BC senior runner 2nd at Mesa meet

Prep Sports Roundup

Here is a roundup of local prep sports news:

CROSS COUNTRY

Daniel Lovell’s impressive senior season at Boulder Creek continued last week when he finished second among runners in his class at the Mesa Thunderbird Classic. Lovell turned in a 3.1‑mile time of 16 minutes, 10.9 seconds at Riverview Park in Mesa to finish 13 seconds behind Arcadia’s Reed Blochberger. Richard Bankhead (19:08.7) took 28th for Boulder Creek.

In the junior races, Ashley Zeek again led the way for Boulder Creek’s girls with a 23rd‑place time of 24:12.2. In the sophomore races, Garrett Arvidson took fourth for the boys, while Natalie Bell finished 29th to lead the girls.

Cactus Shadows improved to 10‑0 when it beat Sunnyslope and Bradshaw Mountain in a race which started at halftime of Sunnyslope’s Sept. 20 varsity football game. The Falcons’ girls and boys teams will race in the prestigious Doug Conley Invitational this weekend at Tempe Kiwanis Park.

BOYS GOLF

Make it 15‑0 for Cactus Shadows, which stayed unbeaten with five more dual wins last week. The Falcons nipped Bradshaw Mountain and McClintock on Sept. 19 at Ken McDonald Golf Course before soundly defeating Thunderbird, Independence and Sunnyslope two days later at Moon Valley Country Club.

The Falcons edged Wells Fargo 2 Region foe Bradshaw Mountain by 2 strokes and McClintock by 9 to win the first match of the week. Dylan Raines then shot a round of 34 at Moon Valley to help  Cactus Shadows to a dominating performance in the four‑way match. The Falcons (151 total) beat Sunnyslope by 28, Thunderbird by 44 and Independence by 51. Cactus Shadows will try to keep the record perfect this week with six opponents on the schedule.

Boulder Creek played the Brophy Invitational last week without its Nos. 1 and 3 golfers, affecting the team’s play. With Scott Pinckney injured and Gary Quinn absent due to a school event, the Jaguars (11‑1 in dual matches) finished seventh of eight teams Sept. 22‑23 at GrayHawk Golf Course.

Boulder Creek also played in the three‑day Deer Valley Cup, which uses a scoring system similar to the Ryder Cup. The Jaguars finished the Sept. 19‑21 tournament fourth. Rival O’Connor took third at the Deer Valley event, which was won by Mountain Ridge.

GIRLS GOLF

Boulder Creek stayed perfect last week when it beat O’Connor and Trevor Browne in a three‑way match at the 500 Club. The Jaguars (6‑0) topped rival O’Connor by 11 strokes (216‑227), while both teams far outdistanced Trevor Browne (310).

The Jaguars are scheduled to host Peoria and Sunrise Mountain on Sept. 27 at the Anthem Country Club before playing in the two‑day Aguila Invitational Sept. 29‑30 at the Aguila Golf Course.

Defending 4A‑II state champion Cactus Shadows made it 7‑0 last week when Lauren Weaver led the Falcons to a victory over Pinnacle and Buckeye. Weaver shot a round of 38 to lead all golfers in the 64‑stroke win for Cactus Shadows.

SWIMMING

The Cactus Shadows boys and girls swim teams each tasted victory in different meets last week. The Falcons boys beat Notre Dame 134‑50 Sept. 19, while the girls routed Mingus 130‑80 on Sept. 21.

Rod Preston, Kevin Hildebrandt, Jordan Wilkins and Eric Pfieffer each won individual events for the Falcons boys against Notre Dame. The girls nearly made it a clean sweep, but the team narrowly lost to Notre Dame 93‑92 despite wins by Jackie Puschak, Chloe Hedden, Ariel Rosenthal and Barbie Snyder.

Against Mingus, the girls won thanks to a 1‑2‑3 performance from divers Sydni Budelier, Rachel Bennett and Brooke Candee. Mingus’ boys triumphed against Cactus Shadows 101‑82 with some key wins in the final few events.

O’Connor’s girls team (3‑1) saw its undefeated record fall on Sept. 21 when it succumbed 108‑78 at Mountain Ridge. Despite the team loss, Michelle Ridolfi won the 100‑ and 200‑yard freestyle, Tori Heron claimed the 500 free, and the 4x100 relay team took first.

After a dual meet against North Canyon on Sept. 28, the Eagles’ boys and girls teams will participate in the Brophy/Xavier Invitational Sept. 30. Divers will compete two days earlier at the Paradise Valley High School pool.

Boulder Creek’s boys team improved to 5‑0 on Sept. 21 after routing North Canyon 113‑60. The Jaguars picked up 11 first‑place finishes, including two from Zach Birnbrich, Scott McFall and Toby Birnbrich. All three relay teams also won their races.

The girls team (2‑3) narrowly lost to North Canyon 98‑88, but still had wins in five events, including two by Danielle Dalton.

“Last year North Canyon doubled our score both in the boys and girls, so you can see by this year’s score we are on the right track to good things at the end of the season,” Boulder Creek coach Axel Birnbrich said.