The Desert Twilight Recap
The Desert Twilight XC Festival lived up the hype again as the annual late-september hotspot in the southwest creates an early season matchup with some nationally ranked teams and individuals. Over 250 high schools from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and more made the trek down to Toka Sticks Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. We saw a total of 34 boys and girls races all within a five hour span.
In the main event of the night, the boys and girls sweepstakes, we saw fireworks across the board from both races from a team and individual standpoint. The biggest “upset” of the night came from El Paso Eastwood’s Noah Garcia, taking down last year’s Desert Twilight champion and University of North Carolina commit Oliver Horton, as well as last year’s NXN runner-up and University of Oregon commit Yohannes Van Meerten. Garcia took the win in 14:30.4 over Horton’s 14:31.6 over 5,000 meters. Garcia would kick down Horton in the final steps after Horton made his definitive move from 400 meters out from the finish.
However the term “upset” being in parentheses points to Garcia’s impressive and rather underrated resume himself. Garcia posted an 8:50.65 over 3200m at the Texas UIL 6A Region championships this past track season, finishing third behind NXN bronze medalist and UNC commit Caden Leanard and super sophomore Ruel Nuelberry. To call Garcia’s win an upset might be contradictory to his 3200m personal best, however a huge jump up from his 83rd place at this meet last year might be the reason for some people’s shock.
While this was happening, Niwot’s Quinn Sullivan kicked past Flagstaff’s Yohannes Van Meerten for 3rd and 4th place respectively. Van Meerten talked in a post race interview about his struggles with pre-race stomach issues with “Chipotle’s chicken” and video surfacing shows Van Meerten vomiting just steps away from the finish line. Van Meerten covered 5,000 meters in 14:42.0.
Sullivan finished in 14:39.5 to lead Niwot to the team victory in a close matchup with Noah Garcia and the El Paso Eastwood Troopers, scoring 87 points over El Paso’s 91 points. The Niwot Cougars had a one to five spread of 56 seconds and put all five of their runners in the top 30.
The top Arizona team to finish was the Buena Colts led by Coach Bristow to finish 10th overall. The Colts were led by junior Damien Chavez who finished 31st overall in 15:31.9. Chavez was also the third Arizona individual to cross the line.
It’s also worth noting the second Arizona individual to cross the line was Max Martin of Page finishing 23rd with a 15:19.5. Max is the younger brother of many older brothers who had success at Page High School, including multiple time DIII State Champion Symond Martin, who’s currently in his freshman year with the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.
Ella McGowan leading the charge in the girls sweepstakes race
On the girls side, we saw a historical moment that’s never happened before. Ella McGowan out of Heritage High School in Littleton, Colorado was the first freshman girl to ever win the Desert Twilight sweepstakes race. She won in dominating fashion with a time of 17:12.4, beating out Mariah Galbraith out of Rio Rancho High School(NM) who finished runner-up in 17:23.2.
Kayla Broecker of Niwot High School was the next girl across the line for a third place finish in 17:40.6, and would lead the Lady Cougars complete the team sweep with the boys and take the team win with a total of 86 points. The Niwot girls also had their top five runners in the top 30, and even had their top seven in the top 40 just for good measure and to flex their depth.
The top Arizona girl across the line was Mesa Mountain View’s Cassidy Long who finished eight overall with a time of 17:49.8. Long came into this meet undefeated, and hasn’t lost to any girl from Arizona so far this year.
The top Arizona girl’s team was the Highland Hawks finishing 13th overall with 340 total points. The Lady Hawks were led by junior Katelyn Anderson who finished 39th overall with a time of 18:45.5.
Some of the bigger meets for this upcoming weekend are the Glendale Showcase and the Juan Reyes Invitational, as the Glendale Showcase will feature an upward of 80 teams. Some teams will also make the trek out to California for the 46th Annual Mt. Carmel Sundevil Invitational in San Diego.
If you’re an athlete looking for individual photos or video, or a coach looking for photos or video of their team, reach out to @arizona.xctf on Instagram or look out for any sign-up links on their Instagram stories throughout the week.
