Cross Country: Plenty Of Firsts For Valle Runners
Valle Catholic’s Camryn Basler became the first female in school history to be named all-conference twice in a career after completion of Saturday’s meet. (PHOTO BY ERIC VICCARO/Herald staff)
By ERIC VICCARO
eviccaro@stegenherald.com
POTOSI — For Valle Catholic head coach Samer Zoughaib, he noted many firsts that helped turn the Mineral Area Activities Association conference meet into a memorable one.
Peter Roth has solidified himself as one of the top runners in the region, and his sixth-place finish at Saturday’s meet only echoed such sentiment.
Roth clocked in with a time of 18 minutes, 3.87 seconds over the 5,000-meter course at City Park.
“Peter became the first boy since 2012 to earn all-conference,” Zoughaib noted. “The last time it was Nick Klein, Braden Coleman’s brother.”
On the girls’ side, Madelyn Griffard and Camryn Basler placed sixth and 10th, respectively, with times of 21:54.29 and 22:25.07.
The top-12 runners earned all-conference distinction.
“Camryn became the first female to earn all-conference in back-to-back years, and the only one to do,” Zoughaib said. “Madelyn became the first freshman to earn such an honor.”
This also was the first occasion that two Valle girls were named all-conference in the same year.
Alayna Sparr from Farmington was the girls’ medalist, with a time of 20:52.51, 13.2 seconds faster than teammate Breanna Mathes.
Zoughaib said many of the Warriors ran strong times, with some personal records.
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