Johnathan Yazzie paused for about 30 seconds after crossing the finish line first. Went over and hugged teammate Searle Tracy, grabbed a cup of water and doused himself with it. Then he jogged back to the finish chute to look for other teammates.

All in a morning's work Saturday for Yazzie -- and repeat girls champ Rolonda Jumbo -- as the Chinle Wildcat runners garnered individual titles at the varsity invitational races of the 39th Doug Conley Cross Country Meet at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Tempe. New team champs were crowned in the varsity invitationals with Highland's boys and Xavier taking the girls title with its B team.

Yazzie, a senioir who placed sixth in the 2010 Conley, broke out early and sustained his lead in a tight field. He crossed the finish line with a time of 16 minutes, 6.48 seconds, a little more than four seconds better than Mingus' Juan Wells and six seconds ahead of Rincon's Ryan Silva.

Yazzie was hoping to meet up with Cibola's Bernie Montoya, but Cibola chose not to compete.

"I really thought Montoya would be here," Yazzie said. "I decided to go out, stay strong and take off."

Chinle didn't quite have enough to win the boys invitational team title as Highland prevailed with a winning score of 102. Chinle finished with 121, followed by Brophy 130, Desert Vista 160 and Mesa Mountain View 164. Highland's top five were David Graham (9th), Logan Woolf (12th), Mannie Aguilar (19th), Alex Fabiano (23rd) and Weston Jones (39th).

Jumbo, a senior and three-time defending D-III (3A) state champion, had a less difficult time winning the Conley for the second year in a row. She sliced three seconds off her winning time of a year ago and won going away.

"I wanted to go right at it right away," Jumbo said. "This is a much different terrain than we're used to running on. I wanted to repeat, and gave it everything I had."

Jumbo's winning time was 18:26.26. Coming in second 34 seconds behind was Highland standout Tory Haberman at an even 19 minutes. Xavier's Jessica Molloy, Mingus' Emma Schraner and Mesa Mountain View's Billie Dytrt rounded out the top five.

Xavier's overwhelming depth stood out in its varsity invitational team title. The Gators gave their top runners the week off to prepare for next week's Mt. SAC Invitational  in Walnut, Calif.  Their second team of Molloy (3rd), Shelby Brown (9th), Savannah Gaffney (11th), Shannon Molvin (12th) and Julianne Vice (14th) totaled 49 points. That bettered runner-up Highland (93), Desert Vista (99), Mesa Mountain View (102) and Sahuaro (161).

Winners in the other four races run Saturday were: Tempe's Diana Garcia (19:36.78) in the girls open varsity race; Xavier's Hannah Coffman in the girls junior varsity race; Greenway's Max Talamantes in the boys open varsity race and Desert Vista's Jacob Walimaa in the boys junior varsity race.