The Desert Vista Boys Cross Country Team continued its dominance of the Tempe City Championship by recording its second consecutive sweep of all three races last Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 on the demanding hills of the 5k Doug Conley Memorial Course at Kiwanis Park.
The Freshmen Race led things off and the DVCC squad posted a mere 19 points to claim its 15th-consecutive Tempe City Freshman Race title. They were led by 2016 Tempe City Freshman Champion Sammy Van Alstine who clocked a winning time of 18:38. He was followed by Noah Werbelow in 2nd place with a time of 18:59. Nick Basha took 4th place with a time of 19:38, while Vincent Larente in 5th place (19:49) and Benton Worthen in 7th place (19:52) completed the scoring. Rounding out the top seven were Nicolo Perciballi in 9th (20:10) and Adam Hansen in 10th (20:19).
The Open Race was the next contest and the Thunder Junior Varsity posted a perfect score of 15 points to claim the Tempe City Open Race title. The JV squad did it in style, sweeping the top five places; in fact, DVCC nearly swept the top ten, grabbing the top nine finishing spots. DVCC junior Bryce Schmisseur led way and claimed the 2016 Tempe City Open Championship title with a winning time of 17:40. Following him were junior J Iannone in 2nd place with a time of 18:01, senior Nick Walrod in 3rd (18:06), and sophomore Lee Nasewytewa in 4th (18:26). Junior Jack Willems posted a time of 18:28; his 5th-place finish completed the sweep of the race for the Thunder. Completing the top nine were a pack of seniors competing in the last meet of their DVCC careers: Jackson Hickey in 6th (18:32), Leo Crowder in 7th (18:40), Matt Jobe in 8th (18:42), and Co-Captain Clark Scalia in 9th (18:50).
The Varsity Race was last race of the day and the DVCC Varsity earned a solid victory with a score of 25 points, completing the sweep of the Tempe City Championships for the Thunder. They were led by 2016 Tempe City Varsity Champion junior Habtamu Cheney who finished with a time of 16:24. Senior Co-Captain Chris D'Angelo was the second Thunder Runner to the tape and his 16:45 was good for 3rd place. A trio of juniors completed the scoring for DVCC, with Nick Thatcher posting a 17:04 to grab 5th place, Reece Donihi running a 17:07 for 7th place, and Aksel Laudon logging a 17:20 for 9th place. Also racing for the Thunder Varsity were sophomore Travis Kearney in 10th (17:23) and junior D'Angelo Piasecki in 11th (17:39).