The high school cross country season is up and running as the boys and girls of the Falcon flock recently competed in the massive Chandler Invitational.

Facing hundreds of runners from all sections, the Falcons had four runners finish high in the standings with Brooke Yost taking ninth for the junior girls, Hope Brecto taking 13th for the freshmen girls, Hayden Brecto taking 21st for the junior boys and Scott Jarriel taking 17th for the senior boys.

The season continues this afternoon, Sept. 11, with an away meet at Coronado, followed by a home meet hosted out of Fountain Park this Saturday, Sept. 14.

“We’re currently gearing up for our home meet this Saturday,” said head coach Chris Davis, who is excited to have the local runners competing on their home course.

The girls will hit the trail around Fountain Park beginning at 8 a.m. with the boys to run as soon as the first race finishes up. Davis said he’s expecting around 25 teams to show up for the event with squads coming from just about every section.

“It’s going to be a beautiful day,” Davis said.

“It’s supposed to be about 85 degrees out when the kids are running and we’ll be competing against some of the top schools. Nobody coming is a slouch. It should be some good competition.”

Davis said he and the team are hoping that some local fans will make it out for the morning event.

“This past week we ran by class, so this will be one of our first events competing as a team this season,” Davis added.

“We’d appreciate the extra support if people want to come out and cheer us on.”

Chandler

Last week’s invitational in Chandler sported around 40 teams, making it a massive debut event for the 2013 Falcon squad. Teams came from every section and races were divided by class, freshman through senior. Even broken down further than at regular meets, where typically there’s just one race for the boys and one race for the girls, some of the races hosted as many as 150 runners.

“We had a few highlights, but I was hoping to see a bit more out of the team in our first meet,” Davis said.

“Really, against all of those runners, we did pretty well. We were just hoping to see a few more high finishes.”

Davis said he likes having the Falcons compete in these types of races early on because of the number and quality of the competition.

“Big races like that are a good experience for our runners,” Davis said. He added that, once the Falcons get in a couple of smaller meets against teams from their own section, he’ll have a better idea of how the squad is shaping up this season.

As for their first race at the Chandler invitational, the Fountain Hills team had a pretty good showing.

For the boys’ freshman group, Tiger Elwood led the pack with a time of 24:11, followed by Cole McAuliff at 26:19. The sophomore boys were led by Ryder Worden at 20:29 with Jordan Smout crossing at 22:30 and Cody Walter finishing at 23:21.

Over to the boys’ junior race and Hayden Brecto led the show with a scorching 17:58. The closest Falcon on his tail was Andrew Cooper at 20:34, with Jake McAuliff at 23:18, Kolt Brewster at 23:45 and Jason Sahr at 26:13.

Scott Jarriel led the seniors at a boys’ low 17:08 with Garrett Sweetland not too far behind at 18:26. Evan Cain crossed at 19 minutes flat with Riely Brand at 21:28 and Joe Ahman at 21:49.

Over to the girls and Hope Brecto was at the head of the freshmen flock at 22:26. Danica Kerr followed at 23:27 with Kailee Martin next at 24:50. Madi Blaes finished at 24:54 while Courtney Wise ended at 26:24.

The sophomore squad was led by Elizabeth Smout at 29:54 with Sophie Gaardsmoe crossing at 45 minutes flat.

Brooke Yost led the juniors with a team low 20:51 with Taylor Johnson next at 25:04. Emmie Lawrence crossed at 25:49 with Marie Olson at 33 minutes on the dot.

Finally, Michelle Farella led the senior Falcons with a time of 27:10 with Alex Griggs crossing the finish line at 32:27.