After a second-place finish last year, Rio Rico sophomore Aeoleone Bristow races to a win in the girls 4A-II state cross country meet.

thomas boggan / east valley tribune

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PHOENIX — It didn't happen exactly the way they wanted it to. Or even the way they expected.

But as the runners came across the finish line in the girls 5A-II race at the state championship cross country meet, Ironwood Ridge had clumped five runners into the top 14, easily winning its second consecutive team title.

The Nighthawks tallied 38 points, the lowest score of any winning big-school team on Saturday over the 3.1-mile course at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix.

For defending individual state champion Sarah Miville, the team win was bittersweet. Miville led her team and finished fourth. Pinnacle freshman Lacey Kalinen won in 19 minutes 27.30 seconds. Miville ran a 20:06.40.

Nighthawks Allison Crawford (20:20.45) and Kat Howard (20:35.40) followed in fifth and sixth places, while sophomores Lauren Cooper (20:51.95) and Sam Strange (21:02.05) were ninth and 14th, respectively.

Disappointment seemed to be the common theme on Saturday, even in victory.

Catalina Foothills senior Tucker Wiedenkeller was nervously chewing on a cup and muttering to himself following the boys 4A-I race.

That is, until he learned the Falcons won the state title.

"At first I was thinking my performance wasn't good enough for a team win," Wiedenkeller said. He finished fifth after running in 34th place at the 1-mile mark.

"I told myself I wanted to run this into unconsciousness, so I was a little disappointed that I didn't pass out," he said. "But close … I was having some trouble standing there at the end."

Sabino senior Alex Evans won the boys 4A-I race (16:19.55), while Sabino junior Christina Price won the girls 4A-I portion in 19:16.20.

"I didn't look back," Price said, "but I just heard people screaming, 'You're ahead by a lot!' " She won by more than 22 seconds.

The Rio Rico boys had no trouble avenging a loss to Cottonwood Mingus in last year's 4A-II state meet.

"This is what we've been training for since last Nov. 6 when they beat us," Rio Rico senior Omar Hernandez said.

Hernandez finished fourth, just behind teammate, junior Jose Luis Muñoz.

"We just wanted to let our demons loose," Muñoz said.

Other local winners on Saturday included the Sunnyside boys, who won the 5A-II race by 50 points over Phoenix Camelback.

Rio Rico sophomore Aeoleone Bristow won her first individual championship in the 4A-II race in 19:07.05.

"I was confident going in, but not overconfident," said Bristow, who placed second at state last year. "You can't be overconfident. I just raced my race and did what I could do."