Lobos Take Fourth Place In 3A East Cross Country Meet

By Greg Perkins
   The Snowflake boys qualified for the 3A State cross country meet upcoming this weekend by placing fourth at the East regional meet held last Friday. Blue Ridge won the meet with 20 points. Show Low placed second with 53, Payson was third with 85 and Snowflake followed with 92 points. Alchesay finished out of the running with 119 points.
   Show Low’s Brian Duncan won the 3.1-mile race with a time of 18:27. Evan Prestwich of Blue Ridge was second and Will Arnette, also of Blue Ridge, placed third.
   Noah Flake led a pack of Lobos with a 16th place finish in 20:54. Laitham Hunt was 17th in 21:07; Rolley Burton, 18th in 21:21; Joey Cox, 20th in 21:27; Levi Flake, 21st in 21:28; Lance Merrill, 29th in 23:28; and Chad Merrill, 31st in 23:37. Thirty-five runners competed in the meet.
   The Snowflake girls’ placed fifth in their division. Payson won the team title with 39 points. Show Low placed second with 45, followed by Blue Ridge with 56, Alchesay with 100 and Snowflake with 123.
   Autumn Gibson of Blue Ridge won the race with a time of 22:35. Carrisa Jones of Show Low was second and Allison Rydberg of Blue Ridge placed third.
    Lady Lobo Alisha Flake qualified for the state meet with a sixth place finish in a time of 24:26. Hannah Runebrand was 24th in 27:26; Desirae Burden, 30th in 31:23; Sarah McCleve, 31st in 31:24; and Carolina Santillan, 32nd in 32:43.
   The state meet will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Cave Creek Golf Course.