Henry Domine is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Arcadia High School for AZPreps365.com

The Arcadia girls and boys placed 13th and 33rd respectively in the varsity races at Glendale Showcase on Saturday, which closed their regular season.

Glendale Showcase hosted some of the state's top talent, including Millennium’s Landen LeBlond who won at 18 minutes, 21 seconds. Division IV's top runner Glenn Thomas's 15:50 time won the boys race. Rounding out the meet's best runners was the state leader in the three mile, Peyton Schneider, who finished fourth in the boys race.

Winners of the team competition was the Millennium girls (126 points) and the Shadow Ridge boys (73 points).

Arcadia's best finisher was Kaileena Ferguson, who placed 17th overall with a 20:22, her new personal record. She was "very happy” with her performance, and compared her last race at the Desert Twilight XC Festival to Saturday's Showcase.

"Last week I was sick so this week I felt a lot better," Ferguson said. She added, “Twilight was fun but I kind of like this race more because it is easier to navigate and run better.”

Glendale Showcase is in stark contrast to Arcadia’s last meet Desert Twilight, one of the nation's biggest meets of the year that hosts many of the top runners from the Southwest. Glendale Showcase had its fair share of talent, but nothing compared to Twilight's depth.

Arcadia senior Scott Gurley said he likes the big competition of the big meets more than a small meet because there are so many people cheering on the runners.

After the race, Arcadia boys coach Tyler Moore spoke about the team’s preparation coming into this week.

"This is our last week before fall break, so what we did was try to push through a heavy training week," Moore said.

He also said he “wanted to challenge" this girls team this year, as the "core is all juniors and sophomores, and push them into that next level to try and get faster times out of them.”

Coach Sarah Boustila added about Arcadia that there were “lots of smiles due to lots of (personal records), spirits are high, and got a few medals for girls who have never had a medal, so their hard work is paying off.”

Boustila also looked forward to the postseason meets such as the upcoming Scottsdale District meet on Oct. 19.

“The girls should be outstanding, the boys it’s a tough bracket,” Boustila said. She added about sectionals, “We are aiming to make it to the top team, so the girls can make it as a team to state, and the boys might have one or two individuals make it."