Salpointe Catholic sophomore Kylie Wild had trailed Evelynne Carr of Queen Creek American Leadership Academy by roughly 100 meters for nearly the entire 3.1 mile race until the final stretch.
On the last straight away coming into the finish, Wild caught up to — and then passed — Carr just as they were both crossing the finish line to win the Division III girls race by 0.2 seconds.
Kylie Wild kicks past Evelynne Carr in the D3 Girls State Meet today.@LancerXCTrack pic.twitter.com/H0A63s1uHL
— Arizona MileSplit (@MileSplitAZ) November 12, 2020
Wild’s winning time of 18 minutes 37.30 seconds highlighted a two-day stretch of high school state cross country championships held at Crossroads Park in Gilbert. The championships were spread across two days. Division I and III schools competed Thursday, while Division II and IV schools ran Friday.
Salpointe Catholic's girls and boys teams both won Division III state titles.
Catalina Foothills girls' and boys' teams placed second and seventh, respectively, in Division II. Cienega's girls team that placed seventh, and Ironwood Ridge's boys team was fourth.
Pusch Ridge Christian's boys and girls each placed fifth in Division IV.
This year's event was pared down compared to past state championships. Only one-third of the state's teams competed, up from the usual 50%.
Runners from schools that failed to qualify for the state meet could also compete.
Southern Arizonans shined. Rio Rico’s Roshan Tinoco-Miranda won the boys’ DIII race with a time of 15:32, Ironwood Ridge’s Logan Marek (15:47.40) finished fourth in the boys’ DII race and Catalina Foothills’ Taylor McCue (18:23) placed fourth in the girls’ DII race.
Roshan Tinoco-Miranda, Rio Rico High School senior, approaches the finish line of the Varsity Boys 5K during the John Gleeson Lancer Invitational cross country meet held at the Rolling Hills Golf Course located at 8900 E 29th Street, on Oct. 17, 2020. Tinoco -Miranda finished the race in first with a final time of 15:36.0 making the new course record.
The state title is a first for Salpointe Catholic's boys and the third in the last five seasons for the girls.
Wild’s dramatic win came right before the boys race started. Lancers coach Mike Urbanski said it boosted the boys’ moods.
“They were inspired by not just Kylie but the rest of the girls, too,” he said. “That made it pretty special.”
Urbanski said he was impressed with Wild's work ethic during a shortened season.
“We knew we were going to see great things from her because she's just she just worked so hard.” he said. “Once track got canceled in the spring, she hit it really hard training for cross country.”
For full results and team placements for the championship races, visit AZ Milesplit.
