The high school cross country team hit the road twice last week, competing at Chaparral High School on Wednesday, Sept. 25, before heading on to the massive Artichoke Invitational on Saturday.

With only three meets left in the season, the Falcons will continue to get in lots of practice leading up to the Oct. 9 run at Cactus Shadows, followed immediately by another race at Wickenburg on Oct. 10. The Cactus Shadows run is set for 4 p.m. with the Wickenburg meet set to kick off at 3 p.m.

After that, the Falcons will host their final regular meet of the season out of the high school campus on Saturday, Oct. 26, beginning at 8 a.m.

From there, it’s on to the sectional meet on Nov. 1 to see which athletes will qualify for state.

Chaparral

The Falcons began their week at Chaparral High School, competing against a handful of teams from around the Valley. With a big meet coming up in just a couple of days, however, head coach Chris Davis said he decided to keep his top runners fresh rather than have them go all-out two days prior.

“We were never given results from that meet, but I’m not too worried about the times,” Davis said.

“I had our JV kids run it like a competition and our varsity runners treat it more like a workout to prepare for Saturday.”

Despite having his varsity team throttle back, Davis said the meet went well for the Falcons.

“We did a good job overall,” he said.

“Nothing too fantastic, but it was a good run.”

Artichoke Invite

Saturday saw the Falcons back on the course, running out of the Scottsdale Country Club for the annual Artichoke Invitational.

“This was another big meet,” Davis said.

“I think there were around 70 teams that showed up, coming from all sections.”

The Falcons are no stranger to massive events this season, competing at their own large invitational in mid-September and, a week prior, running at the Woodbridge Classic hosted out of California.

While the Falcons’ times suggested that they flew through the Woodbridge run, however, Davis explained that a tougher course meant a bit of slowdown for the hometown team.

“That course is nothing but rolling hills,” he added.

“When you consider that our California times were on a flat surface, you can usually expect to add about a minute with a course that’s so hilly.”

And that’s exactly what happened for the Falcon flock, though Davis added that this was good preparation for the end of the season.

“Those hills are more like what they’ll see at the state run,” Davis said.

“It’s good that they’re running some of that now. They’ll know what to expect when they get there.”

The top finisher for the local girls at the Artichoke run was Sierra Jarriel in seventh place overall, earning a medal at 19:39.

Hope Brecto also medaled at 23:01, along with Danica Kerr at 23:22.

Taylor Johnson finished at 23:42 on the day with teammate Emmie Lawrence finishing at 24:27.

Kailee Martin crossed at 25:01 with Michelle Farella, Madi Blaes and Kelsey Schultz crossing in quick succession at 26:13, 26:28 and 26:29 respectively.

Elizabeth Smout crossed the line at 29:31 with Alex Griggs at 33:12.

Marie Olson finished at 33:44 with Sophi Gaardsmoe wrapping things up for the girls at 37:26.

The boys managed to produce four medalists this outing with Garrett Sweetlan taking the top spot in 15th place at 18:03.

Scott Jarriel finished at 18:09, followed by Hayden Brecto at 18:39 and Evan Cain at 18:48.

Ryder Worden finished at 20:03 with teammates Reily Brande and Andrew Cooper finishing at 21:00 and 21:05 respectively.

Tiger Elwood crossed the finish line at 22:50. Jason Sahr finished at 23:09 with Kolt Brewster at 23:52 and Jake McAuliff at 24:11.

Hector Tutco finished up for the boys at 27:53.

Jordan Smout and Cody Walter also competed, but no times were available.