GV, Chaparral among favorites to make states

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

When Green Valley cross country coach Jeff Doyle retired from coaching this summer, Gators track and assistant football coach Blaine Thompson had a void to fill.

Green Valley, which had a disappointing 2002 cross country year, is expected to be one of the top competitors in this fall's Sunrise division in both boys' and girls' cross country. Thompson made the switch from football to running, and it fits him.

"I just wanted a break," Thompson said. "When we go to a meet, it's over in two hours. There's very little film breakdown involved in cross country. In a way, it's a little bit more athlete-focused instead of game-focused or sport-focused."

With a new playoff format this year, just being one of the top teams may not be good enough. Only two teams from each division will make it into the state championships.

"That makes it real tough to get out," Basic coach Larry Burgess said. "In all the sports, the playoff format was changed. It made it a lot more difficult to make it to the state tournament."

On the boys' side, Burgess said he expects defending state champion Patrick Swick to lead Chaparral to the top of the Sunrise Region. He also expects his team to be near the top in Sunrise.

"You can't count out Silverado or Green Valley," Burgess said. "They lost four of their seven varsity boys, so a lot's going to depend on their young kids and how hard they worked this past summer."

Thompson said he expects Centennial, Palo Verde, and Cimarron to contest be in the Sunset Region.

Palo Verde girls' coach Robert Davis, who led the Panthers to the state title in 2002, expects his team to compete well this season. He also said to watch out for Centennial and Bishop Gorman in the Sunset.

"This year's surprise will come from Bishop Gorman," Davis said. "They have the two Avena sisters, and Deleyna Jensen is eligible to run varsity this year."

He added that Centennial's Megan Matthews and Palo Verde's Melissa Voss will also be some of the top performers in southern Nevada.

Green Valley, Foothill and Basic should lead the Sunrise women in 2003.

"Foothill will have a pretty good girls' team," Burgess said. "We're going to be very competitive with our girls. We're going to start a little poor but we've got some girls that have been in the hunt before."

All three coaches said that the season should start to sort itself out Sept. 13, at the Las Vegas Invitational cross country meet. All the leading teams in Las Vegas, as well as teams from Arizona, California and Utah will be participating in that event, at Basic. A late September meet at Palo Verde will help shake down the standings in the Sunset division.

Burgess said his teams will be working hard preparing for the Sept. 13 meet over the next few weeks.

"I've had a couple state champions along the way," he said. "You don't get there on good looks or secret workouts. You get there by busting your butt."