Mesa Mountain View’s top duo beat the top tandem from Phoenix Pinnacle in its head-to-head showdown. But it was the depth of Pinnacle’s girls cross country team that proved to be too strong as the Pioneers won the team title at Saturday’s 37th annual Doug Conley Invitational held in Tempe.

Pinnacle finished with 129 points to get past runner-up Phoenix Desert Vista (145) on an abnormally cool morning for this event in what many consider to be the prestigious meet of the season.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Pinnacle coach Taylor Hindle said, “but it does give us some much needed momentum heading into state.

“At pretty much every other meet this season, whatever could go wrong has,” Hindle said. “We finally put together a solid team effort.”

Leading Pinnacle’s effort were Christen Collins and Lacey Kalinen, who finished fourth and fifth overall, respectively, but third and fourth among schools with full teams, which factored into the team scoring.

The Pinnacle pair finished in back of Mountain View’s Sarah Schmidt and Brianna Decker, who claimed the top two spots.

But the Toros team placed a distant ninth overall with 281 points.

Schmidt won the race in 18 minutes, 40 seconds, passing Decker in the final mile. Decker finished at 18:44.08, just clipping Casa Grande’s Kylee Kieser (18:44.10) at the finish line.

“We wanted to finish 1-2, that was our goal all week,” Schmidt said about Decker, her teammate and cousin. “We wanted to stay with each other and help each other. It was a very tough, hilly course. But we trained for it this week and I think it helped.”

Desert Vista coach Doug Cristofis feels this experience will only help his girls team. The Thunder received a 10th-place performance from Megan Kupres (19:25), and had three of its runners in the top 14.

“Everyone knows this is one of the top races, if not the top,” Cristofis said. “I’m really happy we came here. Some teams didn’t — and I don’t know why — but this will help us tremendously as we move forward.”

Mountain View’s boys team used a strong pack mentality to win the boys title with 104 points. Alhambra finished second at 163 and Catalina Foothills was third with 166.

Tyler Bingham paced the Toros with a fourth-place effort in 16:05. The remainder of Mountain View’s four runners all placed in the top 30. Steve Magnuson of Tucson Ironwood Ridge cruised to the individual win in 15:43.

“We went after this course with a different strategy than other teams I think,” Mountain View coach Chris Alexander said about the five-kilometer, two-loop course. “We wanted to attack the second half of each loop. This worked to our advantage because we were patient. I think we may have surprised a few people.”

What did surprise plenty of runners on the day was the course itself. After many years at Kiwanis Park, the meet moved to Rolling Hills Golf Course in Tempe, where the event originally was held. The race directors made sure to keep the hills that accentuate the golf course in the running route.

“It was tough, especially at Mile 2,” Bingham said. “We walked the course before the race, but it’s completely different once you are racing on it.”

“I liked the course because it didn’t have one big hill, but a lot of little hills,” said Schmidt, who was lying prone along with Decker for several minutes following the girls race.

Alexander said the course was much like what runners will experience at the state meet. “It keeps you guessing,” Alexander said. “You have to know when to be patient and when to attack. I think this was a great experience for our teams.”

Boys team standings: 1. Mesa Mountain View 104; 2. Alhambra 163; 3. Catalina Foothills 166; 4. Brophy Prep 172; 5. Mingus 191; 6. Tuba City 226; 7. Hopi 229; 8. Corona del Sol 9. Ironwood Ridge 236; 10. Saguaro 344; 11. Sunnyside 359; 12. Cesar Chavez 361; 13. Chinle 361; 14. Salpointe Catholic 361; 15. Red Mountain 372; 16. McClintock 385; 17. Flowing Wells 391; 18. Highland 392; 19. Sandra Day O'Connor 426; 20. Boulder Creek 492; 21. Rincon 497; 22. Page 520; 23. Nogales 522; 24. Pinnacle 544; 25. Mountain Pointe 551; 26. Marcos de Niza 593; 27. Ganado 638; 28. Tempe 888.

Top individuals: 1. Magnuson (IR) 15:43; 2. Martinez (Al) 15:57; 3. Yazzie (TC) 15:58; 4. Bingham (MV) 16:05; 5. Duarte (CC) 16:07; 6. Firth (BP) 16:10; 7. Woodbury (CF) 16:11; 8. Orman (TC) 16:12; 9. Segovia (Trevor Browne) 16:13; 10. Baker-Slama (CDS) 16;17.

Girls team standings: 1. Pinnacle 129; 2. Desert Vista 145; 3. Highland 167; 4. Chinle 178; 5. Ironwood Ridge 185; 6. Page 202; 7. Sandra Day O'Connor 216; 8. Mesquite 272; 9. Mesa Mountain View 281; 10. Sunnyside 285; 11. Nogales 288; 12. Corona del Sol 310; 13. Mingus 337; 14. Cactus Shadows 376; 15. Sabino 379; 16. Desert Mountain 396; 17. Buena 408; 18. Tuba City 412; 19. Hamilton 429; 20. Mountain Pointe 435; 21. Catalina Foothills 437; 22. Boulder Creek 501; 23. Liberty 508; 24. Desert Ridge 576; 25. Centennial 597; 26. Red Mountain 630; 27. Tempe 797.

Top individuals: 1. Schmidt (MV) 18:40; 2. Decker (MV) 18:44.08; 3. Kieser (Casa Grande) 18:44.10; 4. Collins (P) 18:53; 5. Kalinen (P) 18:54; 6. Lenihan (Mara Mountain View) 18:55; 7. Jimenez (N) 19:04; 8. Price (Sab) 19:11; 9. DeLaveaga (Perry) 19:16; 10. Hatch (High) 19:19.