High school cross country: Running to the finish line

The moment that Utah's elite prep cross country runners have been waiting for is almost here.

On Wednesday, the state's top runners and teams will square off against one another in the prep cross country state championships at Sugarhouse Park. The first race — 1A girls — will be at 11:30 a.m., with races to follow throughout the day, culminating with the 5A boys race at 4 p.m.

Heading into those all-important showdowns, here's a breakdown of what to expect from each classification:

CLASS 5A: Alta hopes to win its first boys cross country title in school history but will face stiff competition from American Fork and defending 5A champ Davis.

After powering to a dominating win at the Murray Invite a month ago, the Hawks, who have very good depth, looked to be untouchable in Class 5A. However, American Fork has since demonstrated it could have the horses to beat Alta, evidenced by the fact that the Cavemen recently defeated 4A defending champ Timpview at the Nebo Invitational. And then there's Davis, which has steadily improved this season and is led by individual favorite Seth Gutzwiller.

On the girls side, Davis is expected to roll. The Darts got star Candace Eddy back from injury, and they have the best set of five runners in the state — boys or girls.

Individually, one of the best races of the day should be in 5A between Skyline's Shalaya Kipp, last year's runner-up, and Jordan's Danielle Menlove, the freshman phenom.

CLASS 4A: After finishing second to Mountain View a season ago, the Mountain Crest Mustangs are aiming to make sure the same fate doesn't happen to them again this year.

On paper, the Mustangs, led by Macinze O'Very and Laura Hatch, should be very formidable, and it will take something truly special from Mountain View — or anyone else — to prevent them winning the team title in 4A.

If Davis has the best set of five runners in the state, Mountain Crest's girls team might have the best set of seven runners, and that should prove to be the difference.

Meanwhile, defending 4A champ Timpview is the favorite on the boys side. Individual defending champ Jonathan Nelson leads the way for the T-Birds, and there's solid depth behind him.