Pedestrian was almost pressed to turn equestrian last Saturday.
"We had a 'horse jump' the kids had to handle, a ditch three or four feet wide the kids had to jump over," Bayfield Cross-Country head coach Josh Walton recalled on the long ride home from the Grand Valley, "two or three mud pits the kids had to run through.the course had some obstacles to it!"
Sounds as though organizers couldn't have made it any more "cross-country" if they tried.
The Trails at Matchett Park, site of 5A Grand Junction Central's 2015 Warrior Invitational, truly made for a "Spartan-type race" in Walton's eyes. It was also a quality location at which to begin the new season. And led by top-20 efforts from juniors Bridget Goddard and Rachel Cooper in the girls' feature and sophomore Sloan Mazur in the boys', the boss re-boarded the bus a satisfied coach.
"It was a brand-new course we've never run before," said Walton, "and the kids had fun with it."
Mazur finished 20th overall in 18 minutes, 46 seconds, and junior Bryan Gram (19:56) followed next in 32nd place. Senior Brandon Stuever's 20:58 stood for 38th, and juniors Joey Sandrey (21:09) and Justis Herrera (22:15) rounded out the Wolverine boys' top five in 39th and 44th place, respectively.
Central junior Jared Leblow won with a course-record 16:34, and following closest were 5A Fruita Monument soph Dalton Haraway (16:57) and 5A Grand Junction junior Jed Wilson (17:00).
For the BHS girls, Goddard paced the squad with a 19th-place 22:50, and Cooper was right near her heels with a 20th-place 22:56. Senior Lexa Fleming did her part to keep the pack tight and finished 24th (23:12), and junior Amber Johnson took 38th with a 25:29.
4A Palisade swept the top three individual spots with its senior trio of Greta Van Calcar (18:13), Brier Youngfleish (19:24) and Stephanie Griffin (20:05).
"The last 20, 30 meters right before the finish line, when your legs were dead, you had to jump over these hay bales! It pushed you a little bit!" Walton said. "And all of our kids ran well."
Freshman Sarah Ruybal ran the course in 26:54, landing her 13th in the junior-varsity girls' event. Had she ran varsity, she would have finished 40th, not far behind Johnson.
Up next for Bayfield will be this weekend's Joe I. Vigil Open.
"Going to Alamosa this week," said Walton, "then get ready for our home meet on Sept. 11."
That will be an evening meet, hosted with Durango High School, at the Hillcrest Golf Club.
