The Thunder Boys began their second meet of the season by traveling to Tucson for the Desert Solstice Cross Country Invitational, a meet that is ran mostly at night. The plan this year was to run only the four class races; the Thunder Varsity was held out of this meet in preparation for the Woodbridge meet next week.
The race itself was located at a golf course in Tucson, Arizona. This provided the runners with benefits of soft grass on which to run. However, the course had many dips and was prone to getting dusty at the beginning. Nonetheless, the boys were bound to have another successful meet.
Despite the tough weather conditions, the promising DVCC Freshmen boys lead themselves to another shutout in the desert. Leading them was Noah Jodon (18:24) winning the race. Not far behind him was Ryan Hoyt (18:26) in second place, Ethan Bukowski (18:28) in third, Gabe Parham (18:34) in fourth, and finally Jonathan Estrada (18:39) in fifth to complete the shutout. These Thunder freshmen seem to be on their way to big things!
The Thunder Sophomores saw similar success in their race, which still occurred in the heat of the evening. Leading them was former marching band musician Jacob Cardon (18:54) finishing 5th. Trailing behind him for the Thunder was transfer Makay Blackburn (19:00) in 10th, Conor Donihi (19:15) in 13th, Noah Patch (19:25) in 16th, and Chris Broze (19:26) rounding them off in 19th place.
Next up were the Desert Vista Juniors in one of the first races to happen after the sun was down, which gave them an advantage over the previous races that evening. All boys managed to finish strong and place within the top ten. Nicolo Perciballi (17:59) used that night advantage to finish 3rd for the Thunder Juniors. Holding up the back were Noah Werbelow (18:07) in 5th, Demetrius Love (18:11) in 6th, Nick Basha (18:13) in 7th, and Mays Jones (18:25) finishing 9th for the Juniors.
Last up were the Senior runners for Desert Vista. These boys were looking forward to their last rodeo in Tucson and all of them finished strong under the lights. In the front were a couple of seniors recovering from recent injuries: Will Strickland (18:13) in 4th and Ceth Reeves (18:28) in 9th. Closing for them was co-captain Marshall Smith (18:47) in 15th, former wrestler Micah Simpson (18:56) in 19th, and finally Morgan Higginbotham (19:48) in 37th.
The scoring format used for the meet added up the finishing position of the top runner for each school in each class race (FR/SO/JR/SR). At the end of the night the Desert Vista Cross Country team posted a score of 13 points and took home the 1st-place overall trophy in the 2018 Desert Solstice Invitational. High Fives were exchanged, and smiles were all over the place as the Thunder came for what they wanted. Hopefully this won’t be the last Solstice victory.
A huge thank you to the parents, coaches, and staff involved in the managing of this meet! None of it would be done without you guys!
Join the Thunder next week as they travel to another state to take on their toughest meet yet at Woodbridge Invitational in California.