The Page High School Runnin’ Devils boys team have kept up the school’s long-running tradition.

They dominated the state championship cross country race last weekend bringing home the fifth consecutive title, which sets a new state record for the most consecutive state wins and a new record in Division III for the best score of 35 points to win. They beat out 32 teams and 229 runners in the state.

The Runnin’ Devils boys team utilized the pack running technique to secure the top three places with Bowen Martin in first (16:02), Morgan Fowler in second place 16:19) and Trent Holiday in third place (16:37). Finishing up in the top 20 to add to the first place score was Skylar Sandoval in 13th place (17:03), Lance Harris in 18th place (17:15) and Kaipo Uejo in 19th place (17:17). All six finished the race under 18 minutes.

“Their times were a little slow,” said head coach Tim Martin which may be attributed to the course having a fast-changing terrain and small rolling hills known as ‘whoopties’. “Bowen right away had [the lead] and the fastest time of the day by one second. After talking to Bo he said he cruised in the last mile since he had almost a 20 meter lead.” Martin added.

Bowen Martin placed fourth at last year’s state championships. In last year’s state track meet he took first place in the 3200M, the 1600M and the 4x800M relay.  He’s the son of Theo Martin and the nephew of head coach Tim Martin. Theo and Tim Martin led Page to four state titles between 1989 to 1992.

Though the Runnin’ Devils have just carried home the state trophy they’re not ready to hang up their running shoes just yet.

The rough terrain of the state championship course is going to help to prepare the team for this weekend’s Nike Cross Nationals (NXR) regional qualifier that the Runnin’ Devils are hoping to win.

 “The state course was a bit tough with quick turns and small rolling hills that take the [strength] out of your legs so it takes a strong runner to run it,” said coach Martin.

“Training now is based on how they ran at state, so we are prepping them. We’re mixing it up a little bit, maybe adding another speed workout. We just ran an endurance workout to keep that memory of pain and endurance from the state [meet].

“They used a little bit of [the hook and pull technique] when Lance was struggling. Kaipo came up on him and pulled him forward so they ran in together. The team got separated right off the bat and Lance and Kaipo saw each other in the last mile of the race. So we are trying to focus on them grouping up and rolling through. They really got to group it up, pull each other along and we need to use [pack running].”

The Nike Cross Nationals will have a course with ideal terrain. But the team’s competition will be tough. The best teams from the southwest will compete at the event.

“There are two automatic qualifiers and we have to place first and second to automatically go to the national championship. After [that] the committee takes four more at-large teams which are the best teams that didn’t make it to the qualifier,” explained coach Martin. “Our [Southwest] region usually takes one or two spots and really, [a team] only needs to be the top three. Colorado and Utah have traditionally had the toughest teams in the country. So that’s who we will need to beat. Basically we need five guys to make it across the finish line in under 15 minutes to win.”

After finishing strong after what has been a challenging season on challenging terrain, coach Martin thinks his team will be ready.

“It’s all mental and they are ready to rock this race.,” he said. “We get into these races with teams that are a certain caliber. They’ll all be there. We have to go in mentally strong because those teams destroy other teams in their state. We are the best in Arizona but to step up to the best in the Southwest we are going to need to have a little more confidence in tackling this type of race.”

The NXR regional qualifier is November 17 in Casa Grande at the Grande Sports Complex. The 5000-meter races start at 8 a.m. MST.


Girl’s Cross Country
The Runnin’ Devils girls team is also receiving congratulations for taking fifth place at the state meet.  They finished the meet with 192 points with Sofia Bryan leading the way taking 15th place with a personal best time of 20:37.

Helping to bring home the fifth place was Miquedah Taliman in 36th place (21:41), Nahaniya Fowler in 40th place (21:49), Mikala Benally in 46th place (22:00), Jaddah Whitehair (22:29), Kodi Tate (22:45) and Ashlynn Adakai (21:14). The Lady Runnin’ Devils raced among 27 teams and 203 runners.

Page, with the exception of the first place Salpointe Catholic School, finished the season as one of four teams to dominate the top five places in state, all from the Division III Section IV region.