Cibola boys nearly perfect at region meet

The Raiders captured the top four spots and five of the top six to claim the Gila Valley Region title in boys cross country Saturday at Lake Havasu City’s Bridgewater Links Golf Course.

Cibola finished with a team score of 16, just one point shy of a perfect race.

“We do have a special group of kids,” Cibola coach Kris Norton said. “I knew we’d be strong here today and I’m pleased with their performance. We’re going to be making a serious run at the state championship.”

Senior Eduardo Guerrero finished first for the Raiders with a time of 16 minutes, 57.3 seconds.

Right behind for the Raiders were Richard Clayton in second, last year’s region champ Ryan Norton in third and Josh Lopez in fourth. Alonzo Perez was sixth. All five Raiders earned first team all-region honors.

“We all planned to work together through the first two miles, to pace each other. Then we’d duke it out,” Ryan Norton said. “We wanted to all finish together to mimic the state meet.”

Gila Ridge filled out the top eight with Shane Hengesh coming in fifth, followed by Juan Marquez in seventh and Josh Segura eighth. That effort helped the Hawks finish as region runners-up. Hengesh and Marquez were named to the first team all-region while Segura was second team.

Also earning second team all-region honors were Yuma’s Jose Lopez and Moises Orozco, Cibola’s Jose Ramirez, San Luis’ German Altamirano and Havasu’s Kyle Staples.

Havasu placed third in team scoring with 80 points, followed by Yuma High with 84, Kofa at 133 and San Luis with 149.

On the girls side it came down to a single point. Cibola placed the No. 1, 3, 6, 7 and 13 runners while Havasu had the No. 2, 4, 5, 8 and 10. The result was the Lady Knights taking the region crown 29-30 over the Lady Raiders.

Cibola freshman Monica Huston was the first place finisher, coming in at 21:00.15, almost 40 seconds faster than the competition. Amanda Huston was third (21:55), followed by teammates Kiana Diehl (6, 22:29), Angelica Avila (7, 22:44) and Chelsea Madsen (13, 23:21).

“Coach warned us Havasu might take off too fast so we should just keep a good pace,” Huston said. “I knew I could do it, I know what I’m capable of.”

The No. 2 spot went to Havasu’s Jeanette Campos, who passed teammate Lynsey Ryan and the Raiders’ Amanda Martinez during the second lap around the course.

“I didn’t want to start too strong because that wastes energy,” Campos said. “And I knew I could finish strong.”
Huston, Martinez, Kiana Diehl and Angelica Avila earned first team all-region honors for the Lady Raiders while Havasu’s Campos, Ryan and Smith took the other three spots.

Second team all-region was Havasu’s Hanna Henson, Andrea Somishka and Rita Bybee, Cibola’s Chelsea Madsen and Karen Montez and Gila Ridge’s Alyssa Segura and Loren Cradic.

In team scoring, Gila Ridge was third with 70 points, followed Yuma with 116, Kofa with 130 and San Luis with 155.

The state meet will take place Nov. 7 at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix. The girls are scheduled to run at 1:25 p.m. with the boys to follow at 2:45 p.m.