The Falcon cross country team and a flock of volunteers hosted a huge meet this past weekend. Fountain Hills welcomed nearly 2,000 students from 85 registered schools on the morning of Sept. 11.

This was the 12th annual Fountain Hills Invitational and the largest one ever. Head coach Nick Goodman said they typically host 50 schools, but with middle school cross country coach Mary McDonald helping as meet director, they opened it up to more schools.

Not to be left out of their own party, the Fountain Hills High School team did well for itself. Sophomore Erin Hooley had the second fastest time and highest placement for the Falcons. Hooley finished in 27th place for the varsity girls 5000m with a time of 20:18.45.

There were only three other varsity runners, all of them junior boys. Tyler Irvine-Violette finished in 173rd place with a time of 18:41.93, Zion Atwood finished in 271st place with a time of 20:19.66 and Timothy Lamar finished in 326th place with a time of 22:19.80.

Caleb Lara, William Breen, Ryan Schmidt, and Nathan Eastman competed in the freshman and sophomore boy’s open 5000m. Lara placed 116th with a time of 22:13.42. Breen (23:56.34) and Schmidt (24:16.99) both placed in the lower 200’s and Eastman finished in 311th place with a time of 27:45.07.

Skye Alker finished in 53rd place in the freshman and sophomore girls open with a 25:53.75 finish. Eliana Bartman (30:17.69) and Katherine Hampton (31:03.58) placed in the lower 100’s.

The cross country team races Notre Dame Prep at 4 p.m. later today, Sept. 15, and then has the Desert Twilight XC Festival meet next on Friday, Sept. 24, in Queen Creek.