A handful of East Angel runners travelled to Arizona this past weekend to compete in the Nike Southwest Regional Championships against the best runners from Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. This meet includes seven boys and seven girls races of about 200 athletes each, divided into large, medium and small school divisions, until finally culminating in the Championship races from which the top-2 teams and top-5 individuals earn qualifying spots for the Nike National Championships in Oregon in December.

 Juniors Anna Lucy Buddenhagen and Lindsey Weyant competed in the Large School Girls race. Each ran to personal best times for 5K over the golf course at the Casa Grande Sports Complex under great racing conditions. Buddenhagen finished 49^th in 19:56, while Weyant finished 62^nd in 20:10. Competing in the Boys Championship race, junior Will Daley ran 15:17 for 18^th place – the 4^th best time and 4^th best finish of any Denver East runner at Nike Southwest – beating a long list of athletes who had finished in the top-10 at their respective state meets. Sophomore Abby Howard, running in the Girls Championship race, finished 218^th in 20:56.

Mark your calendars for November 23^rd, 2019, when Denver East will aim to bring full teams to next year’s Nike Southwest Championships for the first time  (and in the mean time, be sure to get your banquet tickets to celebrate the end of the season on Dec 9. Last day to buy tickets is Nov 30.)