Tuesday was an emotional day for Park City’s senior-heavy boys cross-country team, as it competed at the state meet together for the final time.
The Miners ended the day with a third-place finish for the boys and a seventh-place result for the girls. The boys finished just two points behind second-place Orem. Mountain View took the boys state title, while Springville finished first for the girls.
“We were competitive in both races,” Park City coach Steve Cuttitta said. “We were kind of right there. Like with the girls, a shot at maybe to get into that top five, which I thought was our ceiling. The boys were just two points out of second against Orem there, so there’s a little disappointment when you’re kind of that close to being in the top two spots on the boys’ side. Third, podium finish, it’s the highest we’ve been in a long time.”
Senior Chris Henry led the way for the boys, finishing sixth. Henry was less than two seconds away from a fourth-place finish. Henry and Cuttitta had talked before the season about wanting Henry to hang with Class 5A’s top runners, and that’s exactly what the senior did for the Miners.
“Just such a great season for him,” Cuttitta said. “Last year, he was banged up a lot. He raced well, but he never got in that good of shape. He finished 20th, and it was, like, that was a good year. But to be in that top seven is fantastic.”
Senior Will Shuflit wasn’t too far behind, finishing just outside of the top 10 in 11th place. Cuttitta said Shuflit improved the most since last year, when Shuflit wasn’t even racing varsity. He added that Henry and Shuflit had the second- and third-fastest 5K times in Park City’s recorded history on Tuesday.
“After not being on varsity last year, that doesn’t happen very much,” Cuttitta said. “It’s a rare occurrence to make that kind of jump literally over the course of a few months.”
Seniors Will Fleming (24th), Calvin Crossland (26th) and Truman Hansen (40th) rounded out the rest of Park City’s scorers.
Freshman Sonja Preston was Park City’s top finisher for the girls in 29th. Cuttitta recalled how Preston showed up in Cuttitta’s classroom in August, right before the start of the season, saying she wanted to run cross country. Cuttitta handed her a practice schedule, and Preston worked her way up the ranks.
“She kind of started off 10th or 11th on the team, and then she worked her way up and got on varsity,” Cuttitta said. “And then she got in the top five. She ended up as our No. 1 yesterday as a freshman yesterday in her first year of running. Kind of an amazing moment for her – 29th in the state in her first state meet.”
The Miners had a couple more standout performances from their younger runners, as sophomore Maddie McHenry and freshman Paige Wagner finished in 38th and 39th, respectively. Junior Kaylee Hale and senior Hailey McGuire came in 56th and 57th, respectively, to round out Park City’s top five. Senior Ava Coccaro, who ran in the state meet all four years, came in 62nd. The Miners will miss this year’s seniors, but they’ll have plenty of returning talent next year.
“We get to look forward to having Sonja and Paige and Maddie and Kaylee back next year,” Cuttitta said. “That’s our top four, and coming back with our top four runners after finishing seventh, that’s a pretty darn good place to be.”
For both teams, this year’s seniors played a significant role in helping make Park City’s cross country team competitive at the state level. They left an impact on Cuttitta, too.
“We had a couple of down years in there, we had a couple years where I even considered if I was even going to keep coaching and if this was something I wanted to do,” he said. “Then, those (senior) guys, along with the freshman girls that came along in 2019 three falls ago, they kind of really rebuilt the program. It’s just been so fun to coach a group that is willing to work hard.”