The Desert Vista boys finished sixth out of 29 schools, including several from out of state, in the premier sweepstakes race at the Desert Twilight Cross Country Festival in Gilbert. Bernie Montoya of Cibola won the race in a blistering 15 minutes, 2.6 seconds Friday night, Sept. 30. Carter Macey was the top DVCC finisher in 16:03, followed closely by fellow junior Ryan Dykstra in 16:11. Juniors Ryan Smith and Zach Smith and seniors Jonathan Furseth and Nick Kooinga were bunched between 62nd and 89th out of 192 finishers, all completing the 3.1-mile course in less than 17 minutes.
As usual, the DVCC junior varsity dominated, easily winning the 34-team Large School Open with 19 points. Mesa Mountain View was a distant second with 72 points. With the Large School Open split into two heats, the Thunder virtually swept its heat, capturing the top four spots, seven of the top eight and nine of the top 11. Coming on strong in his final season, Ryan Husser won in 17:05, followed in order by Andrew Hermanski, Jacob Walimaa, Alec Hoyt, Troy Giordano, Dylan Smith, Mitchell Bogushefsky, Austin Tielke and Austin Aguinaga. Six other Thunder runners were in the top 53 out of 235 runners.
The DV freshmen were second out of 18 schools in the Large School Open division, paced by Kyle Havriliak’s sixth-place finish. Duncan Merrill (23rd), Josh Geiger (28th), Matt Beeks (36th) and Brian Ingersoll (56th) also ranked among the top third out of 172 runners.