By Kirk Kern
Four years ago, running cross country wasn’t even on Carter Prater’s radar.
The Skye Canyon resident was a freshman at Somerset Academy Skye Pointe, focused on playing basketball. But when the basketball coach left the program, the tall, lanky athlete began thinking about track and cross country.
It turned out to be a good choice.
Prater ran away from the field to claim the state championship for the Eagles on Nov. 8, competing on a high-altitude course in Northern Nevada. He finished the 5K in 15:42—11 seconds faster than the second-place runner. Somerset Academy Skye Pointe finished second overall, six points behind first-place Galena. The week before, the Eagles—competing for the first time in the highest Division 5A—won the Southern Regionals.
“Carter broke the course record at state,” coach Paul Sheppard said. “It was an incredibly difficult course—the hardest course in all of Nevada.”
This was Somerset Academy Skye Pointe’s first year competing in Division 5A, after both the boys and girls teams won state titles at the Division 4A level last year. Prater runs about 75 miles per week in training, far exceeding the standard program Sheppard recommends for his runners.
“I tell them, ‘You can’t be a successful cross country runner running 10 miles a week,’” said Sheppard, who was named boys cross country coach of the year by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We need to do 20 or 30 miles a week. But Carter was like, ‘Oh, OK. I’m going to do 60 or 70 miles a week.’
“It’s a lot, but his body responds to the high mileage. He doesn’t race well when he goes below 50. That just means he’s going to excel even more in college, where they’ll run 100-plus miles a week.”
Next year, Prater will run for the University of Colorado, one of two local runners set to compete at the Division I level.
Prater credits his parents, Ken and Emily, for their support.
“They buy me so many shoes—thousands of dollars’ worth,” he said. “It’s so expensive. They drive me everywhere. It’s great.”
He remembers his first conversation with his parents about focusing on cross country.
“My mom was excited because she thought running was a cheap sport,” he said jokingly. “But then they really started researching it. It’s a whole thing. I go through about six pairs of shoes every year.”
Along with Prater, the Eagles had Sawyer Hutton finish third overall and Ryan Petty finish ninth at the state meet. At the Southern Regionals, Somerset Academy beat second-place Bishop Gorman by 58 points and posted an average runner time nearly a minute faster than the Gaels.
Prater finished second at the Southern Regionals, less than a second behind first-place Brady Anderson of Faith Lutheran. Hutton was next for the Eagles, Shane Ramirez finished sixth and Petty took seventh.
In the girls state finals, Somerset Academy Skye Pointe placed third overall, behind Faith Lutheran and Carson High. The Eagles’ top finisher was Aislin McMahon, who placed second. Lacey Tippetts finished 12th.
Somerset Academy again took first place at the Southern Regionals, finishing 19 points ahead of second-place Coronado. McMahon placed second, with Tippetts finishing third.
In addition to Sheppard being named boys coach of the year, Prater, Petty and Hutton earned first-team All–Southern Nevada honors from the Review-Journal. Ramirez was named to the second team, and Mason Haag earned honorable mention.
McMahon and Tippetts were named first-team All–Southern Nevada on the girls side, with Katherine Hodges and MacKenzie Teal earning second-team honors. Aubrey Lay, MacKenzie McClain and Olivia Wheeler received honorable mention.