Coronado girls, Palo Verde boys take Labor Day Classic

Green Valley’s Mia Smith wasn’t sure how she’d deal with additional expectations after an impressive performance in her season opener.

Turns out she did even better the second time around

The Gators senior gradually pulled away from the field to win the 5-kilometer race in 19 minutes, 49 seconds in the Labor Day Classic at Palo Verde on Saturday.

Smith already showed improvement this season with a third-place showing at last week’s Red Rock Running Company Invitational.

She was one of the favorites on Saturday in a field that featured some stout competition despite the absence of some area standouts. She set the pace along with Desert Pines junior Jazmin Felix.

“I knew there were some good runners here,” Smith said. “I got in front early. “I like to work off the pace being set. But I got to experience setting the pace for the last part of the race and I was glad that I was able to make it work.”

Smith began pulling away from Felix as the runners entered the second loop of the course and steadily built to win by 15 seconds.

Coronado junior Claire Rawlins finished third in 20:27 as the Cougars claimed the team title. Coronado had 55 points. Palo Verde and Centennial both had 58 with the host Panthers finishing second due to a better finish by its sixth runner.

Boys

The boys race featured a more compelling ending as Desert Oasis’ Conner Nicholas and Palo Verde’s Noah Jordan ran side-by-side for most of the race.

Nicholas, however, showed off a strong finishing kick in the final 300 meters to beat out Jordan in a time of 16:51. Jordan was in 16:54.

“I definitely wanted to put it out there what I have in the end,” Nicholas said. “I wanted to show to everyone that I do have a strong finish in me.”

Nicholas was in a pack of four through the first mile with Jordan, fellow Palo Verde runner Joshua Campbell and Arbor View’s Noah Ayala.

Eventually, Nicholas and Jordan separated from the other two and engaged in a duel during the final mile.

“It was a surprise for me to be out front for the race,” Jordan said. “I felt it was close at the end, but it seemed he wanted it a little more than I did.”

Ayala was third in 17:16 followed by Campbell (17:19). Desert Oasis’ Landon Morrison was fifth (17:24) before Matt Siroky (17:29) made it three in the top six for Palo Verde.

The 2-4-6 finishes were enough for the hosts to top the boys standings with 62 points. Arbor View (116) finished second. Clark (125) took third in front of Green Valley (132) and Coronado (135).