Bayfield cross-country head coach Josh Walton will field one of his youngest-ever squads in 2022.
But the 10th-year skipper indicated this week he’s looking forward to developing his crew for the future, and is just as eager to see for himself how the Wolverine boys and girls perform in the present on Saturday at the season-opening Boggy Draw Bear Chase hosted by Dolores High School.
Middle-school racing will get things underway at 9 a.m., with high school action to follow.
“The course isn’t going to change any from what they’ve run in the past, so we can definitely compare their times from previous years on that course,” Walton said. “It kind of gives them a gauge of where they’re at.”
“The team’s young this year – we’re kind of in a rebuilding phase – but I’m really excited.”
Lone junior Tristan Sager returns as the BHS boys’ elder statesman, while Sawyer Flinders, Will Kennedy-Jones and Hunter Carroll all ran at the high school level for the first time last fall and return as sophomores. Freshmen Parker Perkerewicz, Tristan Bennett, Porter Sutherlin and Daemon Christner, as of press time, round out the roster.
“I feel like this group of boys could be as good as they want to be,” said Walton, again to be assisted by Amanda Martin.
“And on the girls’ side,” he continued, “I have Sage Flinders returning – she’s a sophomore – and I currently have two freshmen in Kamala Smith and Wrenalee Moore. I do have others considering going out, but they just haven’t shown up yet.”
Walton also noted the addition of two new coaches. Former assistant coach Amy Miglinas, now principal at BHS, will not be on staff, but Kian Hartley and volunteer Abrah Masterson will be, bringing collegiate-running pedigrees to the table.
“She ran for Cornell College,” Walton said of Masterson, a 2013 Granby Middle Park graduate and later the 2015 NCAA Division III Women’s Cross-Country National Athlete-of-the-Year, “and she’s volunteering a few days a week.”
Hartley, meanwhile, graduated from Broomfield in ’15 and eventually became a four-year letter-winner at NCAA Div. II Regis University in Denver.
“It’s nice having some athletes that have been in the college ranks helping the kids with running,” Walton said.
After competing at the BDBC, Bayfield may take a weekend off – due to the Aug. 26 event hosted by Montezuma-Cortez being canceled – to further train before next seeing action Sept. 3, in Leadville at the lung-straining Lake County Invitational.
“It’s a good team-building event,” Walton said. “We get to spend the night at a place called Silver Cliff Ranch – we really enjoy going there – and they get to run at 10,000 feet. But it’s really good, helps their confidence; once they run in Leadville there really isn’t a course in the state they can’t run. It’s all ‘downhill’ from there!”
“Remembering all the people I’ve coached, it’s been fun; it’s crazy that it’s already been 10 years,” he added. “I’m excited to get this season going.”
