Greenway Cross Country

Yesterday morning four Demon harriers continued a tradition that dates back to the 1990's of running in the Arizona Road Racers 4th of July Road Race at Rio Vista Park. Congratulations to 2014 grad Austin Lavin for again taking home first place honors and Emmanuel Simiyu for being the top "Demon of the Day" in this four mile race. Following Emmanuel across the finish line were Tabian Baily, Richard Masterson and "wishing I had my inhaler" Alexavier Martinez . Coach Joseph Walker and Coach Adam Mrozinski also put their feet on the starting line to complete the Demon entries. Both Coach Walker and Emmanuel placed 3rd in their divisions and earned trips to the award stand. At the same time as these Demons were running in the heat, Lucy Turley was running a five mile 4th of July road race in Wisconsin under cooler conditions. She won her division and placed 14th overall.

Greenway Cross Country “2022” is off and running this summer with our series of Wednesday and Thursday mini-camps throughout the summer. All the runners have their mileage charts which they "should" be filling out after any summer training runs.
To date the harriers have experienced training at Acoma Park, the famed "Flora and Fauna" run, Monte Cristo "timed" runs, hill training at 47th and Beardsley (rewarded with popsicles) as well as weightlifting every Wed. With our track still off limits as well as "All "athletic fields, this year is a little more challenging. Our sessions this week and for the rest of the summer will start at 6:00 am.

The 48th annual Greenway Cross Country Award’s Banquet is in the books. The 2021 season proved very successful as we had 40 runners finish the season, raced to three major Championships and had our athletes build so many wonderful memories and friendships while increasing their running potential. A highlight was Coach Giddings’ traditional slide show along with many awards/certificates given to deserving athletes. Award winners included:
Outstanding Varsity: Lucy Turley and Emmanuel Simiyu
Outstanding Senior: Jenessie German, Tavia Stemmons, Everett Steller
Ed Wasem Most Inspirational: RJ Pambuan
Wolfie Perkin Most Inspirational: Jenessie German
Outstanding Junior: Jaden Lange, Nico Gamboa
Outstanding Soph: Victoria Skoriuchow, Aiden Padilla
Outstanding Frosh: Neveah Mendenhall, Alexavier Martinez, Linkin Dyer
Outstanding JV: Zainab Maliki-Inman, Trent DeBoard
Captains: Elayna Padilla, Jenessie German, RJ Pambuan

Last Saturday, our Varsity teams advanced to the State Meet at Cave Creek Golf Course. While achieving excellent and good goals the last two weeks with plenty of PR’s, the State meet provided more “acceptable” goals. However, Junior Lucy Turley capped off an outstanding season with a 12th place finish and earned 2nd Team All State Honors. Showing some youth, State meet inexperience and a dislike for the “challenging” course, our Lady Demons finished 12th while the Boy’s placed 26th.

Congratulations to our Boy’s and Girl’s Cross Country Teams for qualifying for the State Championships next Saturday. Competing against 18 teams in our Section, both the Boys and the Girls’ teams finished 5th.

Lucy Turley (4th – 18:42) earned 1st Team All Section Honors with her outstanding 4th place finish while Jenessie German (11th – 20:08) earned All Section Honors for the fourth year in a row. Elayna Padilla (37th -22:54), Jaden Lange (39th – 23:18), Victoria Skoriuchow (62nd – 25:36), Neveah Mendenhall (74th -27:16) and Zainab Inman (77th – 27:27) rounded out the girl’s scoring with some excellent personal best performances.

Our Varsity Boys all ran personal bests by finishing strong the last mile to earn their ticket to State. Emmanuel Simiyu (17th-17:34), Alexavier Martinez (21st – 17:40), and Everett Steller (29th – 17:58) all ran in the 17:00 minutes for a 5K with Nico Gamboa (30th – 18:00.6) missing by one half a second. Fast closing RJ Pambuan (45th – 18:47), Richard Masterson (46th – 18:48) and Alex Skoriuchow (65th – 19:20) finished out the boy’s scoring.

Of course, lunch at In & Out Burger was required after the race.
Excellent Job Cross County…on to State next week.

Another Great “Jamboree” Day for Greenway Cross Country.

On Wednesday, our Boys’ Varsity Cross Country team successfully defended their title at the 31st Annual Glendale District Jamboree Championships.

While all seven varsity runners won individual medals, it was RJ Pambuan who was the “hero of the day” as his 15th place finish was the deciding factor in the guy’s win. Emanuel Simiyu (3rd) was the #1 Demon followed by “Welcome to the Varsity” Alexavier Martinez (5th), Nico Gamboa (7th), Everett Steller (8th), Alex Skoriuchow (17th) and Richard Masterson (19th)

While Lucy Turley joined an exclusive club of Jamboree 1st place winners, Jenessie German finished a close runner-up with Elayna Padilla (8th) and Jaden Lange (10th) also making trips to the award stand. Victoria Skoriuchow (22nd) and Zainab Inman (24th) closed out the girl’s scoring. After a nine year run of first place finishes since 2012, the Lady Demons decided to share the wealth and finished a close second by a mere two points.

