College testing resulted in a number of short squads at the Dust Devil Invitational cross country meet in Mohave Valley Saturday. But that didn’t stop The Fighting Knights from an impressive showing.

David Bell/News-Herald File Photo. Havasu’s Tyler Locatis (212) and Parker’s Ryne Carlson (252) makes their way through the course of last week’s Mark Weston Invitational cross country meet on the Bridgewater Links Golf Course. Both runners were back in action Saturday in the Dust Devil Invitational in Mohave Valley.

The Havasu boys second in the five-team meet while the girls won first by being the only squad able to field a full compliment of five runners.

“All the girls won a medal,” said Knights head coach Erika Washington. “The girls are stepping it up. They have the end in mind (and) they know they will see good teams in regionals so talking each meet seriously.”

Lynsey Ryan again led the way for the Lady Knights, finishing first in a time of 23:38.

“She’s doing very well,” Washington said. “She’s even surprising her father (assistant coach John Ryan).”

Rachel Cortez was the second runner to cross the finish line for Havasu. She finished in third place in 24:57 followed by Gloria Moreno in seventh in 28:13, Lili Torres in eighth in 29:20 and Chelsea Kebble in ninth in 31:04.

“Gloria and Chelsea had never run before and show dramatic improvement each week,” Washington said. “Rachel has also shown huge improvement from last year to this. She has proven to be a big leader for the team.”

On the boys’ side, Bullhead City Mohave finished first with 27 points, followed by Havasu with 40, Blythe Palo Verde with 73 and host River Valley at 85. Parker didn’t qualify for team scoring.

Connor Kassik led the way for the Knights, finishing the race in fourth place in a time of 20:27. He was followed Chad Zeman in fifth in 20:58, Garrett Zuber in sixth in 21:07, Tyler Locatis in 11th in 22:18, Joshua Neskahi in 14th in 22:49, Zachary Melvin in17th in 23:07 and Chris Wagner was 21st in 23:51.

“We were short because of SAT testing and we had one runner visiting a college,” Washington said. “And we’ve had some illnesses. Garret barely able to finish practices this week so I was amazed he finished today.”

Plus the performance of a few junior varsity runners have ensured themselves of a varsity spot when the Knights run again on Oct. 15. In Hyub Jeon finished first for in the JV race in a time of 22:09 and Fabrizzio Dransfield was second in 23:06.

Also finishing for the JV Knights was Anthony Kautzman in sixth in 26:21, Cameron Dukes in eighth in 28:47 and Kyle Rosales in ninth in 29:14.

“There were only 40 guys total. So it gave the JV a chance to shine,” Washington said. “Even though a it was a small invitational they exceeded expectations and stepped up for the team.”

The Knights get a long rest as a Wednesday meet in Paradise Valley has been cancelled and a meet hosted by Phoenix Thunderbird next Saturday has been rescheduled to Oct. 15 – the same date as Havasu’s Windsor Beach Multi.

“But we still have practice and we’ll be training hard,” Washington said.

You may contact the reporter at dbell@havasunews.com.