minutes. Chaz Miller quit his first love, (basketball) to focus on running full time. He has high hopes, and big expectations for his senior season. He hopes to break 16 in the 5k, win districts for the third year in a row, and get top 10 at state. Adam Covarrubio dedicated his summer to being consistent in running six days a week. The Junior sensation wants to break 17 in the 5k, and help team go far in state.
• Girls: Team goals are to PR invites and qualify for the state championships. Isabella Pineda has dedicated the whole summer to running at 5 in the morning six days a week. She plans on running a sub 20 5k and breaking the school record for girls. Alyssa Robichaud wants to show leadership and bring her team to state.