Utah Sweeps The Individual And Team Titles As NXR Southwest Results Flip

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

John Nepolitan photo

A Utah sweep in the boys championship race didn't follow the script from NXR Southwest. 

Herriman got out well and held tough on the 5-kilometer layout to win Utah's first Nike Cross Nationals team championship on a wet, muddy track at Glendoveer Golf Course. 

RESULTS/VIDEO | PHOTOS

And JoJo Jourdon executed his plan and pulled far enough ahead before the sharp hills at the end to hold onto his position and crossed the finish line in15:16.5. Two seconds back was Cameron Todd from Indiana in 15:18.5 and Nathan Neil from Montana in 15:18.6. 

"It's my senior year, I've got nothing to lose and I'm just out here to have some fun," Jourdon said. 

Jourdon looked back three times in the final stretch but got to the line first. 

Pre-race favorite Daniel Simmons of American Fork finished 13th and moved up eight spots in the final 1,000 meters to get that. 

American Fork, the NXR Southwest champions, finished second four the fourth time, along with 2012, 2015 and 2016. 

Herriman, which finished behind American Fork at the Utah 6A state meet and the regional, put five scorers across the line with a 27-second compression and scored 83 points. Coach Doug Soles became the first coach to win NXN titles at two different schools, along with Great Oak of California in 2015, and earned a record-tying fifth boys podium. 

"Our coach is a great coach. He knows how to prepare us for nationals. We trusted the training that we did and knew that we'd come through the day it mattered," Herriman's Jack Beckstrom said. 

American Fork scored 100 for second. Carroll was third with 138 points to make the podium after placing 20th last year. Miami Havana was fourth with 187, improving from 14th place last season, and Niwot was fifth with 197.

"We know how good American Fork is, they've been beating on us for a while," Soles said. "Last night I felt like our juniors were going to do something and they were awesome today. Jack Beckstrom and Max Hofheins are built for the mud, so we knew that they were going to run well. Our usual number one (William Steadman) has been sick and we knew it would be tough for him to be up in the top five but we felt like Micah Tang could step up and he did."

Herriman's depth beyond its five scorers didn't come into play. The team's top five won its matchups against American Fork at Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Ben Jaster was the top fifth scorer in the race for American Fork, placing 70th in 16:06.2.

Becksrom was 28th overall (seventh in the team scoring), Jonah Tang, one of the juniors, was 34th (ninth in the team scoring), junior Tayshaun Ogomo was 43rd (14th in the team scoring), Hofheins was 52nd (19th in the team scoring) and Micah Tang was 73rd overall (34th in team scoring). 

A fourth Southwest team, Riverton of Utah, was ninth. 

While the championship field splashed through standing water after an overnight deluge, including a two-foot deep pond that filled a low point in the course. 

None of it stopped Jourdon, who ran with confidence out front, taking the lead near the middle of the race. The Utah Class 5A champion, who also won the Bob Firman Invitational, was second behind Simmons at NXR Southwest by 10 seconds. 

Todd and Neil followed him over the finish line. Then it was yet another Utahn, Austin Westfall of Orem, who was fourth in 15.22.6. Manny Putz, the Wisconsin state champion, slipped off the starting line and was 61st through the first kilometer, but rallied for fifth.