As the Harvest Moon rose over Hillcrest Golf Club Friday night, Durango’s girls cross country team rose to the top once again.
Coming into the Durango and Bayfield co-hosted Southwest Sunset Classic meet, the Demons girls were unbeaten. They won the Widefield meet in Colorado Springs and followed it up with a dominant win at the Joe Vigil XC Invite in Alamosa.
Friday night was no different as the Demons eked out their third consecutive win in their own backyards.
Anna Smagacz’s time of 20 minutes, 20 seconds led the Demons and gave her a third-place overall finish. Durango had four of the top 11 runners as Bekah Moenning finished fourth in 20:22, Sarah Smagacz (21:08) eighth and Mary Fenberg 11th in 21:18.
The undefeated Demons beat Alamosa by two points without two of their top runners, Madeline Burns and Abby Scott.
With a time of 20:03, Mean Moose freshman Lilly Lavier beat everyone. Teammate Tara Sowards was second place in 20:06.
Bayfield’s Claire Hufnagel led the Wolverines with a 24th place finishing time of 22:33. Amber Johnson was 47th with a time of 24:13, Rachel Cooper (24:31) was 50th, Mylee Sanders (30:17) was 67th and Jade Sanders (35:23) was 68th.
The defending meet champions boys team was outdone by a powerful Alamosa squad that ran away from the rest.
Isaiah DeLaCerda blazed through the hilly Hillcrest course in 16:06 to lead the Mean Moose to a convincing victory. Durango finished second as a team and was led by senior Harry Steinberg’s third-place effort of 16:45. Marcus Flint finished 11th in 17:17.
“It was a coming of age race for Marcus,” Durango head coach David McMillan wrote in an email to The Durango Herald. “He is really showing the benefits of good summer training being the second sophomore to finish.”
Coltin Gallegos finished 14th for 17:26 and Aidan Fitzgerald’s 17:41 placed him fifth.
Bayfield’s Sloan Mazur finished in 62nd place with a time of 20:33. Cody Speece (20:33) was right behind in 63rd, Bryan Gram (20:40) 64th, Jackson Sibley (20:46) finished 65th, Gus Roberts (21:18) was 68th and Nathan Carlson (21:50) finished 74th.
Next up for the Demons is the Anna Banana Invite in Fruita for Colorado High School Activities Association 4A Southwestern League Championships.
“Our girls plan to defend their unbeaten record and are fired up for the league championships,” McMillan said.
In the Community 5K Race, Brett Wilson’s 16:47 was best for the men and Laura Knapp’s 21:04 earned her first-place honors in the women’s race.
jfries@durangoherald.com
