US#1 Herriman UT Rolls To Team Victory With 59 Points With All Five Scorers In Top 20; Freshman Adria Favero Joins Olympus Teammate Jourdon In Winner's Circle; Lincoln OR Girls Defeat Boise ID

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

JoJo Jourdon never gave up on himself. 

The senior from Olympus UT first had to convince himself he was healthy to race Saturday at the Bob Firman Invitational at Eagle Island State Park in Idaho.

After a fourth-place finish at the 42nd Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine, Calif., last weekend, Jourdon had felt sick late in the week. 

Jourdon's first win was making it to the starting line. 

The second, and most dramatic, came at the end of the elite varsity boys race when he tracked down junior Evan Noonan of Dana Hills from five seconds behind in the final straightaway to break the meet record with 14:55.0. 

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"Coming into the finish I thought, 'I can maybe get him, I can maybe get him,' I just had to finish really hard," Jourdon said. "I barely edged him at the end."

A week after finishing 16 seconds behind Noonan on the fast and flat 3-mile layout at Orange County Great Park in Southern California, Jourdon slipped past Noonan by 0.7 seconds. 

Herriman UT, the top-ranked team in the country, put five athletes in the top 20 and scored 59 points to pick up another invitational trophy.

William Steadman was seventh overall (fifth in team scoring) in 15:26.9. Tayshaun Ogomo was 11th in 15:30.3, Jack Beckstrom was 13th in 15:32.5, Jonah Tang was 18th in 15:40.5 and Max Hofheins, who sat out at Woodbridge, was 20th in 15:41.4. 

Orem UT was second with 156 points and Layton UT was third with 169. 

Rocky Mountain's Landon Heemeyer, the defending champion and previous meet record holder, led at 3.8 kilometers but was passed by Noonan, Jourdon and Orem's Austin Westfall and finished fourth. 

Noonan also went under Heemeyer's 2022 meet record time of 14:58.4, but was unable to hold off Jourdon and collapsed soon after crossing the finish line. 

Olympus UT freshman Adria Favero won the girls elite varsity race in 17:50.8, taking the lead by the first mile and pulling away from Boise's Audrey Orme to win by seven seconds. 

Ellery Lincoln of Lincoln OR, 21st at the mile, moved up in the second half of the race to take third in 18:03.8. Her teammate, Keira Saavedra, placed fourth (18:08.8) and the Cardinals scored 74 points to win the team title. 

Boise ID, paced by Orme's second-place 17:57.9, was runner-up with 100 points, Rocky Mountain ID was third with 162 points and Orem UT was fourth with 168.