By Ryan Merriman
For the Deseret News
Published: Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008 12:17 a.m. MDT
OREM — Hundreds of runners from across the state plodded through a sloppy, rain-soaked course Saturday morning at the Orem Kiwanis Invitational. The Davis girls and Alta boys seemed unaffected by the less-than-ideal conditions, taking the team titles and proving why they're still the teams to beat this fall.
"They love this weather; they want it like this," Davis coach Corbin Talley said. "I think they cheered when they heard the forecast yesterday."
Meghan Hedquist led the way for the Darts, covering the five-kilometer course in 19:12 to finish fifth overall. Katie Swanson (19:41) Julianne Wirthlin (20:08) and Candace Eddy (20:20) rounded out Davis' top five.
"Megan was just outstanding today," Talley said. "She was patient, moved up the whole race and finished really well over that last mile."
The Darts finished just ahead of 3A powerhouse Park City. The Miners dominated the 1A-3A classification with 29 points, but came up four points short of Davis in the overall scoring, 74-78.
The Alta boys dominated all classifications, putting three in the top 10 and all five scorers in the top 20. Kyle Moffet (16:38), Garret Jones (16:43), Jack Webster (16:44), Parker Syndergaard (16:59) and Brian Howell (17:11) crossed the line within 33 seconds of one another, combining for an impressive 58-point first-place finish. Davis was second in the overall scoring with 143.
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"We have four seniors this year that have a lot of experience," Alta coach Rob Murphy said. "We may not have anyone that will win state individually, but we have five to six really solid runners that should be very competitive."
The Hawks have never won a state cross country championship, but with big wins at the Murray and Kiwanis invites, Alta is the consensus favorite to win 5A. Murphy is cautiously optimistic.
"I know Corbin will have his guys ready to go, and American Fork can be scary," Murphy said. "We know Davis is used to winning and until we've won a bunch of state titles like they have, we'll consider them to be very close, no matter what happens earlier in the season."
Individually, Jordan's Danielle Menlove and Davis star Seth Gutzwiller paced both fields. Menlove broke away from former state champion Shalaya Kipp after two miles, gapping the Skyline star by 24 seconds over the last two kilometers. Despite the poor course conditions, Menlove ran a blistering 18:35 for 5,000 meters.
"I ran a week ago in worse conditions, so today didn't seem that bad," Menlove said. "I just tried to stay right behind Shalaya and tried to make a move after two miles."
Gutzwiller broke the tape for his first win at a major invitational. Similar to Menlove's race, the Darts' top runner surged to the front after two miles and held off Rock Spring junior Garret Zans with a sub-5:10 last mile.
"It's pretty exciting," Gutzwiller said smiling, still drenched after the big win. "I'm just happy to get a win and finish ahead of some guys that beat me at Murray."
Most cross country teams now have a week to prepare for region meets before converging on Sugarhouse Park on Oct. 22 for the state championships.
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