Hawks’ DeBoard finishes 2nd, Marquez 5th at state
PHOENIX — Another year, another state runnerup finish for a Gila Ridge boys cross-country runner. And this time, for the first time, the Hawks had another in the top five.
Two seniors who have helped Gila Ridge’s ascension to distance-running power in recent years capped their careers with more-thanrespectable showings at Saturday’s AIA CrossCountry State Championships at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix, as Christian DeBoard finished second in Division II for the second year in a row while teammate Daniel Marquez came in fifth.
While it wasn’t quite everything they had hoped their final state meet would be — DeBoard, in particular, was disappointed not to deliver Gila Ridge its first-ever individual state title — it certainly wasn’t a bad way to go out.
In regards to DeBoard, only 10 times in Yuma County history has a boys runner placed top-two at state. He is responsible for two of those times.
“I just had high expectations,” he said. “But I’m good.”
And with Marquez’s fifthplace finish, this marks the first time that the Hawks have had multiple top-five placers the same year — this for a program that three years ago won the Division II team title.
“I was happy overall,” said Marquez, who took seventh a year ago. “I wasn’t feeling quite good, but I made the most of it. As long as I finished in the top five, I was happy.”
Marquez finished in 16:22, eight seconds behind DeBoard. Their two showings helped Gila Ridge — which also got a top-50 finish from senior TJ Worthen (45th in 17:16) and top-100 finishes from junior Bryan