Strong pack running pulled the Durango cross country team into second place for both the boys and girls teams at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede in Colorado Springs, the Demons’ season opener.
Hannah Peterson placed sixth for the girls team, while teammate Shannon Maloney placed ninth.
Nicholas Turco finished 10th and Gordon Gianniny 13th for the DHS boys.
Both teams, ranked fourth in all classes at co.milesplit.com, stayed relatively close together in Thursday’s race, with the boys finishing 45 seconds apart from first to fifth and the girls a 1-minute, 18-second gap from first to seventh.
“This tight pack running is going to stand us in good stead as the season progresses,” DHS head coach David McMillan said in an email Friday to The Durango Herald.
Durango’s junior varsity team received a compliment from another coach, who said Nikhel Kallingel and Hunter Hyatt supported their opponents as they ran side-by-side during the race.
“This is the true measure of the success of our team: We compete hard but always in the spirit of true camaraderie,” McMillan said.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
