Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Sunrise runners close out the season

As one of Southern Nevada's most revered high school long distance runners, Foothill senior Leah Leedy had a lot of pressure going into the state cross country championships Saturday at Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder City.

Leedy was one of the favorites to win the meet after capturing her third straight Sunrise Regional title on Nov. 1.

But winning wasn't her top priority. She was more focused on completing the 3.1 mile course after fainting during last year's meet.

"Just to finish the race was great because last year was very disappointing," Leedy said.

She finished second in 19 minutes, 36 seconds, trailing state champion Kelsey Smith of South Tahoe High who finished in 19 minutes.

While it wasn't the win she was looking for, Leedy was still proud of her final high school cross country race.

"I didn't do as well as last week but I think second place is good for the state," she said. "I felt like I had to keep up with the people next to me in the first mile, but I should have taken it easier."

Reno's Galena High won the girls' team championship with 51 points, while Coronado took second with 62.

Coronado coach Mark Tundryk was happy with the team performance, which was the highest ever finish for the Cougars in the school's eight-year existence.

"We were really deep this year and I think that competition within the team really helped," Tundryk said. "I don't think we could have run much faster than we did today. I'll take second place."

Michaelanne Laurent led Coronado with a third place finish in 20:12.

"This is a difficult course," Laurent said. "There's a lot of sand and you can win it or lose it at the beginning. Overall, I was happy with how we did."

In the boys' race, Centennial edged out runners-up Carson High 56-57 in team points.

The top Henderson team was Green Valley High, which took fifth with 132 points.

Green Valley coach Blaine Thompson said his team was hurt by injuries and could not perform as well as it did in its Sunrise Regional victory the week before.

Julius Kim, who missed a month of the season from tendonitis, led Green Valley with a 17th place finish in 17:34.

"I felt like today was the beginning of the season for me," Kim said.

The individual winner in the boys' race was Galena's Bryan Tibaduiza, who finished in 16:23.

The top finisher from Henderson was Liberty's Al Galan, who took 14th in 17:20.

Galan, who was coming off a Sunrise Regional win, was proud of his performance and his first season running cross country.

"When the race started I jumped up into first place right away," he said. "That's good in some races, but in a race like this, endurance and strategy is more important."

The 3A individual winners were Faith Lutheran's Keely Bakken, who finished in the girls' race in 20:58, and Boulder City's Matt Lundgren, who finished the boys' race in 17:16.

Boulder City won the boys' team title, while Lowry took the girls' team victory.

Sean Ammerman can be reached at 990-2661 or [email protected].

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