The Ignacio boys cross-country team’s reward for earning the program’s first team title since its 2020 rebirth?
Practice on Labor Day.
Why? The boss wants to keep the train rolling, as it were.
Comprised mainly of New Mexico schools, the boys’ race Friday at Española Valley’s 2023 Del Valdez Memorial Invitational went to the Bobcats on the strength of having the individual runner-up (freshman Cayson Burcham), and their top four all placing inside the top 15.
Burcham clocked a hand-timed 19:18.74, and finished behind only Taos freshman Billy Romero (18:49), who’d placed 25th at the NMAA Class 4A State Championships last fall as an eighth-grader, and who won his first meet as a true high schooler in the Tigers’ 2023 debut.
For IHS, senior Phillip Quintana took 10th place, classmate Corey Gomez wasn’t far back in 12th and sophomore James Martin not much farther – giving Ignacio a solid score-4 core with times head coach Karri McCarter reported as “tight 21s.”
Freshman Judah Ashley also cracked the top 20 – marked by Ojo Caliente (N.M.) Mesa Vista freshman Ezequiel Nevarez, 20th in 22:04 – by placing 18th. Sophomore Dillon Brann and freshman Thunder Windy Boy were slower to finish due to fatigue and illness symptoms brought on by heat approaching 95 degrees.
Sophomore Alyssa Atencio was the only ’Cat to compete for the Ignacio girls, and though not finishing near the front, she was said to have run well throughout the high school girls’ three laps on the sandy track behind EVHS.
“She took on the heat and deep sand and had her strongest finish of the season,” McCarter said.
“The course was a one-mile loop, repeated three times,” she continued. “The whole team reported that this was the toughest course they have run on!”
Española Valley junior Hailey Renteria, 15th at last year’s Class 4A State Championships, won the girls race in just over 22 minutes.
IHS will next go to Grand Junction for GJHS’ Tiger Invitational on Saturday at Connected Lakes State Park.
Bayfield sophomore Porter Sutherlin clocked a sixth-place 21:49.4 and, as the boys’ only top-10 finisher, led the Wolverines to a ninth-place total of 129 points Saturday at the Lake County Invitational.
Placing 37th, Parker Perkerewicz (24:07.0) was BHS’ No. 2, and Will Kennedy-Jones the No. 3 via his 42nd-place 24:19.7. Hunter Carroll took 51st in 25:30.5, Ryan Kurtz was 72nd in 28:00.4 and Tristan Bennett 74th in 28:32.4.
Sean Zimmerman (29:19.5) came in 79th and Alex Ion (29:48.0) 81st on the Colorado Mountain College trails.
The Wolverine girls, meanwhile, equaled Evergreen Clear Creek’s 144 points, but had to settle for seventh place once tiebreaker criteria were considered. Crossing the finish line first for Bayfield was Wrenalee Moore, who took 23rd in 27:37.5. Sporting No. 1 on her race bib, Mila Feely ended up taking 54th in 31:12.0. Kamala Smith placed 70th in 33:23.2, and Sage Flinders finished 83rd in 36:23.4.
LCHS’ Keira King won the race in 23:25.9, while Lakewood Green Mountain’s Bryce Weeks was the boys’ champ in 20:50.2. He and the Rams won the team title with a race-low, adjusted score-4 30 points; King and the Panthers totaled a meet-low 17 to cop the girls’ crown.
Next on Bayfield’s schedule will be a trip to Alamosa on Saturday for the Joe I. Vigil Invitational.
