The Desert Vista cross country team lived up to its preseason billing as Arizona's No. 1 team, outracing 22 other boys teams to win the Sole Sports Running Zone Cross Country Festival in Scottsdale on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011.
DVCC outpaced runner-up Mesa Mountain View both in place (83 to 95 for the top five runners) and average time (16:03.36 to 16.14.14 for the top six runners). Defending state champion Bernie Montoya of Cibola won the Boys Gold Run in 14.57.65 over the 3.0-mile golf course setup, but DV's incredible depth paved the way to team victory.
Carter Macey led the way for DV in seventh place at 15:38.45, with fellow junior Ryan Dykstra right behind at 15:39.85. Junior Ryan Smith finished 21st and senior Jonathan Furseth 23rd in the run for the gold.
The Thunder's four entries in the Boys Black Run dominated. Tyler Bonebright, who has made huge strides after not missing a single day of summer workouts, led the way with a 16:13.75 run. Fellow junior Zach Smith, who has come on strong after missing only two summer practices, was next in 16:21.85. Senior captain Nick Kooinga was fourth in 16:24.20 and sophomore Kyle Herrig finished fifth in 16:38.05.
While the JV Run didn't count in the final standings, Desert Vista was even more dominant, sweeping the top eight spots, nine of the top 10, 12 of the top 18 and 16 of the top 49 out of 302 runners. Sophomores Andrew Hermanski, Jacob Walimaa and Alec Hoyt finished 1-2-3. Juniors Dylan Smith, Austin Tielke and Troy Giordano took the next three places, with seniors Kevin Estrada and Austin Aguinaga placing 7-8. Ryan Husser (10), Mitchell Bogushefsky (13), Alex Aguinaga (16) and Reagan McDonnell (18) also medaled. Juniors Dylan Quintanar (32), Connor Thunshelle (34) and Zack Hubbard (45) and sophomore Zever McGary (49) finished in the top 50.
Full race results can be found here and meet pictures can be found here.