ROSE PARK—The Farmington High boys cross country team has run on three different state championship courses over the past three years, but one thing hasn’t changed. The Phoenix haven’t been beaten.

Again this year, at the new venue (the Regional Athletic Complex in Rose Park), Farmington’s boys dominated to bring home the gold. In the school’s four years of existence, the boys team has taken third place once and now three consecutive first-place titles. Along with their success at state, the Phoenix are currently ranked number 4 in the nation.

“We felt pretty good about our chances coming in here, because we’ve had a great season,” coach Chris Brower said. “We knew that American Fork would be tough, along with Riverton, Corner Canyon and Skyridge, but we thought winning was possible again.”

The state races had been run for many years in Sugar House Park, where Farmington won the 5A title two years ago. Last fall, races were moved to Soldier Hollow in Wasatch County, a much different kind of venue with lots of hills. Still, Farmington prevailed.

This year, the Phoenix were moved up to the 6A classification due to high enrollment. It didn’t matter. Led by four top 10 finishes from seniors Matthew Neuenschwander, Britton Austin, Ethan Peterson and Isaac Halverson, Farmington clinched the title when senior Ryan Bennett came in 17th, giving them a team score of 49. That easily beat the talented Cavemen from American Fork who took second at 68 points.

“My biggest worry was that I didn’t want the kids to think it was a shoe-in because of the success they’ve had this year,” Brower said. “I wanted them to show up when it really mattered, and they did today.”
Farmington lost only one race this year. That was at the Border Wars race in September at Sugar House where they finished second to Cheyenne High School from Colorado Springs, a team currently ranked number 2 in the nation.

“We lost to them by 8 points and I think that was kind of a wake up call for the boys,” Brower said. “We’re excited to see them again in three weeks at the Nike Regional in Tempe. It should be a great post season for us.”

American Fork senior Nathan Jaster won the race in a time of 14:55.5 over the flat 5K course at the complex. The course was a bit soft and a little soggy after recent rains, and the fact that 11 other races had already been run over it by the time the 6A boys started. But the consistent Farmington boys, who won Davis District and Region 1 titles earlier this year, were not to be denied. The only non-senior of Farmington’s top seven (runners who were scored in the race) is junior Spencer Bradshaw, who took 26th.

“We’ve had an amazing senior class, and yes, we’re going to take a hit from graduation. But these seniors have been at Farmington all four years – they’ll be part of the first four-year graduating class. They’ve been part of every team we’ve ever had here thus far,” Brower said.

In addition to the Nike regional, Farmington will be one of the nation’s top 20 ranked schools competing in the Running Lane National Championships on Dec. 4 in Huntsville, Alabama. Two other Utah schools – American Fork and Mountain View of Orem – will also be in the Alabama meet.

Davis finished 8th in 6A boys. The Darts were led by seniors Tyler Spencer and Jacob Jones, who took 16th and 18th respectively. All seven Darts’ runners in the finals are seniors.

In 6A girls, Farmington finished in 7th place and Davis in 10th. Davis junior Kenedy Maudsley was the top local finisher, coming in 11th at 18:17.4, with teammate Ellie Zaugg, a senior, finishing 12th at 18:18.49. Addi Bruening of Herriman won the race at 17:28.3.

Farmington was led by senior Chloe Christy with a 16th place finish at 18:44.9, and freshman Skye Siddoway, who took 23rd at 18:54.5.