The Fountain Hills High School cross country team successfully hosted one of Arizona’s biggest races of the year this past Saturday, Sept. 14, all while setting some new personal records on the home course.

At the Fountain Hills Invitational, Fountain Hills placed 20th out of 22 schools in the freshmen/sophomore race with varsity and junior Falcons individually placing in their own events.

This week the cross country team will travel to Irvine, Calif., where they will compete in the Woodbridge Classic from Sept. 20- 21.

Cross Country head coach Nick Goodman said he could not have asked for a better day to host the invitational.

“The 2019 Fountain Hills Invitational was a huge success,” Goodman said. “Overcast skies presented favorable conditions for the runners and all of the Fountain Hills athletes set personal course records for themselves.”

Among the schools that contributed to the 1,200 runners that were at Fountain Park were bigger Division 1 schools like Basha and Perry.

The addition of these bigger schools meant that Fountain Hills runners were going up against highly experienced opponents for the first time this season.

“Our young athletes got to experience fast racing with some of the best high school runners in the state,” Goodman said. “They were able to practice their individual pacing and racing strategies that ultimately set each of them up for a successful finish. I am very pleased with our team's overall performance.”