High school cross-country: Pine View boys, Cedar girls win at SUU Invitational

Written by Jeff Richards
August 27, 2023

CEDAR CITY — The Pine View boys and the Cedar High girls were the varsity team winners at the SUU High School Invitational cross-country meet held Saturday morning at Cedar City’s Bicentennial Park.

Runners compete in SUU High School Invitational cross-country meet at Bicentennial Park, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 26, 2023 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

In the boys varsity race, Pine View senior Talmage Wright took first place overall with a time of 15:57.33 on the 5,000-meter course. He was followed closely by Thomas Daniels of Canyon View, who finished 0.6 seconds behind Wright with a time of 15:57.93.

“The growth and commitment he’s shown for four years has been tremendous,” Pine View head coach David Holt said of Wright. “It was fun to see him keep focused and come out with a win.”

Added Holt: “We saw a lot of the same thing from the rest of the team: great kids going out and showing growth.”

The Pine View and Cedar boys teams each landed four runners among the top 10 finishers, but the Panthers ended up with a four-point edge over the Reds, scoring 36 team points to Cedar’s 40.

The girls varsity race that followed was similarly close, with first-place Cedar edging runner-up Pine View by five points, 35 to 40.

Individually, Kanab sophomore Kenidee Glazier led the race from start to finish, posting a time of 18:39.76, which the race announcer said was a new course record.

In her very first race of the season, Glazier came in just 12 seconds off her winning time of 18:27.50 in last year’s 2A state championship race.

Kanab sophomore Kenidee Glazier nears the finish line of the girls varsity race at the SUU High School Invitational cross-country meet at Bicentennial Park, Cedar City, Utah, Aug. 26, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“This is definitely a harder course than the state course, which is flat,” Kanab coach Levi LeFevre told St. George News afterward.  “Those hills were more challenging than they appeared, especially as it got hotter in the day.”

LeFevre said Glazier put in a considerable amount of work over the summer, in both the weight room and on the trails and roads.

“She did a couple of road races over the summer, but this is the first one where we came out and had some goals to try to make,” he added. “She did what we wanted to do for the first race of the year. She’ll just keep on pushing. She’s got a lot of potential.”

The next two varsity girls to cross the finish line after Glazier were also sophomores. Snow Canyon’s Maggie Crosby took second with a time of 19:30.22, while Panguitch’s Brooke Albrecht placed third in 19:31.77.

Cedar ended up with five of the top 12 finishers overall, led by Lucy Eckley in fourth place. Also for the Reds, Scarlett Guillen placed eighth, Kendee Corry finished 10th, Samantha Heaton took 11th and Mayce Dalton placed 12th.

Pine View’s top finishers were sophomore Emmalee Williams in sixth place, senior Brecken Heath in seventh and senior Elle Williams in ninth.

The meet attracted athletes from all seven Region 9 schools, plus several smaller schools from around Southern Utah. 

However, both of the Desert Hills varsity teams were absent, as they were competing in a different event up north. The Dixie varsity boys also didn’t participate. However, both the Thunder and the Flyers had athletes entered in Saturday’s JV races in Cedar City.

“It was a little different without Desert Hills, but to continue to push against a great program like Cedar is a lot of fun,” Pine View coach Holt added. “We have some amazing kids down here and it’s going to be a fun battle all season.”

For complete meet results on Athletic.net, click here.

SUU High School Invitational 2023

Cedar City Bicentennial Park, Aug. 26 

Boys top 10 individual finishers

  1. Talmage Wright, Pine View, 15:57.33.
  2. Thomas Daniels, Canyon View, 15:57.93.
  3. Kyler France, Cedar, 16:12.84.
  4. Bridger Jaggi, Pine View, 16:13.49
  5. Charlie Davidson, Cedar, 16:21.06.
  6. Logan Hadley, Canyon View, 16.22.78.
  7. JaxonBender, Pine View, 16:23.85.
  8. Kyler Humphries, Pine View, 16:24.25.
  9. Ben Norton, Cedar, 16:26.33.
  10. Caleb Barrows, Cedar, 16:32.41.

Boys top team scores

  1. Pine View 36.
  2. Cedar 40.
  3. Canyon View 69.
  4. Crimson Cliffs 109.
  5. Hurricane 110.
  6. Snow Canyon 122.

Girls top 10 individual finishers

  1. Kenidee Glazier, Kanab, 18:39.76.
  2. Maggie Crosby, Snow Canyon, 19:20.22.
  3. Brooke Albrecht, Panguitch, 19:31.77
  4. Lucy Eckley, Cedar, 19:34.19.
  5. Lydia Forsyth, Canyon View, 19:35.56.
  6. Emmalee Williams, Pine View, 19:40.55.
  7. Brecken Heath, Pine View, 19:59.32.
  8. Scarlett Guillen, Cedar, 19:59.91.
  9. Elle Williams, Pine View, 20:06.52.
  10. Kendee Corry, Cedar, 20:11.27.

Girls top team scores

  1. Cedar 35.
  2. Pine View 40.
  3. Canyon View 93.
  4. Snow Canyon 101.
  5. Hurricane 119.
  6. Dixie 164.
  7. Crimson Cliffs 168.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!