DVCC showcased both quality and quantity at one of the biggest meets in Arizona. The varsity had the best finish among Arizona schools, trailing only schools from New Mexico and California, in the premier sweepstakes race at the Desert Twilight Festival in Mesa Friday, Sept. 28.
Carter Macey led the way again, finishing 12th overall in 15 minutes, 55 seconds over the 3.1-mile course. Ryan Smith (16:24), Jacob Walimaa (16:29), Tyler Bonebright (16:43), Zack Smith (16:47) and Alec Hoyt (16:56) all finished in the top 80 and broke the 17-minute mark. Austin Tielke (17:23) also ran varsity. The top four all set personal records excluding their races at Woodbridge, where the weather is cooler, the competition fiercer and the course flatter.
Ryan Dykstra, one of the top two varsity runners all last year, showed he’s almost all the way back from the stress reaction that hampered his training the past few months, winning the Boys Large School Open race in 16:41 and giving DV another strong varsity contender. Mitchell Bogushefsky (16:54), Kyle Havriliak (17:04) and Dylan Smith (17:17) helped DV take four of the top five spots. Andrew Hermanski (17:32) was 11th and Zever McGary (17:49) and Nick Terreri (17:54) just missed medals, placing 23rd and 27th out of 476 runners. Kyle Herrig, Chris Tang and Zack Hubbard finished in the top 50, and Dylan Quintanar, Josh Geiger, Josh Ten Eyck and Ethan Tang gave DV 14 of the top 95 runners, all finishing in less than 19 minutes.
The freshmen continued their season-long domination. Xavier Esparza (17:17), D.J. Harris (17:46) and Chris O’Brien (18:03) swept the top three spots. Jessen Harbertson (17th), Matt Anciaux (21st), Jackson Snedecor (34th), Joe Kretschmar (35th), Nathan Chan (36th) and Brian Kwiecinski (41st) and Joe Bagby (51st) gave DV 10 of the top 51 spots out of 176 competitors.
Overall, DV had one runner better than 16 minutes, eight break 17 minutes, 16 less than 18 minutes and 25 in less than 19 minutes. DVCC’s next race, the Doug Conley Invitational, comes after fall break.
“The boys came in with high expectations and didn’t disappoint,” Coach Chris Hanson said. “They displayed that they are a deep and talented team. Excellent racing from the freshmen up to the varsity and in between. We now begin our march to towards Conley, City, Sectionals and State, or what we call the championship part of the season.”