Preps: GV’s Miller favorite to repeat cross country title

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 11:32 a.m.

Several individual and team honors will be up for grabs at Friday's 4A Southern Zone cross country meet in Indian Springs, but the individual girls title likely won't be among them.

That's because Green Valley junior Abby Miller is all but guaranteed to walk away with that trophy for the second time in her high school career.

Miller, who hasn't lost a meet this season, made national headlines last weekend when she won the Sweepstakes race at the Mt. SAC Invitational -- the nation's top annual meet.

Miller's time of 17:41 for the three-mile course ranked fifth among all girls participating in the 14,000-runner event. The four girls who posted faster times ran in another race, so there's no way to know whether Miller could have beaten them head-to-head.

As a freshman in 1996, Miller emerged as one of the top runners in the country placing third at the prestigious Foot Locker National Cross-Country Finals. After battling injuries last year, she appears to have picked up where she left off in ninth grade.

Miller's Gator team should also have little trouble in the race for the zone team title. Green Valley finished eighth in an extremely deep field at Mt. Sac.

"I would be shocked if they lost on Friday," Bonanza coach Phil Lawton said.

Things should be quite a bit closer on the boys side, with Basic, Durango, Bonanza and Silverado all in the mix for the team championship.

Individually, Silverado's Dustin Hudspeth and Bonanza's Cory Jeffers should renew their personal rivalry in the race individual honors. Jeffers won his race in Mt. Sac with a top-20 time, but Hudspeth won all five meetings between the two this fall.

The top four teams on the boys and girls side will qualify for next week's 4A state meet, along with the top five runners not on qualifying squads.

North of the border

With next week's 4A Southern Zone tournament looming, the Las Vegas High volleyball team will travel to Edmonton today for the four-day Western Canadian Challenge.

The 48-team tournament will pit the Wildcats, along with Bonanza, against the top squads from Canada, as well as several teams from the United States.

"We're going to try to touch up on the little things," said Wildcats' coach Geno Frugoli, whose squad currently boasts a 16-4 overall record. "Our goal is to try to get ready for the Green Valleys and Durangos.

On the air

KSFN-AM 1140 will broadcast Monday's first round football playoff game between Bishop Gorman and Eldorado live at 5 p.m. Primecable Channel 48 will air Monday's Green Valley-Cimarron-Memorial game Wednesday at 7 p.m. and the Gorman-Eldorado contest Thursday at 7 p.m.