Raiders run strong at state meet
Meyer-Wills continues impressive season, places 11th in boys Division I XC championship run
Cibola’s junior runner Bennett Meyer-Wills made his second consecutive start at the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Division I state cross-country championship meet.
As a sophomore, Meyer-Wills placed 47th.
In Gilbert on Thursday, the much improved longlegged runner smoked his 2019 time by 56 seconds and crossed the finish line with a time of 16:04.7 to finish in 11th place.
“It was a bit of a challenge to know where (Meyer-Wills) stood with no travel this year,” Cibola head coach Kris Norton said. “(Meyer-Wills) put together a strong performance last week at sectionals and carried that over to today and showed he’s one of the top runners of the state.
“It was very exciting today.”
The 2019 Yuma Rotary/ Yuma Sun boys cross-country runner of the year narrowly missed out on a top-10 finish, crossing the finish line 3.5 seconds behind Highland’s Brandon Ericson and Mountain View’s Joshua Judd.
Meyer-Wills’ performance is the best finish for a Raider at state since Thomas Cain placed inside the top-10 three consecutive seasons (2015-17).
Last week the Raiders
(who didn’t travel outside Yuma during the regular season) ran the CrossRoads Park course during sectionals.
A sense of familiarity helped Meyer-Wills beat his sectional time by nearly 37 seconds.
“I think the runners
knew where to focus more on their effort and their capabilities,” Norton said. “When you get that down, it allows you to feel the race...
This year was a challenge, but we adjusted quickly.”
Meyer-Wills wasn’t the
only Raider to display their talents Thursday.
Cibola freshman girls runner Alaina Tracy has a bright future ahead as she finished 64th and ran a per
sonal record time of 20:46.5.
Like Meyer-Wills, getting acclimated to Crossroads Park last week helped Tracy crush her sectional time by one minute and 34 seconds.
Norton said Tracy was the fifth fastest freshman Thursday.
“It was a pretty big jump for her today,” Norton said. “We’re excited. She’s been showing (her talents) in practice and it’s nice to see it conveyed for the actual competition.”