The 5A competition produced a pair of first-time trophy winners in cross country which also happen to represent the same school -- American Fork.

Caveman Austin West earned the individual state title in the boys race as well, while Alexis Laws was the top local finisher in the girls race at second place.

The American Fork boys have finished second at the state meet in three of the past five years, so for them, the triumph was finally getting over the hump. The Cavemen boys were a top favorite entering the race, however, so the victory wasn't exactly a surprise.

The same could not be said of the girls team.

While the squad was among those considered to have a shot at the title, this group had to turn in the best performance of the year to win it all, including capturing final spots Nos. 2-4 Wednesday at Highland High School.

Girls coach Bruno Hunziker praised the entire team, yet singled out two performances. Kaijsa Angerhofer (19:03) had her best three-mile run of the season, finishing third among her teammates (and fourth overall) when she had been fourth- or fifth-fastest most of the fall.

"She's just a sophomore, but she really stepped it up," Hunziker said, before praising another runner who gritted it out.

Morgan Warner, a freshman, missed the last month of competition because of swine flu and still finished second for American Fork, third overall (18:56) and just more than a second behind Laws.

The senior Laws was flush with excitement at bringing home a title.

"We've never trained so hard in our lives. We wanted this so bad. And we got it," Laws said. "We really wanted to not just go after our own best times, but make sure we pushed each other along."

Hunziker watched the first couple looks around the course, and realized his team was in awfully good shape. With just a mile left, he had five in the top 13 spots.

Laws knew Warner was alongside, but after nearly passing out was thrilled to find she had friends in close proximity.

"I was praying they were there," she said.

There wasn't much need for crossed fingers. Hunziker noted it was a far cry from the drama he expected with Davis, the second-place team that had 81 points - 49 more than the Cavemen.

"I thought for sure it would be five or maybe 10 points between us and Davis," Hunziker said. "But it was a dominating run. We feel really good about it."

American Fork also had the 11th-place finisher (Jamie Lee) and No. 12 (Danielle West). Lakyn Lux and Jasmyn Hildebrandt completed the list of entrants.

The male West ran the course in 15:23, followed by Clayton Young third (15:43), Robby Lee fourth (15:51), Mackenzie Morrison 10th and Ashenafe Richardson 18th. Jeff Nelson and Corey Jackson also competed. The squad finished 50 points ahead of second place.

"This feels amazing," Austin West said. "The race went about as I expected. We've been working really hard during practice and trying to keep the team together. We decided to try our best and if we win, we do, and if we don't, we don't. This is so tight."

The team had a definite strategy for this meet, and boys coach Timo Mostert said they executed it to perfection.

"Run a smart first mile, then punish everyone else in the second and third mile," he explained. "We just kept pushing past people and moving up. Our goal was to win this pretty handily, and we were able to do that.

"This is huge for our school."

The trophy did indeed have extra significance for the boys, since American Fork has not won a state championship in a male sport for 25 years.

The Cavemen aren't done yet, either.

"Now we just need to get ready for Nike Regionals," the coach said.

That event is Nov. 21 in Tempe, Ariz. If American Fork can finish in the top two there, the team would advance to Nationals.

"We've been ranked second behind Albuquerque Academy all year," Mostert said. "If we race there the way we've been running, we have a great chance."

The Cavemen were not the only local harriers to have something to celebrate, however. Competing as an individual, Lone Peak junior Steven Morrin came in second, just 5.5 seconds behind West.

"I'm happy," he said. "I wanted first or second, so I achieved my goal. I also set a personal record for this course today and dropped my time from last year by 38 seconds."

Morrin was ninth in the 2008 state meet.

"Next year, I hope to win state and go to nationals at Footlocker," Morrin added. "I hope to be recruited by a college which offers both strong academics and athletics."

Coming in second in the team standings was none other than neighbor and fellow region member Pleasant Grove, with Evan Argyle (fifth at 15:55), Darren Gleason, Haven Shelton, Brady Olson, Schyler Harmon, Mark Lyons and Hyrum Gurr competing.

The Vikings have not finished second in cross country since 1997.

"This is a big step for our program," said Vikings coach Chandler Goodwin. "We've faced American Fork quite a bit this year and while we've never beaten them, we have moved closer and closer.

"I knew that it would be tight between us and Davis, but our first man came in before their first and then we had three finish real close together ahead of their pack. That's how we were able to do it," the coach said.

The Vikings topped the Darts by 23 points.

• Beky Beaton can be reached at bbeaton@heraldextra.com. Jason Franchuk can be reached at jfranchuk@heraldextra.com.