By MORDECHAI YADEGAR II
The Progress
Virgin Valley High School cross country runner, Jenna Walters, won the 2022 NIAA 3A State Championship meet at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City on Saturday, November 5.
Walters was the first in the state to cross the finish line in the girls’ 5K race with a time of 19:58.3
“My legs were a little heavy from the training and zero sleep but none of that mattered after the gun went off,” Walters said. “Racing never felt more free all season!”
Throughout the race, Walters was contested by runners from northern and southern schools. But it wasn’t until around half of a mile to go in the race, that separation started to happen between the front runners. Walters separated from the rest of the runners in the last few minutes of the race. From that point on it was all her race.
“I only won because of the Altra (running shoes) my coach bought on Ebay,” she quoted.
The top teams from northern Nevada traveled to Boulder City to take on the best from the South. All top 4 regional qualifying teams from 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A schools had a chance to earn their school a State Championship title at the meet. Also at stake was an individual State Championship title for each division.
The Moapa Valley High School Boys team competed at the state meet and earned themselves 81 total points placing them in third as a team. That just barely lost a tie breaker to Somerset Academy Sky Pointe.
Spring Creek won the 3A State title with 35 points.
The Bulldog boys team scored 140 points placing them in 6th place behind northern team Elko.
The Bulldog girls’ combined score of their top seven runners earned them 168 total points placing them in 6th place behind northern school Tahoe-Truckee.
The Pirate girls team ran all five of their qualified runners placing 8th with 187 points.
The first to cross the line for MVHS was senior Marcus Shambaugh who placed 6th in the state, earning a medal with a time of 16:42 Following Shambaugh were his teammates Mordechai Yadegar II (17:34), Isaac Thompson (18:01), Gavin Hendricks (18:08), and Joseph Barnes (18:13).
Isaac Greig led the Bulldog boys crossing in 16th with a time of 17:47. Owen Rappleye was following right behind with a time of 17:53. Other Bulldog runners included Gavin Hughes (18:23), and Drew Maxfield (19:42).
Of course, Walters led the Bulldog girls and the rest of the competition in the girls’ 3A. Following Walters were her teammates Camryn Lee (24:22), Yamila Vega Archuleta (24:30), Ketely Hansen (29:25), and Elizabeth Correa (29:27).
For the Pirate girls Kenzie Hughes crossed the line first in 25th with a time of 22:15. Other Pirate runners included Sasha Barnes (23:35), Beverly Potts (25:10), Jorja Freeman (29:07), and Jessa Freeman (32:48).
Both cross country programs will travel to the Coyote Run Golf Course in Mesa, Arizona on Saturday, November 19 to compete in the Nike Cross Regionals (NXR) Southwest Regional Championships.
