The Duchesne High School Eagles fought off a close battle with Manila and Altamont to take first place at the Region 16 Boys Cross Country Meet that was held at Fort Duchesne Thursday at Uintah River High School. The Eagles scored 36 points to finish ahead of runner-up Manila at 42 and third-place Altamont at 43 counters. The 1-A State Boys Meet is set for Wednesday in Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City at 12 noon.

Duchesne's Jordan Allred edged Eagle teammate Josh Farnsworth for first place with a time of 19:29.20. Farnsworth was second at 19:59.68. Allred had Duchesne's top finish last year in the state meet at 22nd.

“Running in Fort Duchesne was hard, but I had a good run. I took the lead about halfway in the race when I hit the dirt part of the course, and then I turned on my speed for a good finish,” stated Allred. “The hill wasn't too bad. However, running to the top got my muscles tired.”

Farnsworth finished 30 seconds behind top runner Allred, and Hinton scored team points to help the Eagles take top male team honors.

“I like how we ran somewhere in the wilderness instead of running around a track,” commented J. Farnsworth.

Hinton enjoyed the course near Uintah River High School in Fort Duchesne.

“It was a little slippery running on dirt, but it was real cross country meet with all the jumps (bales of hay with Halloween jack-o'-lanterns were hurdled by runners on various parts of the course),” he said.

Placing third at the Region 16 Meet was Altamont's Lance Walker at 20:04.99 and finishing fourth was Manila's Jared Reed at 20:14.22. Reed's teammate Matthew Northcott was fifth at 20:15.84. Rich's Kalon Weston pocketed sixth at 20:16.55.

Also placing were: Nathan Northcott, Manila, seventh, 20:17.47; Brady Enman, Altamont, eighth, 20:39.19; R.J. Cook, Altamont, ninth, 21:24.44; Landon Miles, Altamont, tenth, 21:31.08; Jared Hinton, Duchesne, 11th, 22:29.51; Alex Farnsworth, Duchesne, 12th, 22:45.37; Bryson Bruso, Duchesne, 13th, 22:47.54; Dominic Pease, Manila, 14th, 22:54.81; Jacob Raymond, Manila, 15th, 22:55.98; Aaron Wickel, Duchesne, 16th, 23:24.56; Mac McKinnon, Altamont, 17th; Chris Ponath, Duchesne, 18th; Brady Moon, Duchesne, 19th and Colten Ferrin, Manila, 20th.

Nathan Northcott of Manila was happy with the meet being run under a sunny sky.

“It was warm and gave me a good run. Nice weather always makes for a super run,” he said.

The top ten finishers qualified for the state meet. Duchesne, Manila and Altamont qualified its squads for placing in the team division. Allred, J. Farnsworth, Hinton, A. Farnsworth and Bruso were DHS' top runners and the best AHS runners were: Walker, Enman, Cook, Miles and McKinnon. Top Manila competitors were: , Reed, two Northcotts, Pease and Raymond.

Other Duchesne County male runners on Duchesne and Altamont 2009 cross country teams, who took part in last year's state meet, were: Cook and Walker.