Bar set high for Crims

With Cesar Villegas and Santos Castro returning, Yuma High cross country coach Tim Schwehr figured his boys team would be pretty strong this year.

After all, the duo placed in the top five in the Gila Valley Region last year.

But since the addition of Gabe Torreagrosa, a transfer from the Beaverton, Ore. area, Schwehr has set the bar pretty high.

"I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm aiming for that state championship," he said. "We set our goal pretty high, but if you don't set it high there's nowhere to go."

Torreagrosa was running times in the upper 16 minutes in Oregon, which would have placed him in the top 10 in the state of Arizona and given him the Gila Valley Region championship last year.

"He said he's easily in the best shape he's been in at the start of the season," Schwehr said of Torreagrosa. "We did an 8-mile run the other day and (afterward) he turned around and said, 'Coach, can I do a timed mile on the track?' And he put in a 4:43, which would've won regionals by itself. I got really lucky."

Schwehr added that Villegas and Castro have sought the advice of Torreagrosa and are easily in their best shape to start the season as well.

"If everything goes well," Schwehr said, "I'm looking for three guys to be under 17 minutes."

Numbers at Yuma High are the best they've been in Schwehr's five years as coach. He said he has about 43 runners out total, and about 20 coming from the girls side.

Despite the high numbers, Yuma doesn't return much experience on the girls team. Lauren Mohamed is the Criminals top returner. Mohamed is a junior and has been running since her freshman year.

Emilia Cruz and Alma Salgado are the only other veterans. They both ran as freshmen last year.

CIBOLA

Just going by returning runners, Cibola would most likely be the odds on favorite to win the Gila Valley Region on the boys side.

Like Yuma, enthusiasm in cross country is high, with strong numbers out this year.

"This is definitely the deepest team I've had at Cibola," said Cibola coach Kris Norton, who has been coaching the Raiders for 10 years. "This will be the best team I've fielded."

Norton said he shored up a pretty strong five this year.

Leading the pack for the Raiders will be sophomore Ryan Norton, who is expected to fight it out for the region title this year.

"This will be the first season he's actually been able to train," Kris Norton said. "He's been healthy all summer and going into preseason, so he's going to be leading the charge."

Rounding out Cibola on the boys side is Jose Ramirez, a top 2-miler during track season, returners Ryan Grove and Marcos Oduno, and newcomer Alan Fernandez.

"We have a pretty good group that's pushing along," Norton said. "We're tough and we're still young, so that's the exciting thing."
Norton added he expects his girls team to run stronger than in recent years.

"We're going to be young and brand new, but definitely much improved over the last two years," he said.

The Raiders will lead with a couple top 2-milers, twins Lety and Zuzy Gonzlez.

"They'll lead the charge and get us back to being competitive again," Norton said.

Chelsea Madsen and Michelle Soto will give Cibola a formidable four runners.

KOFA

The consensus among coaches around the Gila Valley Region is that Kofa has the strongest girls team.

The return of Stephanie Ledgerwood not only makes the Kings the favorite in the region, but to place high as a team at state as well.

"We should be a top 10 contender, I would think," Kofa coach Charlie Splawn said. "But it's a long season with injuries and everything. Right now we're pretty happy with the girls we have."

Ledgerwood placed second in 5A Division II last year and has been The Sun/Yuma Rotary Club's Female Runner of the Year the last two seasons.

"She had a tough year in track. We had some problems with her asthma," Splawn said. "If we can keep that under control she should have a pretty good performance this year.

"If we keep he healthy, there's no telling what she can do."

Splawn added he's looking for good things from Laura Eldrige and Amaris Pauly this year, and the addition of track runners Samantha Gordon and Tiffany Portman give the Kings a deep five.

"With those we'll have five competitive runners," Splawn said, "and we're looking to make a little noise, hopefully."

Kofa has dominated on the boys side the last few years as well, but the Kings lost their whole pack from a year ago.

Splawn said he's looking for senior Ricardo Valdez and junior Tim O'Neil to step up, along with sophomores Alex Fonpillas and Jose Barrera.

"We're going to have to put them out there and see if they can race," he said. "We're rebuilding, but we've got some good pieces to rebuild with."

YUMA CATHOLIC

Yuma Catholic coach Ralph Farr's motto for this season: patience.

He'll probably need it more than ever this season in his eight years as YC's coach.

The Shamrocks only have eight boys and seven girls out this season.

"We're thin, not a lot of kids out and not a lot of experience either," Farr said. "But the kids I have are working hard."

YC has qualified for state all eight years, and the girls team won the state title two of the last three years.

The Shamrock girls are led by Devon Graham, who hasn't been able to run with the team the last two years because of illness and injuries. She placed ninth in the state as a freshman.

Farr added that he's looking for good things from Rachel Harmon, who placed 12th in the state as a sophomore.

Samantha Barczynski has track experience as a 2-mile runner, and Sarah Wentling has track experience as a hurdler.

On the boys side, YC is led by Alyosha Sandigo.

"His main sport is wrestling, but he works hard at everything he does," Farr said. "He will definitely have a chance to medal at state."

Joseph Schaff and Daniel Sauter round out YC's top three boys.