Clinger leads 1-2-3 finish for US#1 American Fork

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

It's been nearly a month since the Utah state meet and the top cross country progams in the state have been hard at work getting ready to NXR Southwest. 

RESULTS

U#1 American Fork, hoping to go wire-to-wire as the top boys teams in the country, went 1-2-3 at the regional championship at Casa Grande, Ariz. -- something the Cavemen weren't even able to do at the Utah state meet. 

The 2015 national runners-up booked an automatic spot to the NXN Championships in Portland with 121 points. Davis UT, third at the Utah Class 5A meet, finished second at the regional with 163 points and nailed down the second automatic spot. Springville UT (195), Timpanogos UT (201) and Olympus UT (209) made it a 1-5 sweep for the Beehive State.

Senior Casey Clinger ran 14:53 for the win, followed by his teammates McKay Johns (15:07) and Patrick Parker (15:12). Joe Benson of Timpanogos was fourth (15:15), followed by Isaac Green of Monarch CO (15:17), Jordan Lesansee of Albuquerque Academy NM (15:22), Tanner Norman of Classical Academy CO (15:23) and Buena AZ's Manny Olivo (15:32). Those guys are all ensured an opportunity to make it to NXN.

"After taking second last year, we're really ready to get that top spot (at NXN)," Clinger said.

Brie Oakley, the Colorado state champion, kept her fanstastic season going by winning the regional title in 16:56. For the second-year runner from Grandview CO, the it was a 35-second improvement upon last year's fourth place finish. It was also 11 seconds faster than Katie Rainsberger's winning time in 2015. 

Behind her, Arizona record-breaker Allie Schadler suffered a bit on the way to second place in 17:17. Schadler rolled her ankle at some point in the first mile and had to show some grit against the pain to make it through the course. Fort Collins CO senior Lauren Gregory was third in 17:20 and Utah eighth grader Grace Ping was fourth in 17:22. (Ping was approved for entry at the regional despite Utah not allowing eighth graders to compete on high school teams. In 2015, Ping placed 14th at NXN as a seventh grader when she lived in Minnesota, which has different age rules).

Quinn McConnell of Peak 2 Peak CO was fifth in 17:43. 

The team results produced an upset. US#26 Mountain Vista CO stepped up with a big performance to score 88 points and defeated US#4 Desert Vista AZ, which scored 100. Those two teams earned the automatic berths to NXN, leaving third-place Broomfield CO (127) and American Fork UT (133) on the bubble. 

At the conclusion of the the Nov. 26 regionals in the Southeast, Northeast, New York and the California state meet, a selection committee will pick four additional teams for the national field (22 boys teams, 22 girls teams).