The Durango High School cross-country teams ran at the University of New Mexico’s Lobo Invite on Saturday in Albuquerque.
Unfortunately because of an error with the timing chips at the meet, the Demons weren’t able to clock any official times on the flat and fast golf course where the race was held.
“It was a colossal failure,” said DHS head coach Ron Keller. “The chips were all faulty.”
Using video footage and other means, Keller was able to figure out the DHS girls won the meet, the team’s third win in four races this season, and said he believes the DHS boys finished third.
Durango’s five scoring girls all finished 18th or better, helping DHS place first out of the 23 schools at the meet with 66 points. Albuquerque Academy, last year’s 4A New Mexico runner-up, finished second with 100 points. Cleveland and Eldorado, who finished third and fourth at last year’s 5A state meet, tied for third at 113. The defending 5A champs, Volcano Vista, finished fifth.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve seen every team in New Mexico that’s high caliber now,” Keller said.
Willow Lott finished seventh to lead DHS.
“Willow is starting to move up the ladder and progress like we thought she would,” Keller said.
Brynn Aggeler crossed 11th. Dewa Ilg celebrated her 15th birthday by placing 14th. Sophia Voss was throwing up before the race, but still ran and finished 16th. Nina Quayle finished 18th to round out Durango’s team score while Ayumi Lambert finished 20th and Avery Cerwin came in 33rd.
“The girls had good times,” Keller said.
Myra Quayle won the junior varsity girls race and, with Aileen McManus moving up, DHS won the JV title with 33 points to Cleveland’s 56.
In the boys varsity race, Luke Swenk and Nathaniel Ellis ran near the front and competed for the win. Swenk ended up finishing fourth, Ellis placed sixth and Charlie Dillman finished 16th to lead the Demons. Brody Dorko, Miles Snow, Allan Hardee and Micah Zastrocky also ran, but did not get placed because of the timing problem.
“I’m really encouraged with the boys; they’re getting better every week,” Keller said. “I think they were within about one minute of our No. 1 runner. Brody stepped up, and Miles was right behind him.”
As a team, the coach said he thinks Durango finished third behind Rio Rancho (48) and Volcano Vista (60), since Durango had 26 points after its first three runners finished. Durango’s closest competitors, Cleveland and Eldorado, had 46 points after three runners and 27 points after two, respectively.
Volcano Vista, meanwhile, is the defending 5A champ in New Mexico, and Rio Rancho is the defending runner-up.
Besides the trouble with the timing chips the event’s organizers received, Keller said, “It was a good meet on a really good course.”
The Demons will next run in their biggest race of the season on Saturday in Salt Lake City, Utah: the Border Wars. Teams from six states are expected to compete, including Colorado powers Niwot and Cheyenne Mountain.
“The kids have great experience now running in big races,” Keller said. “Our schedule is front-end loaded. After this meet, we’ll get back to training.”
