The Desert Vista Thunder have a legendary reputation at the annual Tempe City Championship meet and once again they lived up to those high expectations. Since 2002 the Thunder have won the Varsity race 12 times, the Open race 14 times, and most impressively, DVCC is undefeated in the Freshmen race during that span having posted 15 consecutive victories. Armed with this knowledge coming into the meet, the Thunder Boys were eager and excited to carry on that impressive legacy. The 5k Doug Conley Memorial Course at Kiwanis Park is undoubtedly the toughest course faced all season as it contains multiple, brutally-steep hills and is run during the hottest part of the day; this year the team ran in 95°F weather. However, the DVCC Boys overcame these obstacles and went on to convincingly win every single race for the third straight year.
The Freshman race was won with a dominating 17 points, sweeping the first four places. The DVCC Freshmen were lead by the 2017 Tempe City Freshmen Race Medalist Martin Fuller (18:47) in 1st place, followed by Chris Broze (19:59) in 2nd, Vade Pierce (20:32) in 3rd, Justin Perillo (20:41) in 4th, and Adam De La Riva (21:31) in 7th. This marks the 16th consecutive year that the DVCC Freshmen have won this race.
Next up was the Open race. The veteran Thunder JV squad swept the first seven places, scoring a perfect 15 points. The DVCC JV were lead by the 2017 Tempe City Open Race Medalist junior Travis Kearney (17:25) in 1st place, followed by junior Lee Nasewytewa (17:37) in 2nd, senior J Iannone (17:57) in 3rd, senior Jack Willems (18:14) in 4th, and junior Neal Saxena (18:47) in 5th. This marks the 4th consecutive year that the DVCC JV have won this race.
The final race of the evening was the Varsity race, which the Thunder won with only 19 points. Winning the race and successfully defending his 2016 Varsity Race Medalist title was 2017 Tempe City Varsity Race Medalist senior Habtamu Cheney in a time of 16:48. He was followed by senior D’Angelo Piasecki (16:58) in 3rd, senior Reece Donihi (17:01) in 4th, senior Bryce Schmisseur (17:03) in 5th, and senior Nick Thatcher (17:03) in 6th. Rounding out the Varsity squad was senior Aksel Laudon (17:03) in 7th and sophomore Sammy Van Alstine (17:17) in 9th place. This marks the 4th consecutive year that the DVCC Varsity have won this race.
Thank you to all the dedicated parents and coaches who helped; your support is absolutely crucial and is appreciated by all the boys on the team.
The next meet the Thunder will be competing in is the Regional Championship Meet at Crossroads Park on October 27th. GO THUNDER!!!!