It is the time of the season for another meet under the lights at the Desert Twilight Cross Country Festival. The meet was held at the Grande Sports World in Casa Grande. The meet offered some of the best competition Desert Vista will face this year with teams from all across the Southwest. DVCC competed in the Large School Freshman, Large School Open, and Sweepstakes races, which meant that the best was required of all Thunder Runners.
This is not the typical 5k race as it is a flat, fast, and mostly grass course; it also had some dirt spots that eventually filled the air thick with dust so many of racers struggled breathing. This race is also known for its switchbacks, which results in an easy race for the spectators to follow and offer encouragement. The temperatures were in the 100s for the Freshmen race, the upper 90s for the Open race, and dropped to the upper 80s by the time the Sweepstakes race rolled around.
The first race of the night was the Large School Freshmen Race. Leading their race was Noah Jodon (17:32) finishing 2nd overall. Following was Ethan Bukowski (17:47) in 3rd, Jonathan Estrada (18:08) in 7th, Freshman Captain Nolan Billeter (18:13) in 9th, and Zaire Blevins (18:18) not far behind in 12th. The results from the Freshmen added up to, you guessed it, first place in their race and another notch in their belt for the season!
The Large School Open Race was held right after sunset allowing cooler temperatures to come with hard racing. Finishing first for DVCC was Nicolo Perciballi (17:06) in 3rd-place overall; Nicolo also became an Eagle Scout earlier this week! Next up was Demetrius Love (17:30) in 12th, Senior Ceth Reeves (17:32) in 15th, Sophomore Jacob Cardon (17:49) in 36th, and Senior Co-Captain Marshall Smith (17:54) in 40th. This garnered DVCC a strong 3rd-place finish for the Large School Open Race, missing second place by a mere four points.
Last but not least was the Desert Vista Varsity team and the much-anticipated Sweepstakes race. Starting them off was Varsity Captain Lee Nasewytewa (15:15) finishing 10th overall in a school record for a 5k race. Following behind was Sammy Van Alstine (15:35) in 16th, Senior Travis Kearney (16:03) in 55th, Senior John Lowry (16:07) in 61st, and Sophomore Martin Fuller (16:40) in 118th. These places were enough for the Thunder to finish 6th-place overall. The DVCC Varsity were the top Division-1 squad from Arizona and the second overall Arizona High School Varsity team, behind Page HS. This was another solid performance for the Varsity squad.
All in all, the boys had another great showing at Desert Twilight in 2018. The Thunder looks forward to future years of this race especially with the Rookie performances. Once again, a big thank you to the hosts and coaching staff of the event. Nothing would be done without them!
GO THUNDER!!!