The high school cross country team is headed to state after a successful run last weekend in the sectional event, resulting in a first place finish for the girls and sixth place for the boys.

Hosted out of Skunk Creek Landfill, the cross country sectional event spanned Saturday morning with teams competing from all over the state.

Along with the high sectional finishes and an upcoming trip to state, head coach Chris Davis said six Falcons placed high enough individually to earn the title of all-section runner, including Sierra Jarriel, Erika Yost, Brooke Yost, Hope Brecto, Scott Jarriel and Hayden Brecto.

“Overall, both the boys and girls teams had superior performances,” Davis said.

“All of their hard work in the morning practices, our pool days and hill days helped get them here.”

Davis said his squad came in with great times, especially considering the course the team was running. Skunk Creek is full of rolling hills, making for one of the toughest runs of the season.

“It’s not so much their times as the race they ran,” Davis said.

“They had good times, but I’m even more pleased with how well they ran that course. There’s a lot of hills.”

When the girls found out they had taken first place as a team, Davis said his ladies were overjoyed.

“We had several kids make all-section, but neither team could have done so well without the support of everyone on the team,” Davis said.

“Only the top five finishers score points, but those who finish after that are still pushing the other teams’ runners further back. Everybody contributes. They all earned this.”

Now that sectionals are out of the way, the Falcons only have one race left, the state showdown hosted out of the Cave Creek Golf Course this Saturday, Nov. 9. The boys are set to hit the course at 9:45 a.m. with the girls ready to run at 10:45 a.m.

“I think we’re ready for state,” Davis said.

“The kids are pretty happy after this last weekend, so they’re ready to go.”

Davis said that the Falcons are running at their peak, something he could not have drawn out of his athletes were he working with them alone.

“I couldn’t do this without the support of my assistant coaches,” Davis said.

“They’ve done a terrific job getting these kids ready. And hopefully everyone keeps supporting us this weekend, too. We might come up with some good numbers at state. I’m excited.”

Girls

The girls cross country team had an especially strong showing at state, with Sierra Jarriel leading the charge with a first place overall finish at 20:17, besting the second place runner by nearly 40 seconds.

The Yost sisters weren’t too far behind, with Erika coming in at 22:12 and Brooke finishing at 22:17.

Hope Brecto was the fourth finisher for the Lady Falcons, crossing at 22:36 with Emmie Lawrence taking the final scoring spot at 24:05.

Taylor Johnson was next for the local ladies at 24:52, followed by Danica Kerr at 25:08.

Overall, the team claimed 55 team points, good enough for first place. Tempe and Cactus Shadows took the number two and three spots with 62 team points apiece.

Boys

The boys cross country team had two Falcons cross the finish line early on with Scott Jarriel and Hayden Brecto taking fifth and sixth place respectively with their times of 18:18 and 18:22.

Third for the Falcons was Garrett Sweetland at 20:04 with Ryder Worden at 20:49 and Andrew Cooper taking the final scoring spot at 22:09.

Cody Walter finished at 23:08 for the local squad with Riely Brand wrapping things up at 26:34.

All told, the boys brought in 151 points, good enough for sixth place.

The top three spots were held down by Tempe with 70 points, Moon Valley with 75 and Estrella Foothills with 121.