Southern Arizona’s top sports event of the month has nothing to do with football. It is the third annual Desert Solstice cross-country meet that will be held Friday night — yes, night — at Crooked Tree Golf Course adjacent to Mountain View High School.
Mountain View cross country coach Adam Vargas has gone beyond the extra mile by organizing a competition that includes about 100 teams and close to 1,500 runners from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
To make it even more appealing, Rio Rico High School’s Allie Schadler, who is probably the top distance runner ever to grow up in Southern Arizona, or at least comparable to Santa Rita’s Tom Ansberry of the 1980s, is in the field. Schadler won the girls top event by more than a minute last year.
Schadler is scheduled to run in the top event of the night, beginning at 9:30. The boys final begins at 9 p.m. Hundreds of boys and girls from middle school, high school freshman and junior varsity teams, will run between 5:30 and 9.
“There are usually about 1,000 spectators,” said Rich Mueller, director of golf at Crooked Tree, who works with Vargas to make the meet go. “It’s a really cool scene out here at night with all the tents and people. The course runs around the back nine and finishes near the 18th green.”
