Sabino girls cross country coach Doug McSpadden pondered the results, scratched his head and then gave a shrug.
"I knew we had a chance to win, but I'm surprised by the margin," McSpadden said. "We looked really good today."
"Really good" was an understatement. Sabino won a quad-meet at the 2.85-mile McDonald Park by placing five runners in the top six, including race winner Christina Price.
The Sabercats had a score of 16 — one more than the minimum — and breezed past Rincon/University (55) and Canyon del Oro (63). Marana did not score.
The multi-faceted course, which is short and built for speed, offers grass, sandy washes, desert trails and some paved road. Sabino's training regimen recently went into a speed phase, and it showed.
"We left our long miles — the kids call them 'zombie miles' — and started doing some hills, which is basically speed work in disguise," McSpadden said. "The other teams ran well; we just looked prepared."
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Price, a sophomore, led for the race's entirety, with freshman teammate Mary Bowen a step behind her all the way. Price won in 19 minutes 5 seconds, and Bowen crossed the finish line 1 second later.
"I like it a lot having someone push you like that," Price said. "It makes you better. It makes you want to keep your place, so you fight harder."
CDO's Kyle Bush easily won the boys race in 16:04 and led his team to a convincing victory. The Dorados scored 23 points, with Rincon (45), Sabino (85) and Marana (95) far behind.
Bush and Rincon's Arturo Vega-Flores were neck-and-neck through the first mile when Bush hit his stride on the most difficult part of the course.
"I walked through the wash before the race and I thought it was going to be hard, but it was a lot easier than I expected," Bush said. "I was with Arturo and then I left him behind."
Tanque Verde sophomore Simon Yoklic — whose team did not have enough runners to score — surprised some with his second-place finish in 16:18.
Despite being from a Class 1A school in a meet with 4A and 5A teams, Yoklic proved his worth while having an internal battle.
"I always want to beat my own time," he said. "If I win a race, but I didn't beat my own time, I'm not that happy. It's more about beating yourself. But it does help when I beat the other people, too."
The Sabino boys did not run any of their varsity runners so they could rest for Saturday's Doug Conley Invitational in Tempe. The race features the top 20 boys and girls teams in the state, 1A through 5A rankings.
