Northland Prep brings an end to one of country's most impressive championship runs

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Flagstaff is home to reigning NCAA Division 1 men's cross country champion Northern Arizona University, but the main attraction Saturday in the Arizona mountain city were seven other male runners from a small public charter school.

Northland Prep Academy reached rarefied air beyond the 7,000 feet elevation at which it trains, snapping one of the most prestigious championship streaks in all of high school sports.

The Spartans punctuated the 63rd Arizona AIA Cross Country State Championships in memorable fashion, placing five scorers in the top 23 of the Division IV boys final to halt the national record 27-year state title run of Hopi with a 57-68 victory at Cave Creek Golf Course in Phoenix.

Brandon Bounds placed fourth on the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 1 second for Northland Prep, which finished third in last year's championship meet, 30 points behind Hopi. Jihad Nodman led the Bruins by taking second (16:46), but no other Hopi runner finished in the top 10.

The Spartans overcame a projected 22-point hole at the mile and rallied from a nine-point deficit at the 2-mile mark to hand Hopi its first loss at the state championship since a third-place finish in the 1A/2A final in 1989.

The Bruins rebounded by winning 11 consecutive titles in 1A/2A, followed by six in a row in 3A from 2001-06. Hopi returned to 1A/2A competition to capture three straight from 2007-09, before the grouping was changed to Division IV, where the Bruins won the past seven championships.

Hopi was attempting to become only the sixth boys program in the country to win 28 state titles overall, but it was Northland Prep and veteran coach Missy Acker who commanded the spotlight by capturing the program's first boys championship since back-to-back 1A/2A crowns in 2004-05 to go along with a third Division IV girls title in four years.

Hayden Anderson was eighth (17:09), Nalzheii Lonetree finished 12th (17:19), Nicholas Hall -- Northland Prep's lone senior -- took 19th in 17:41 and Micah Stanton secured 23rd (17:56) to hold off the Bruins, who had four scorers in the top 20.

Dewayne Laban and Steven Baker -- son of Hopi coach Rick Baker -- were 13th and 14th in 17:21 and 17:24 for the Bruins, with Mason Talahaftewa placing 20th (17:46) and Shaunanthony Pasano finishing 30th (18:00) for Hopi, which only had three times finish within 10 points during the streak and none since 2005.