Led by senior's biggest career victory, Cavemen prevail for second time this season against Corner Canyon in showdown of Utah's top boys teams; Woods Cross junior Carlee Hansen returns to winning ways, with Lone Peak girls passing biggest test to date

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Order was restored Saturday for Woods Cross junior Carlee Hansen at the BYU Autumn Classic.

As for Ashton Hysell and American Fork, the pecking order in Utah high school cross country again finds the Cavemen on top following their performance at East Bay Golf Course in Provo, Utah.

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Hysell, a senior, earned his biggest career win with a well-timed lean at the finish, covering the 3.2-mile course in 15 minutes, 47 seconds to edge senior Carson Belnap of Stansbury in 15:47.1.

American Fork had all five scorers in the top 50 to prevail for the second time this season over 6A rival Corner Canyon, emerging victorious by a 125-133.5 margin.

Despite graduating six runners from last year’s 6A state championship team, American Fork still managed to post a 29-60 triumph Aug. 28 over a Corner Canyon lineup without Mark Boyle and Easton Allred in the Pre-Region 4 meet at Pleasant Grove High.

Boyle returned Saturday for Corner Canyon and finished fifth in 15:57.5, but his presence alone wasn’t enough for the Chargers, who are still optimistic Allred can recover from a stress fracture in time to compete Oct. 23 at the state championship meet.

Nathan Jaster, a sophomore transfer from Weddington NC, took 10th in 16:06.6 for American Fork, which had Ben McBride (16:38.3) secure 36th, Kooper Dibb (16:43.6) finish 42nd and Dylan Rawlings (16:51.9) place 50th.

Caleb Johnson (16:10.4) was 13th, Alex Harbertson (16:14.4) took 16th, Ben Dastrup (16:36.7) placed 33rd and AJ Rowland (17:12.2) finished 80th for Corner Canyon.

Seven athletes ran under 16 minutes, including Porter Whitworth of Grantsville clocking 15:50.3 to finish third and Joshua Armstrong of Hurricane placing fourth in 15:51.9.

Skyridge, led by Creed Thompson (16:04.1) securing ninth, took third place with 160.5 points, followed by Davis (164) and Lone Peak (181).

After suffering a rare in-state loss Sept. 6 at the Murray Invitational, Hansen bounced back Saturday with an impressive surge in the final 600 meters to prevail in 18:45.1, holding off Westlake junior Emma Heslop (18:47.1) and Hurricane sophomore Caila Odekirk (18:48.1).

Eliza Arrington, who knocked off Hansen in their last meeting, took fourth in 18:50 and junior teammate Reagan Gardner (18:50.6) was fifth for Lone Peak, which not only secured victory against Utah rivals Springville and American Fork, but also triumphed against Saugus, which competed short-handed, despite making the trip from California.

Lone Peak had all five scorers in the top 40 to score 66 points – Eliza Mason (19:20.2) was 13th, Mackenzie Meldrum (19:22.4) took 15th and Sarah Merrill (20:11.7) placed 39th – ahead of Springville with 89. American Fork and Saugus tied for third with 139, but the Centurions were edged on a sixth-runner tiebreaker, with Davis taking fifth at 168.5.

Junior AnnaBeth Templeman took 10th in 19:15 for Springville, which had senior Heidi Sumsion (19:25.3) and freshmen Madison Galbraith (19:28.7) and Sarah Galbraith (19:28.8) finish 18th, 19th and 20th.

Sophomore Natalie Jensen (19:00.3) was sixth for American Fork and junior Hannah Fredericks (19:01.3) placed seventh for Saugus, which was missing two of its projected top five scorers.

Despite Saugus having three individuals in the top 25 and American Fork only having Jensen among the top 30, the Cavemen had all seven athletes finish in front of the Centurions’ fifth scorer.