Cross Country: Wilson 26th for MP boys at Conley

Dan Wilson was in a mini-slump. The past two meets, he said, hadn't shaped up how he'd hoped.

At the Scottsdale Running Company Festival Sept. 13, the Mountain Pointe cross country senior came in 18th, with a disappointing time of 17:03.10.

But something changed for the 36th annual Doug Conley Invite at Kiwanis Park in Tempe Saturday morning. After a personal record of 16:23.68 - almost 40 seconds off his 5,000 meter time from the meet two weeks earlier - Wilson was all smiles.

"The last two meets didn't go well at all. My head just wasn't really there," said Wilson, who was 26th at the event, which draws the top schools and individuals from every class all Arizona. "Mentally, I was there today, and that was the biggest thing."

Wilson attributed his good day to the ability to pass big groups of runners.

"When I get in packs, I've just got to keep moving and keep passing packs," he said. "I felt really good today. The last two meets, I just did awful, worse than my sophomore year. But today was really good."

As a team, the Pride boys were 18th. Usual No. 2 Brian Bauer was fourth on the team and 93rd overall at 17:30.50.

"Brian, he just had an off day," Wilson said. "Usually on a good day, he'd be about (17:00) or under, right around there. But everyone else, our normal (Nos.) 3, 4, 5, they did really well. They PR'd tremendously today.

"As a team, we did really well today."