Centennial’s Williams outruns field at Southern Division Championships

Nathan Williams averaged nearly a 5-minute mile Saturday at Basic High School on his way to taking first place in the Northwest League race of the Southern Division Championships.

The Centennial junior finished the 3-mile course in 15 minutes, 20 seconds, the fastest time of any of the four league winners Saturday.

His effort helped the Bulldogs take first place in the team scoring. Centennial had 38 points. Palo Verde was second with 47.

Palo Verde’s Daniel Wicks took second in the Northwest League race in 15:45, two seconds faster than Centennial’s Nick Hartle.

In the Southwest League race, Clark and Durango tied with 54 points, but the Chargers won the meet based on the sixth-runner tiebreaker. Clark’s sixth runner finished in 22nd place, three spots ahead of Durango’s sixth runner. Spring Valley took third with 58 points.

Spring Valley’s Ricky Barcenas won the race in 16:03. Clark’s Jake Naylor was second in 16:07.

Valley placed four runners in the top six to easily win the Northeast League race. The Vikings had a team score of 22 points. Las Vegas finished second with 41.

Valley senior Solomon Belay won the race in 16:02, 17 seconds faster than teammate Rudy Frias. Las Vegas’ Aaron Adkins was the only non-Valley runner in the top four, taking third in 16:25.

In the Southeast, Tech used a balanced effort to win the meet with 53 points, despite not having a runner in the top four. Foothill was second with 59 points and had two of the top four runners.

Liberty’s Al Galan won the race in 15:31. Foothill’s Carl Greene was second in 16:08.