By MEAGAN BERG, Arizona Track Staff Writer
Something was brewing in the air at the Four Corners Invitational at Buffalo Park in Flagstaff on Saturday—something different.
And we’re not talking about the weather. But that was nice, too.
Not just from past installments of this invite, but from the entire season in general.
Whispers of “Billy Orman isn’t here today—thank God!” or “I heard a rumor he was on a college visit at Harvard” could be heard not just from athletes competing in the race, but from spectators as well.
One would think that athletes want their competition to push them past their limits to better themselves; however, a win on this course would have special meaning for one athlete.
With Orman nowhere in sight, Flagstaff High’s senior Garner Grennier was finally able to capture a win on his home course with a time of 15 minutes and 59 seconds, a new personal best and 12 seconds ahead of Glendale Deer Valley’s Josh Espinoza.
“I want to say that if Billy Orman were here, he would have taken first
by a lot, so I’m glad and lucky he wasn’t here today,” Grennier said. “My
team had a great day. The weather was great, and it looked like all of us
improved place wise.”Grennier said his strategy for this race was simple: Don’t get too out of control on the first loop, and surge at the top of the straight away.
He also attributed Saturday’s win to his summer training, where he logged over 500 miles.
Grennier hopes of competing at the collegiate level, and said he has been in contact with Northern Arizona University about possibly joining the team as a walk-on in 2011.
“I want to be able to run in a division where I won’t get completely trampled,” Grennier said. “I want to get pulled along, but I also want to make sure I can handle the running because there’s a lot of good runners out there.”
Flagstaff High School took third place with 108 points, Page High School in second with 99 points, and Chinle High School captured the boys’ title with 69 points.
On the girl’s side, Rolonda Jumbo, a junior at Chinle High, ran away with the victory—a blazing minute and 20 seconds ahead of Flagstaff High’s Kimmi Allen.
Recording a new personal best, Jumbo said this was the best she has run since her stellar freshman season.
“It was a good day, I ran well and efficiently,” Jumbo said. “It was my best time since freshman year; then it was 18:57, now it’s 18:16.”
Thus far this season, Jumbo has been undefeated—recording wins at the Peaks Invitational and Chinle’s home meet.
Shaun Martin, Chinle’s coach, made a speech at the beginning of Chinle’s practice week about his athletes puking after the race. This wasn’t the case for Jumbo, but she did say that she was really, really tired.
Martin said his teams did well, but he measures his teams’ success in improvements, not wins.
“It was a pretty rough week we had at practice; we’re going into a two week cycle to where it’s going to be a tough two weeks,” Martin said. “And to have them run this well after only the first week of it is really, really a good sign.”
Tuba City High School took third place with 106 points, Chinle High School in second with 78 points, and Page High School captured the girls’ title with 58 points.
The Four Corners Invitational also held a boys and girls open race. Between the boys and girls varsity and open races, 714 runners were in attendance this weekend.
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