The Fountain Hills High School cross country team raced in its sectionals last Thursday, Nov. 3, to keep the season alive. Eight of the 12 Falcon runners finished the regular season with new personal records (PRs) and the Falcons are sending seven athletes to state this weekend.

Junior Erin Hooley and senior Tyler Irvine-Violette were the only Falcons to compete in the state race last year, but this time they’ll have company. Fellow senior Zion Atwood will join Irvine-Violette and the entire girls team will race with Hooley this Saturday, Nov. 12.

“It feels awesome, I’m really excited to beat my time from last time,” Hooley said. “I’m really excited to see what we can do at state.”

The Falcon coaches used an online simulator based on previous PRs from all runners at sectionals, and the girls were supposed to finish seventh out of 10 teams. Instead, the girls finished fifth, and they were only two points away from taking fourth place.

By placing in the top half of teams, the girls advance on to state. Hooley and junior Skye Alker both earned medals and placed in the top 10, helping to propel the Falcons. Hooley set a new PR and finished in sixth place (21:12.3), and Alker set a new PR and came in eighth place (21:16.9).

“It feels good to do that,” Alker said. “It’s nice because last year, I was only a few places off from making it individually.”

Sophomore Racine Homyak finished 34th (24:31.4). She beat her PR by 9.6 seconds, but the first year runner has cut down her 5000m time by nearly five minutes since her first race (29:04.3).

Freshman Alli Guerrette finished two spots behind Homyak in 36th place (24:47.9). Guerrette is the most improved Falcon this year, beating her PR set a week prior (25:30.0), and she’s trimmed over seven minutes off her time since the beginning of the season (32:02.1).

Junior Eliana Bartman came in 60th out of 71 runners and set a season record (27:34.7). She was 16 seconds off her PR set last year, but much improved from her first race this season (34:53.0).

Homyak and Alker admitted they didn’t plan to run cross country and it was a last-minute decision for each of them. When the announcement rang that they’d be going to state, the Falcons cheered with excitement and surprise.

“I didn’t really put that much running work in, being 100% honest,” Alker said. “I went to the gym a lot, but I didn’t really know, honestly, at the beginning of the season, that I was going to do cross country. But I did it, and it was really fun.”

The boys came in ninth place and didn’t make the cut as a team. Irvine-Violette placed 25th and Atwood placed 27th out of 100 runners and they qualified as individuals. Irvine-Violette ran a season best (18:36.4) and was nine seconds off his PR from last year. Atwood (18:47.5) was three seconds slower than his PR set a week prior.

Junior Dylan Romans finished 54th with a new PR (20:14.2), besting his previous PR by 30 seconds. Senior Franklin Fiola finished close behind in 57th place (20:23.9), and he also beat his past PR by 28 seconds.

Freshman Colby Wright finished 65th (20:50.8), and juniors William Breen and Nathan Eastman finished 81st and 82nd respectively. Breen beat his PR by 23 seconds (22:07.1), and Eastman beat his PR by 17 seconds (22:12.8).

The Falcons will race at 12:30 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 12, at Cave Creek Golf Course. The course is located at 15202 N. 19th Ave. in Phoenix, and admission is $12 for adults and $6 for students with school ID.