The Durango High School girls cross country team ended its season at state on Saturday on a somewhat sour note due to illness.
Durango was optimistic coming into the state race, but the top two Durango girls had been ill before the state championships. Fantastic freshman Zia Fadil wasn’t 100% after being sick the weekend after regional. Junior leader Lacy Ruggiero was so sick all week that she didn’t go to school and didn’t have her best form at the 5A state championships in Colorado Springs at Norris Penrose Events Center.
It was a resilient effort for Ruggiero to compete for her teammates, but the Durango girls finished 18th out of 20 schools.
The Durango boys team didn’t have the illness issues the girls had, but also didn’t have the same expectations the girls had with the boys’ inexperience. The boys also finished 18th out of 20 schools.
“Full stop, it’s not the meet we wanted,” Durango cross country head coach Michael Fadil said. “The guys ... will be coming back relatively stronger than the girls next year, so that wasn't too big of a surprise.”
“It’s hard for a lot of the kids in a race that’s that competitive when you're used to running in the 20s and all sudden, you're in the 60s, 70s or 80s, and there are people all around you and it is crowded for the first mile and a half,” Fadil continued. “It's just a whole different feel to it. So they just have to get used to it.”
The Norris-Penrose course was fair, according to Fadil. There’s a pretty significant hill about a mile in. Fadil didn’t think it was a forgiving type of course where a miler could finesse their way through it if it was all fast.
Durango’s girls finished 18th with a team score of 441 points. The team scores are each team’s top-five runners’ finishing positions added together. Niwot High School won the team state title with 103 points, followed by Heritage High School in second with 107 points and Mountain Vista High School in third with 122 points.
Zia finished her strong first high school season in 38th in the girls 5-kilometer race in 18 minutes and 53 seconds. Fellow freshman Rebekah Quayle finished 80th in 19:39.6, senior Ayumi Lambert was 110th in 20:11.8, junior Olivia Glover finished 128th in 20:44.8 and senior Evie Morris finished 129th in 20:45.3 to round out the scoring positions for Durango.
Before the illnesses, Fadil thought Zia and Ruggiero could finish inside the top 30, which would’ve meant a higher finish for Durango in the team standings.
Fadil was happy to see his top senior finish her final cross country season strongly after a high school career filled with injuries; Lambert improved her times every season, according to Fadil.
Niwot senior Addison Ritzenhein finished an incredible high school cross country career with the state title in 17:08.5. Payton Meineke from Riverdale Ridge High School finished second out of 151 female runners in 17:39.8 and Chamorra Cooper from Air Academy High School finished third in 17:48.1.
The boys finished 18th with 409 points. Niwot won with 28 points, Erie was second with 141 points and Castle View was third with 152 points.
Junior Rocco Enea led Durango and finished 61st in 16:26.1, sophomore Caden Voss was 67th in 16:30.4, senior Miles Snow finished 100th in 16:49.6, junior Jackson Fisher finished 123rd in 17:04.2 and freshman Travis Hugentobler finished 130th in 17:15.
Benjamin Adams from Mountain Vista High School won the boys 5K individual title in 15:03.3, Niwot’s Robbie Hunter was second in 15:06.4 and Quinn Sullivan finished third in 15:14.3
Despite the disappointment on the girls side, there’s a lot to look forward to next season for Durango cross country. Ruggiero will return as a senior and will look to finish her high school career on a high note. Zia and Quayle will try and take a step up as sophomores and Glover will return as a senior.
On the boys side, Voss will return and hopes to have a healthy offseason before his junior year. Enea, Fisher and Jack Purcell should lead a strong senior class and Hugentobler should lead a strong freshman class.
“I'm hoping we can get kids motivated, especially moving back to 4A, we’ll really be in the hut on both sides,” Fadil said.
A tough season for Durango boys soccer ended in the first round of the 4A state playoffs on Thursday. The No. 22 Demons lost to No. 11 D’Evelyn, 4-0.
The Jaguars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first half and added another goal in the second half. It was a familiar script for a Durango team that struggled with defense all year; the Demons allowed at least four goals in five games this season.
Durango finished its season 8-7-1 overall and 5-4-1 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League. It’s Durango’s least amount of wins in a full season since 2013.
The Demons will have some work to do in the offseason to improve. Durango will lose its top two scorers, seniors Benjie Masterson and Derek Caudle, and its four-year starting goalkeeper, Quinn Harrison. Jed Lawler, Miles Daley and Connor Allen will return to lead the Demons’ offense.
The Durango football team had arguably its most impressive win of the year so far to finish the regular season when it won at Vista Ridge, 24-14, on Friday.
Vista Ridge finished the season 11th in 4A in Colorado High School Activities Association’s Selection & Seeding Index. Durango also beat Grand Junction (13th in 4A) and Palisade (third in 3A) this season.
“It was definitely the biggest win of the year,” Durango football head coach Hunter Holmes said. “It was 48 minutes of grit. That was a great football team, really well coached and they had a great defensive plan. But the tougher team won.”
Durango improved to 8-2 overall and 4-1 in the 4A Soco 2 League. Vista Ridge fell to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the 4A Soco 2 League.
Junior quarterback Cully Feeney finished 7/14 passing for 110 yards and a passing touchdown for the Demons. Feeney also led the way with 28 rushes for 106 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Durango junior wide receiver Mason Miller led the Demons with one reception for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Holmes said running the ball is what he wants the Durango program to be known for. The physical run game with Feeney and senior Gus Halls also worked well in the flow of the game against Vista Ridge. On the other hand, Holmes knows it’s important to have the option to take deep shots to Miller and senior Dawson McInnes to change the pace of the game if needed.
The first quarter was highlighted by two deep throws. Vista Ridge scored first with a 45-yard pass to Antonio Taylor for a 7-0 lead. Later in the first, Feeney responded with his deep ball to Miller to tie the game at seven.
Durango then scored 10 unanswered points in the second for a 17-7 lead at the half. Vista Ridge scored in the third with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Taylor and Feeney responded with his second rushing score to reestablish Durango’s 10-point lead.
Neither team scored in the fourth. Holmes credited seniors Ayden Casias, Oliver Clark and Owen Cheatham with making plays on the defensive end in the fourth quarter. The Demons had multiple fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter and had an interception to end the game.
Next up for Durango are the state playoffs. The Demons received the No. 4 seed in 4A state playoffs on Sunday. Durango will have a first-round bye and will face the winner of No. 13 Ponderosa vs. No. 20 Silver Creek in the second round at home on either Friday, Nov. 14, or Saturday, Nov. 15.
“I want to play it on Friday when the good Lord intended high school football to be played,” Holmes said.
If Durango wins in the second round, it will have a home game in the quarterfinals.
Ponderosa finished the regular season 6-4 overall and 3-2 in the 4A South Metro League. Silver Creek finished the regular season 5-5 overall and 2-3 in the 4A North 1 League.
“We'll game plan from whoever wins that game; we don't want to look too far ahead,” Holmes said. “It's playoffs, so every team's good. It's just awesome getting to play meaningful football at this time of the year. It gets us one step closer to our goal of being a December program.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
