Qualls triumphs in Zephyr Cove

On Friday, Sept. 9, Mammoth High School’s Cross Country team, traveled to Zephyr Cove, Nev.  to compete in the Whittell Warrior Invitational. Many high schools from northern California and northern Nevada were present.  For head coach Scott Luke, it was the first time this season, to see his young team compete in a large invitational. Mammoth did not disappoint its coach.

Mammoth brought five team members to the competition.  The Whittell warrior course is known as one of the most grueling courses in NV., with hills and up to six creek crossings in the varsity race.  The race is run at more than 6,000 feet in elevation.

Freshman Jody Meads started things off and was entered in the J.V. girls division. In her first race ever in high school competition, Meads finished fifth out of 31 runners in the J.V. race, and medaled!  Jody was a inspiration to all, as she went out to fast, suffered for it, but had the inspiration to rally. Meads did not give up, and ran down runners who had passed her.  The whole team was thrilled.  Meads had a time of 20:33 for this very difficult, 2.3 mile course.

Sophomores Trevor Meads and Phil Oxford were entered in the J.V. boys division.  Out of 55 runners, Trevor finished 21st in a time of 19:28. This was also his first high school cross country event.  Phil Oxford finished in 25:07, beating his time from the previous year.

Sophomore Hailey Hugelman, was entered in the varsity division, instead of the J.V. division.  This was because of her strong finishes in 2010. Hugelman finished 23rd out of 45 runners, with a time of 27:46 for the 3.1 mile course.     .

Junior Toby Qualls was entered in the varsity boys race.  Qualls was instructed to run “just hard enough to win”, and that’s what he did.  Qualls was not pushed, but he still came within ten seconds of running the fastest time ever run on this course.

As it was, Qualls finished in 18:16, nineteen seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. 98 runners were entered in the varsity race.

But for all the kids, coaches are looking at the bigger picture further down the road in November.  That is when every race is do or die, in a quest for a state title.  Ideally, we want our kids in their best shape and healthy come November.  Not easy to do, with so many races and so much training.  Smart decisions now by coaches, can pay off down the road for the athletes.  With a little luck, come November, we will give the kids every chance to succeed.  And given a small chance to succeed, Mammoth runners have a long history of taking advantage of it! –Press Release