The Durango High School cross country teams continued their strong starts to the season at the Lobo Cross Country Invitational in Albuquerque on Saturday. The girls had three runners in the top 10 and finished second, while the boys finished third.
“It was good; the performances were solid,” Durango cross country head coach Michael Fadil said. “We've been plagued by a lot of sicknesses. We had two of our top seven girls were taking the SATs (Ayumi Lambert, Evie Morris), so that made a difference. There's little doubt in my mind, given how both of those girls were running, that we would have ended up winning that, but it is what it is.”
The Durango girls finished second out of 23 schools with 83 points. Los Alamos won with 65 points and Cleveland was third with 131 points.
Demons junior Lacy Ruggiero led the girls with a seventh-place finish in 18 minutes and 57 seconds. Gianna Rahmer won the girls race in 17:09. Durango freshman Zia Fadil finished in eighth in 18:59. Fadil was happy to see his two top female runners working together in a race and finishing close to each other.
Behind Zia was freshman Rebekah Quayle in 10th in 19:20. Fadil was especially happy with Quayle’s performances since she wasn’t feeling well in the days leading up to the race.
The Durango boys finished third with 135 points, behind La Cueva in second with 122 points and Albuquerque Academy in first with 68 points.
Senior Miles Snow led the Durango boys with a 19th place finish in 16:43. Behind him was freshman Travis Hugentobler, who continues to impress Fadil, in 25th in 16:58. Junior Jackson Fisher finished in 30th in 17:02.
The Lobo Cross Country Invitational is held on the University of New Mexico North Golf Course. Fadil said the course has two or three gradual hills that last 400-600 yards. The positive was the gradual downhill on the other side of those hills which gave the runners time to recover.
“Saturday was actually a really ideal day,” Fadil said. “The weather was a little cooler. It was a little overcast. Early in the morning, there was a lot of lightning and thunder, but way further away … nothing that was ever close to us. So it ended up being a really wonderful day, despite the rain (the day before). The golf course really absorbed the water well. So it was really nice conditions, The temperature was fantastic and the course was not soggy at all.”
Next for the Durango cross country teams is the Coronado Cougar Classic on Sept. 20 in Colorado Springs. Fadil is excited to see his runners tested against some of the top Colorado schools.
The Durango boys golf team showed the depth its has with its massive roster. The Demons’ depth pieces won the Scorpion Invitational at Piñon Hills Golf Course in Farmington on Monday.
Top players on the Durango roster went to the Montrose Red Hawk Invitational at The Bridges in Montrose on Monday. The Demons finished second out of 16 teams.
In Farmington, the Demons won with a team score of 31-over-par. Farmington was second at 58-over-par and Pagosa Spring was third at 59-over-par.
The Durango boys golf program added a new coach, which allowed the team to split up and go to different tournaments, according to head coach Kirk Rawles. Shaun Satterfield is an assistant coach for the Demons and took part of the team down to Farmington.
Durango sophomore Zane Compton and senior Austin Romero led the Demons in Farmington with both players tying for third at 7-over-par-79. Compton’s round was highlighted by a birdie at the par 5 eighth hole. He also had 11 pars. Romero’s round was very consistent, with 11 pars and seven bogeys.
“He's a hard worker,” Rawles said about Compton. “He worked really hard and spent a lot of time this summer working on his game … he was paired with Jonathan Smith and he's one of the top players in the Four Corners. He's a senior. So, for him (Compton, just working through the nerves of playing as our number one for us down at Piñon, that was a big breakthrough, especially for a sophomore player.”
“The strength of his game is that he hits a pretty straight and has a lot of consistency in this game,” Rawles said.
Smith, a Pagosa Springs senior, won the Farmington tournament at 2-over-par, followed by Farmington’s Jonah Ledesma in second at 6-over-par.
Demons junior Brody Lafferty finished fifth at 8-over-par and freshman Parker Lafferty finished seventh at 9-over-par to round out the Durango scorers.
In Montrose, junior Drew Jepson led the Demons with a second-place finish at even par. Jepson finished with five birdies, nine pars, three bogeys and a double bogey. Behind Jepson for Durango was seniors Wyatt Lafferty and Nolan Pace at 7-over-par and tied for 10th. Senior Carter Hansen was the final scorer, tied for 37th at 15-over-par.
Rawles complimented Jepson for how on point he was in the final five holes of his round. He picked up a few strokes on the player ahead of him and it could’ve been more; Jepson drove the green on the par 4, 344-yard 13th hole, but two-putted for birdie. Jepson also hit his first ball of the day out of bounds on Hole 1 and ended up with a double bogey.
“Nolan hit 14 greens in regulation,” Rawles said about Pace. “For all the courses that we've hit with Pagosa, The Bridges and Piñon, the greens haven’t been in very good shape … He's hitting the ball great. To hit 14 out of 18 greens and shoot 78, as we get to better greens as we get closer to state, he’ll make those adjustments as well fairly easily.”
Grand Junction won the Montrose tournament at 8-over-par. Durango was second at 14-over-par and Montrose was third at 23-over-par.
Hunter Simmons from Grand Junction won the individual title at 4-under-par.
The Demons will split up again on Monday. A group will go down to Kirtland to play in the 12th Annual Boys Soria Invitational at Riverview Golf Club. The top Durango players will head to Bookcliff Country Club in Grand Junction for the GJ Tiger Invitational.
The Durango High School volleyball team earned its first league win of the season on Saturday with a 3-0 victory at Grand Junction Central.
Durango won 25-20, 25-11 and 25-16. The win moved the Demons to 3-9 overall and 1-1 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League. Grand Junction Central dropped to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.
Senior Hadyn Neiman led the Demons with 12 kills. Sophomore Devyn Edwards had eight kills and senior Aysia Mathews added seven kills. Senior Indie Shows finished with 23 assists.
On Friday, the Demons lost a close road match to Palisade, 3-1. The Bulldogs beat the Demons 29-27, 22-25, 25-20 and 25-23.
Neiman once again led the Demons with 15 kills; Edwards finished with 11 and Mathews added eight. Shows finished with 35 assists.
The Demons continue their travels with a game at Fruita Monument on Friday.
One close call is tough enough. Two close calls against the same opponent is brutal.
That’s what the Durango boys tennis teams faced with Grand Junction Central. The Demons lost 4-3 on Friday and 4-3 on Saturday at the Warriors.
Durango used two players against Grand Junction Central’s No. 1 singles player, Joseph Kirschenmann. Sophomore Austin Whitman and senior Oliver King both lost.
On the flip side, Durango junior Jack Cuthbertson beat Ronan Norman in No. 2 singles both days.
The Demons also had success in No. 3 and No. 4 doubles. In No. 3 doubles, seniors Gabe Clark and Ben Williams beat William Flanagan and Logan Freeborn on both days. Durango sophomores Sonni Fry and Luke Gustafson beat Trevor McCarty and Auden Cooke both days in No. 4 doubles.
Durango plays at Aspen on Friday and at Basalt on Saturday.
The Durango boys soccer program is in a bit of a rut. After losing to Fruita Monument 5-1 on Sept. 16, the Demons returned home and lost to Grand Junction 4-0 on Saturday.
Grand Junction had a 3-0 halftime lead and added another goal in the second half. Durango senior goalkeeper Quinn Harrison finished the game with eight saves. The Demons had seven shots and 10 shots on goal.
The Demons look to return to their winning ways on Thursday at Piedra Vista.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
