Cross country is a huge commitment to take on. Fountain Hills High School head coach Kevin Clancy said each athlete ran roughly 300 miles over the season, and the Falcons’ hard work this year resulted in the first state championship girls team appearance in six years.

Clancy took over the track team last year, and he continued to lead the Falcons this year as cross country coach. He recruited some runners from track, and he had four new freshman athletes as well. Clancy was mindful of how he recruited as well as who he recruited.

“Success kind of builds on itself, and I think that organic growth is what leads to a really good foundation of a team,” Clancy said. “You want people that want to come out and want to run for the team.”

The Falcons returned three girls and added two more this year. They needed all five to qualify as a team, and the Falcons finished 18th at the state meet behind two top performances.

Juniors Skye Alker and Erin Hooley led the charge all year, and Alker finished 29th and Hooley finished 37th at state. Hooley appeared at the state meet last year and was close to setting a new personal record (PR) this year. Alker cut her PR down from 23:59.6 last year to 21:16.9 this year.

Clancy called the two new girls the “dynamic duo” at the beginning of the season because sophomore Racine Homyak and freshman Alli Guerrette ran similar times and kept pushing each other to improve. The Falcons had a tough first race to start the season up in Flagstaff, but after that, the dynamic duo combined to cut more than 10 minutes off the team’s time.

Guerrette started the year with a 32:02.1 time, got it down to 27:05.6 within a month, and finished with a PR at state, 24:30.8. Homyak started the year with a 29:04.3 time and had it down to 26:04.1 in a month. She also finished the year with a PR at state, 24:09.8.

Junior Elliana Bartman returned this year and helped push the Falcons over the edge to qualify for state. Clancy said it’s rare for a team to return their top five runners after a state appearance, so he’s excited to see how much the girls can improve by next year.

The boys had three seniors, three juniors and three freshmen this year. Clancy described senior Franklin Fiola, a first-time runner, as a team spark, and he finished with the fifth best time on the team. Fiola dropped over four minutes from the beginning of the season, from 24:47.8 to 20:23.9.

The two other seniors, Zion Atwood and Tyler-Irvine Violette, each qualified for the state championship meet. Irvine-Violette was close to breaking his record, and Atwood cut his PR down from 20:00.1 to 18:44.0.

Clancy said the seniors’ personalities will be harder to replace than their talent. Irvine-Violette served as a leader with lots of experience, and Atwood worked extremely hard in the background and was a leader by example.

The three freshman boys soaked up all they could from the three seniors. Freshmen Matthew Gonzalez and Tyler Eastman raced several shorter races, but also ran four varsity races. Freshman Colby Wright ran every varsity race, including sectionals, and he also swam for the Falcons this past season. Wright set a PR at sectionals at 20:26.0.

There are actually four rising seniors on the boys team. Juniors Dylan Romans (20:14.2), William Breen (22:07.1) and Nathan Eastman (22:12.8) all set new PRs at sectionals and each cut at least three minutes off their starting times. Junior Caleb Lara was injured last summer and joined the team as a manager and as a spectator at the sectional and state meets.

“Losing three seniors, especially when it's three of your top five, is really tough,” Clancy said. “But I think with a year of development and getting Caleb back, it’s going to put the team in a good position to go in next year.”

Clancy appreciated all the support he received in his first year as cross country coach. He’s excited to start preseason track and field workouts soon and get another successful season in the books for Fountain Hills.

“From the assistant coaching standpoint to the administration, to parents, I mean, we had a lot of support, and the kids were lucky to have that,” Clancy said. “They made their job pretty easy. They just had to put in the work and race well.”