Frosh Linkin Dyer led from the start to capture first place in the Boys Open with “best race of the year” Trent Deboard a close runner-up. Medal winners also included Aiden Padilla (8th), Jorge Nestares (9th), Sam Grumeretz (18th) and Victor Flores (19th). Vernon Blackshire (27th), Vincent Villarante (31st) and Noel Sameer (35th) all finished strong for the Boy’s Open runners.

In the Girl’s Open race, Frida Espana (5th) and Anchana Selvaganabathy (7th) both finished in the medal winning top ten.

This closes out the regular season for the Demons. The Varsity squads compete in the State Qualifying Sectionals this Thursday morning at Rose Mofford Park. Boys (8:00), Girls (8:30)

On a brisk October 23rd morning, the Greenway Cross Country team traveled in the dark to Cactus Shadows and departed the bus still in the dark. A short time later a beautiful sunrise occurred in Cave Creek and the Demons were able to run in a five-way meet on Cactus Shadows’ challenging course in the desert.

We did this last year and many of our runners dropped their times significantly from a year ago. A credit to them and their dedication and conditioning.

Lucy Turley was the individual winner with Tavia Stemmons runner-up and Jenessie German 6th. The Lady Demons finished a close second to Cactus Shadows by a mere one point.

The Varsity Boys led by Nico Gamboa, Everett Steller and RJ Pambuan packed three runners in the top ten to also finish 2nd in their race against the 5th ranked Falcons.

Last Wednesday while the younger athletes competed in the District JV and Frosh Championships, the varsity competed in the Valley Lutheran Invitational. The runners had an opportunity to preview the Sectional course under race conditions against 28 teams. The Girls finished 4th (165 pts) and the Boys finished 8th (239 pts).

Junior Lucy Turley led from start to finish to capture her second major title of the season and also get her picture on AZ Milesplit. The following are the girls finishes: Lucy Turley (1st) 19:36, Tavia Stemmons (22nd) 21.36, Jenessie German (27th) 21:53, Elayna Padilla (69th) 24:35, and Jaden Lange (85th) 25:50.

Emmanuel Simiyu (37th) 18:36 led all the Demon boys followed by Nico Gamboa (40th) 18:42, Everett Steller (47th) 18:59, RJ Pambuan (53rd) 19:10, Richard Masterson (72nd) 19:37 , and Alex Skoruichow (82nd) 20:00.

Unfortunately there aren't many pictures for this meet.

Last week our Boys and Girls Cross Country Teams totally dominated the District Classic Championships. Competing against all nine district schools, our Demons made a clean sweep winning both the JV and Freshman combined races on both the guys and girl’s side. The Demons had twenty runners make a trip to the award stand.

Award winners in the Freshman boys race were
Alexavier Martinez (2nd), Linkin Dyer (4th), Dylan Archuleta, and Victor Flores (Noel Sameer missed by one place)

Medal winners in the Freshman girl’s race included
Neveah Mendenhall (2nd), Zainab Inman (4th), Anchana Selvaganabathy, Madison Talg, Ella Beazer, Nathalene Yazzie, Sophia Riley and Juliana Stecher

Medal winners in the JV Boys race included
Daniel Tang, Trent Deboard, Aiden Padilla and Jorge Nestares

Award winners in the JV Girls race were
Victoria Skoriuchow, Frida Espana, Leah Nordstorm and Semanee Beazer

You''ve Got to Play To!!! Greenway Cross Country always tries to do a team activity during fall break. LaserQuest has usually been our go-to but they are out of business permanently because of COVID. Thus the first Greenway Cross Country "Badminton" Jamboree. The runners showed their prowess with the racquet and the birdie. Some very competitive matches took place with some side basketball action included. They were also treated to some drinks and Barro's pizza.

On Saturday the Demons raced in the O'Connor Invitational in the Skunk Creek area against over 28 teams. Recognizing our runners' fitness level and racing confidence, most all the runners liked the course and its challenging hill.

Tavia Stemmons (10th) and Lucy Turley (14th) ran medal winning races in the Girl's Varsity with Elayna Padilla (67th) and Jaden Lange
(70th) rounding out the Lady Demons. Soph Emmanuel Simiyu (30th) ran a PR to lead the Boy's Varsity with fast closing Everett Steller (35th), Nico Gamboa (49th), and less-then-full strength
RJ Pambuan (72nd) and Richard Masterson (79th) bringing the guys to a respectable 10th place finish.

