Of all of the high school sports in Arizona, one sport might have more programs rip off at least five straight teams champions than all of the sports.

Cross country teams seem to find a way to have sustained excellence and win titles for a half a decade or more including at the Division I level.

The Highland girls team have an opportunity to join that elite group as the Hawks have won four straight and are the favorites in Division I again this year when the starter gun goes off Saturday, Nov. 15 at Cave Creek Golf Course.

The Hawks are not the only team to have this level of success. The Hopi boys program is in a category by itself as it won a national record 27 straight titles from 1990 to 2016.

In addition to Hopi, five other boys programs have at least five consecutive team titles.

On the girls side of team championships, five different programs that have pulled off a five-peat a total of seven different times with Hopi and Flagstaff doing it twice.

It’s rarer to accomplish in the largest division as it has only happened only once on the girls side when Xavier won six straight from 2007 to 2012. On the boys side of it, only the Desert Vista boys squad won five straight in the largest classification, accomplishing it from 2014 to 2018.

The coach then and now for Desert Vista is Chris Hanson. He believes there are several aspects to a season that have to go right to repeat as team champions, including wiping out the mindset of past success as nothing is given and all is earned.

“When we won five straight, each year we preached ‘This isn’t last year,’ ” Hanson said. “The culture, however, always remains as a proponent of keeping “The Process” in everything we did.”

And something that might be even more vital for the annual success was the idea of being the first group to have it end.

“Each class didn’t want to the let the streak to end,” Hanson said.

The guilt of falling short, in other words, letting down those who came before them is part of it, culture is another trait, luck and health are always involved along with having sustained success and the fact that underclassmen can have a huge impact as physicality and size are not as much of a factor compared to contact sports plays a part as well.

The Hawks are in the midst of it and have a chance to break into that elite category of winning five straight big-school titles. One more great team effort and the Hawks will have won a team title for a half-a-decade consecutively.

It means some runners have won the team title their entire careers.

“I believe the success we have had over the past four years is not attributed to one thing,” Highland co-head coach Tara Hall said. “But rather several things such as our team culture, talented athletes and work ethic to name a few. The girls hold each other accountable to be at practice, work hard and support each other.

“We try to have fun along the way and not take things too seriously. We do have some talented underclassmen who look up to the upper-class girls. This helps motivate the younger girls to carry on the winning tradition.”

The Hawks easily won their Division I Northeast meet to qualify for state as their top five runners finished within the top 12 led by sophomore Natalia Morris, senior Audra Huempfner, sophomore Katelyn Anderson, sophomore Ella Bonnette and senior Camryn Delancey.

Desert Vista and Xavier will push the Hawks in the team race.

The individual title will be competitive as well with Basha’s Taylor Drewry, Xavier’s Kennedy Frakes, and Morris contending for the best time.

On the boys side, Mountain Ridge looks to be the team to beat with Basha, Desert Vista, Rincon and Hamilton as contenders as well.

Hamilton’s Zarian Rodriguez is the defending state champion and he will be pushed by Desert Vista’s Santiago Araiza, and he will have to contend with Cibola’s Caius Lastra, Rincon’s Finnegan Hawes, Red Mountain’s Crew Comish and the Mountain Ridge duo of Colin Foley and Jake Olson.

The key to being successful on the season’s final event is to make sure to taper off at the right time with the hope of peaking in November.

“Cross country is a long season that begins during the summer,” Hall said. “Summer training is important to our success in the fall. We use the summer to build a solid base and schedule meets during the season that allow the girls to compete against the best runners in the state.

“We don’t necessarily back off but tell the girls that the training is a process and if they trust the process the results will come.”

Notes

ALA Queen Creek is attempting to three-peat in D-III. Coach Duerk Brewer has won 13 consecutive state titles, including 10 Charter Athletic Association junior high titles. His top runners are Tally Call, Jada O’Leary, Brynlee Johnson, Addison Johnson, freshman Brooklyn Haymore, Evelyn Klomp, and Trinley Workman.

Boys

Division I

Senior Zarian Rodriguez, Hamilton, 14:52.1, Desert Twilight 

Division II

Junior Yohanes van Meerten, Flagstaff, 14:25.7 Desert Twilight

Division III

Symond Martin, Page, 14:43.7,  Ojo Rojo Invitational

Division IV

Senior Benjamin Benally, Valley Lutheran, 15:28.7, Ojo Rojo Invitational

Girls

Division I

Senior Taylor Drewry, Basha, 17:38.7, Chandler City Championship

Division II

Senior Taylor Biggambler, Flagstaff, 17:54.0, Desert Twilight

Division III

Junior Tally Call, ALA-Queen Creek, 18:19.7, East Valley Invitational

Division IV

Senior Jasmine Hall, BASIS Flagstaff, 18:29.8, East Valley Invitational