Although the Bingham Miners as a team did not qualify for the state championships, several individual runners on their cross country teams did. 

Foremost among them: Isaiah Gilbert. The senior wrapped up his final year at Bingham with a 13th place finish, crossing the line at Sugar House Park in just 15 minutes and 38 seconds. 

It was the seventh time Gilbert finished a race in the top 20. His best finish of the season came up in Quinns Junction Park at the Park City Invitational Sept. 5; the senior reached the finish line in fifth place overall. 

In addition to that top finish, Gilbert was sixth overall at the Timpanogos Invitational in Orem and eighth at Divisionals. On Sept. 14, the Bingham senior also had a 16th place finish at the Border Wars Invitational at Taylorsville’s Valley Complex, a meet that featured some of the top runners from three states. 

Junior Cy Kelley provided a glimpse into his future with a 62nd place finish at the state championships, too. He crossed the line in 16 minutes and 34 seconds at Sugar House Park. Other than Divisionals at which he finished 44th, it marked his best performance of the season in terms of his overall finish. Kelley saved his best meets for last, it seemed. 

Another junior was able to crack the top 100 at state. Deagan Gold finished 81st in a time of 16:54.90. Similar to the performance Kelley put on over the last several weeks, it was Gold finishing in 37th at Divisionals and 39th at the Timp Invitational that put on memorable performances, shining brightly for the Miners. It was “a future so bright he’s gotta wear shades … gotta wear shades …” to reference an old song lyric. 

Bingham had three other top 100 showings at state, led by junior Ben Sorensen, who crossed the line just behind Gold in 90th [17:13.50]. He was followed just .40 of a second later by William Evershed, a senior. 

For Evershed, who was the Miners’ second-highest finisher at Border Wars in 99th, the state championships did mark the final race of his high-school career. A nice footnote is that Evershed improved his finish by 29 seconds from the Timp Invitational to state: 17:42 to 17:13.90. 

Briton Wessman may be an underclassman, but he didn’t run like one, crossing the line at Sugar House Park in a time of 17 minutes and 21 seconds to complete a 95th place finish. Fellow sophomore Ben McDonald crossed in 108th at state, in 18:23.90. 

Girls 

Following in the footsteps of Natalie Swain might prove difficult. But, Eliza Rains is trying her best. The senior finished 66th at Sugar House Park during the 6A girls state cross country championships, in a time of 20 minutes and 29 seconds. 

Meanwhile fellow senior Kaylee Karlsven was about a minute behind her teammate in 101st with a time of 22:10. They were the only two Miners who qualified for state. 

At Divisionals, Rains was 25th [20:23.60] while Karlsven was 44th  in a time of 21 minutes and 39 seconds. 

A name to watch for the future, is freshman Allyse Browning. She finished her first Divisonal in a time of 21 minutes and 46 seconds, right behind Karlsven in 45th. Junior Mackenzie Dye was 55th in 23:08 and sophomore Abigail Hooper was 57th in 23:27. Junior Brooke Bott was 62nd and sophomore Meali’I A’alona, 63rd.