Soph Aiden Padilla (22:30) led the boys with Trent DeBoard (23:14), Sam Grumeretz (23:27), Jorge Nestares (23:33), and Vincent Villarente (28:51) all running their seasonal bests. The JV Boys also raced to a 10th place finish.

Leah Nordstrom raced to a 35:58 clocking in the JV Division. All the freshman girls raced to personal bests led by Zainab Maliki-Inman (28:52), Nathalene Yazzie (37:16), Sophia Riley (37:18) and Juliana Stecher (39:58).

Frosh Alexavier Martinez ran his best race of the season with an outstanding 19:00 clocking and a medal winning 3rd place finish. Linkin Dyer closed fast to take the 8th place medal and also a
PR (19:50). All the rest of the frosh boys also ran seasonal bests: Victor Flores (21:54), Tabian Bailey (25:51, Vernon Blackshire (27:56), Noel Sameer (28:49), Michael Oschieng (43:38) and Frank
Horlacher (44.58). The Boy's frosh placed 5th in their division.

After fall break the team will have a big Wednesday. On October 20th, the boys and girls' Frosh and JV teams will compete in the Glendale Union District Championships at Moon Valley. The Varsity
teams will compete in the Valley Lutheran Invitational at Rose Mofford Park.

On Saturday, our cross country teams competed in the 63rd annual Thunderbird Invitational. Running a challenging 2.8 course with two good hills, the Demons captured 12 medals (six girls, six boys) against 17 teams from all over the valley.

Our Lady Demons dominated the Junior/Senior Division to capture 1st place. Lucy Turley was the individual champion with Tavia Stemmons (3rd) and Jenessie German (6th). Running their best races of the year, Elayana Padilla and Jaden Lange iced the Demon Victory.

The Jr/Sr Boy’s captured four medals in their race with Nico Gamboa leading all Demons followed by RJ Pambuan, Richard Masterson and Everett Steller. The Boy’s placed fifth.

Sophomore Emmanuel Simiyu placed an outstanding, medal winning 3rd in the younger race with frosh Alexavier Martinez also making a trip to the award stand. The younger boys placed 8th.

Medal winning frosh Neveah Mendenhall led all the younger girls with Victoria Skoriuchow the second fastest Lady Demon. The young Lady Demons placed 4th.

Special recognition to Coach Austin Lavin for winning the Community Division Race. Also it was nice to see one of Greenway's finest distance runners, Lawrence Opio (All State XC and State 800 meter champion), at the meet with his son.

On Wednesday, our Cross Country teams traveled to Papago Park for a meet against Arcadia and St. John Paul. Running on the banks of the canal and around water areas, both our Varsity teams finished 2nd in their races.

Lucy Turley and Tavia Stemmons tied for first in the meet with Jenessie German placing 4th for the Lady Demons. Elayna Padilla (12th), Jaden Lange (13th), Nevaeh Mendenhall (17th) and Victoria Skoriuchow (18th) closed out the girl’s scoring. In the boy’s Varsity, Emmanuel Simiyu and Nico Gamboa placed 2nd and 3rd with RJ Pambuan grabbing the 6th spot, Richard Masterson (8th) and Alex Skoriuchow (13th).

Both the Boy’s and Girl’s JV teams took first place in their races. Alexavier Martinez took top honors in the JV race finishing just head of Aiden Padilla and Trent Deboard. In order, the rest of the JV finishers included Jorge Nestares, Victor Flores, Sam Grumeretz, Daniel Tang, “fast closing” Vernon Blackshire, Vincent Villarente, Noael Sameer, Frank Horlacher and Michael Ochieng.
Frosh Anchana Selvaganabathy led all Lady Demons in the JV race followed by Madison Talg and Frida Espana. In order, the rest of the JV finishers included Leah Nordstrom, Sophia Riley, Ella Beazer, Semanee Beazer, Juliana Stecher and Nathalene Yazzie.

Unfortunately the meet hosts had some technical difficulties and there are no official results or times for the JV races. Through some pictures, we were able to hopefully determine the finishing order of the JV runners and unofficial scoring.

Last Friday night Greenway Cross Country competed in the largest meet in the state--The Desert Twilight in Queen Creek. Over 220 teams from all over Arizona, Texas, Colorado, California, and Utah competed in races from 4:00 pm to 9:30 pm. Our Varsity Girls ran some very fast times and finished 10th in the Championship Race with medalists Lucy Turley (6th -19:11) and Tavia Stemmons (19th -19.50) leading the charge followed by Jenessie German (27th - 20:05), Elayna Padilla (131st - 23:51) and Jaden Lange (136th - 24:05)

Our Varsity Boy's had three runners drop their PR times considerably with clockings in the 18:00 minutes and one other very close to place 26th our of 59 teams. Everett Steller (18:16), Nico Gamboa (18:44), Richard Masterson (18:48) , RJ Pambuan (19:14) and "first meet of the year" Alex Skoriuchow (22:11) paced the Varsity.

