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SUGAR HOUSE — For Lone Peak's girls cross country team, running as a pack just comes naturally.
The Knights grouped up and ran away with a third straight 6A state title Wednesday afternoon.
Maya Bybee and Zoey Nilsson finished second and third, respectively, in 17 minutes, 45.54 seconds and 18:06.93, and Lone Peak put all its scoring runners in the top 11 to run away to the program's fifth championship in six years.
"We were trying stay a bit more controlled in the first mile, and that tends to group up," Bybee said. "But we were just working as a team, and going to see what happens once we hit the course."
The Knights collected two of the top-three finishers, four of the top nine with Anna Bybee's seventh-place finish in 18:30.07, and placed all five scoring runners inside the top 12 when Brielle Nilsson finished 11th in 18:35.93 to run away with the team title with 29 points.
Unheard of? Not for these Knights.
"That's just who they are. They run like that in practice," said Lone Peak coach Courtney Meldrum, whose team numbers 80 strong. "They trip over each other in practice because they also have contact. It's what they know.
"They like each other, and they want to be next to each other, at least for the first two miles."
In the 6A boys' race, Jackson Spencer finished second overall in 14:51.08 to help the Mustangs, the No. 1-rated team in the country, hold off second-place American Fork by 6 points for Herriman's first state title since 2012.
Spencer and state champion Kaden Evans of American Fork (14:45.51) both broke the 15-minute mark in a race where the entire top 10 finished below 15:30, including Herriman's Jonah Tang for fifth-place finish in 15:16.59 to help the Mustangs' title bid.
"I think it almost made it easier for us," Spencer said. "We were going kind of slow at the start, around a 5:10 split. But we were able to ramp it up, and I think we dropped a couple of guys.
"Coming in the last mile, me and Kaden were hammering and he was able to hammer just a little bit more than me"
The Mustangs will next try to conquer Nike Cross Regionals in Portland, where Spencer — a junior being recruited by BYU and Oklahoma State, among others — will look to improve on his 39th-place finish a year ago.
"I think we could have done better if we had a better day," he said of Wednesday's state finale. "But I'm happy with the result … Winning state is always a good day."
6A girls cross country
- Complete results available at meettrax.com
Top 5 teams
- Lone Peak, 29
- Riverton, 63
- American Fork, 117
- Westlake, 133
- Skyridge, 186
Top-10 finishers
- Skye Jensen, American Fork — 17:35.60
- Maya Bybee, Lone Peak — 17:45.54
- Zoey Nilsson, Lone Peak — 18:06.93
- Ellie Dorius, Farmington — 18:07.25
- Chloe Swain, Riverton — 18:27.29
- Isabella Cram, Davis — 18:29.56
- Anna Bybee, Lone Peak — 18:30.07
- Grace Swanson, Riverton — 18:30.65
- Paityn Rohatinsky, Lone Peak — 18:32.91
- Mya Oyler, Riverton — 18:34.90
6A boys cross country
- Complete results available at meettrax.com
Top 5 teams
- Herriman, 44
- American Fork, 50
- Riverton, 83
- Lone Peak, 128
- Davis, 173
Top-10 finishers
- Kaden Evans, American Fork — 14:45.51
- Jackson Spencer, Herriman — 14:51.08
- Landon Nunley, Riverton — 15:15.09
- Christian Ruf, Riverton — 15:15.30
- Jonah Tang, Herriman — 15:16.59
- Carter Moore, American Fork — 15:17.47
- Tayshaun Oromo, Herriman — 15:18.57
- Jonathan Thornley, Layton — 15:18.78
- Micah Tang, Herriman — 15:20.78
- Corbin Randall, Riverton — 15:23.92