In the JV/Open Division, Soph Daniel Tang led all Demons to personal bests with a 21:56, followed by Aiden Padilla (23:40), Jorge Nestares (24:04), Trent DeBoard (24:16), Sam Grumeretz (24:28) and Vincent Villarente (30:18). The JV boys finished 22nd. Our JV/Open girls were led by Victoria Skoriuchow (29:14), Frida Espana (32:04) and Leah Norstrom (33:11).

Our Freshman Boys ran their first 5K race distance and did very well. Medal winning Linkin Dyer's 11th place finish (20:14) and Alexavier Martinez's almost medal winning finish (23rd - 21:12) paced the young Demons. Dylan Archuleta (22:19), Victor Flores (26:13), Noel Sameer (34:49), Gabriel Santillan (35:33), Tabian Bailey (36:30), Vernon Blackshire (36:38) and Michale Ochieng (48:59). The Frosh Boys placed 5th.

Anachana Selvaganabathy (31:12) led all the Lady Demon freshman to their 4th place finish in their first 5K race also. Scoring key points in their race included Nevaeh Mendenhall (36:10), Ella Beazer (36:22), Madison Talg (36:27), Sophia Riley (41:18), Juliana Stecher (45:47) and Nathalene Yazzie (46:24)

On Friday night, our Varsity Cross Country teams ran in the 39th annual Shawn Kerr Halftime Meet. Both our Boys and Girls’ teams defeated Apollo and Moon Valley.

Our Lady Demons captured eight of the top ten places to win handily. Tavia Stemmons captured the first place spot followed closely by Jenessie German and Elayna Padilla. Jaden Lange (6th), Victoria Skoriuchow (7th), and Nevaeh Mendenhall rounded out the top six scoring finishes.

Our varsity boys took five of the top ten finishes with Emmanuel Simiyu and Everett Steller placing 2nd and 3rd. Nico Gamboa (6th), RJ Pambuan (7th), Richard Masterson (10th) and Linkin Dyer (11th) all placed in key scoring positions.

Congrats to all our Greenway finishers in this very unique and exciting race. Greenway is one of the very few, if not the only, school in the state that hosts such an event. Special thanks to Mrs. Knight, Mr. Naujokaitis and Mr. Barnes for the pictures. Even Coach Giddings got on Channel 3 news to talk about the meet.

Great day to be a Demon Cross Country Runner! Board a bus at 5:00 am, depart the bus in Flagstaff in 48 degree weather, compete in the Peaks Invitational, lunch, and a hour of soccer on NAU's fields (Coach Lavin’s team was victorious over Coach Walkers). The bus ride back was highlighted by singing classic golden oldies from the new stereo system on the bus.

Congratulations to Lucy Turley (3rd), Tavia Stemmons (5th) and Jenessie German (9th) for all running medal-winning races in their division and to frosh Linkin Dyer (3rd) for finishing an award winning third in the Novice Division.

The Varsity Girls placed an outstanding 5th in the Ascent Division with Elayna Padilla and Jaden Lange rounding out the Lady Demon scoring. Soph Emmanuel Simiyu and Senior Everett Steller paced the Varsity Boys to a 14th place finish against 25 teams. Our boy’s gap from #1 to #5 was a very fine 64 seconds. Rounding out the top five Varsity boys were Nico Gamboa, Richard Masterson and RJ Pambuan.

Soph Aiden Padilla was Greenway’s top JV/Open runner on the boy’s side and Victoria Skoriuchow paced the girls. Frosh Linkin Dyer, Alexavier Martinez and Victor Flores were the top Novice boys while Anchana Selvaganabathy, Madison Talg and Nevaeh Mendenhall paced the Lady “Novice” Demons.

Great start to the season, Cross Country.

In the old days, the district paid our invitational entry fees, our bus rides and our vans for practice. That was then, this is now. We pay for everything. A $100 tootsie pop fundraiser was all we needed then. We continued our "fundraiser jogathon" the day after the time trial. Runners figured out their teams of four or five and proceeded to run a relay for one hour. All runners had sought out "pledges per mile" prior to the event. Teams ran anywhere from 7 to 12 miles. They are all currently trying to collect the pledges owed. Of course, you need music playing while running and popsicles afterwards. The team also sang Happy Birthday to Coach Mrozinski!

Time Trial 2021! Unfortunately the traditional 2.5 course at Tbird Park is history now. For this year and last, we ran on the canal near Paseo Park up to 67th avenue and back. Congratulations to Tavia Stemmons and Lucy Turley for being the first and second girls and Emmanuel Simiyu and RJ Pambuan for the guys. We had 33 runners run in the time trial...some the full 2.25 course and others a shorter distance.