For the second consecutive year, the Durango High School cross country teams are league champions.
Durango competed in the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic in Grand Junction on Friday, which also counted as the Southwest League Championships. The difference between the two was there were teams from outside the Southwest League competing in the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic.
The Durango girls won the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic and the league title; the Durango boys finished second in the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic and won the league title.
“It was everything I would have expected,” Durango cross country head coach Michael Fadil said. “The girls winning the overall was a nice surprise. The teams they beat were interesting, because they had Battle Mountain, Summit and Cheyenne Mountain, who were second, third and fourth. They were second, third and fifth last year at the 4A state meet. We're not 4A, but it's still nice to beat some of the top 4A schools in the state.”
On the girls side, Durango had an extremely tight battle to win the event, finishing in first with a team score (top five finishers’ positions from each team combined) of 73 points. Battle Mountain was second with 74 points and Summit was third with 75 points.
The Demon girls easily won the league with 25 points, followed by Grand Junction in second with 43 points and Grand Junction Central in third with 82 points.
Durango’s boys team had no answer for Summit’s domination as it finished first with 45 points. Durango was second with 111 points and Ponderosa was third with 124 points.
In the league standings, the boys finished first with 33 points, Grand Junction Central was second with 51 points and Grand Junction was third with 73 points.
All the teams had a late surprise in Grand Junction due to the weather. The Warrior Lincoln Park Classic is usually held at the Lincoln Park Golf Course. It was supposed to be held there again this year. However, a change was made on Friday morning because of how wet the golf course was. The course was moved to Grand Junction Central High School and was held on mostly cement sidewalk, according to Fadil.
This change meant the times were super fast on the flat, cement surface instead of soggy grass on a golf course. Fadil said the times were also faster because the course was a little shorter than the listed 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) distance.
“Most of the kids that I was talking to had it somewhere around 3.02 to 3.06 (miles) on their on their watch … the thing that's a shame about this is it would have been a fast race anyway,” Fadil said.
“So, if it's going to be a fast race, at least have a legitimate distance. I always get frustrated by that … even though the kids intellectually know it's short, they still have this number in there, and inevitably, half of them are going to be disappointed if they don't hit that again for a year or two years.”
Junior Lacy Ruggiero led Durango in the girls race. She finished fourth out of 182 runners in 17 minutes and 16.90 seconds; Raegan McRae from Cheyenne Mountain won in 16:52.91. Durango freshman Zia Fadil wasn’t far behind in seventh in 17:45.01 and fellow Demon freshman Rebekah Quayle finished 14th in 18:27.43. Seniors Evie Morris in 24th in 18:47.29 and Ayumi Lambert in 27th in 18:48.04 rounded out the scoring for the Durango girls.
Fadil was happy with how all of his top female runners did in Grand Junction. He said Ruggiero’s faster legs, coming from her strength in shorter distances, gave her an advantage on the revised course over Zia. Fadil was happy with how Morris ran; he said he wished she had another season because she’s learning and improving at every race.
On the boys side, junior Rocco Enea led the Demons in 12th out of 212 male runners in 15:22.80; Jay McDonald from Summit won in 14:18.79. Durango sophomore Caden Voss finished in 16th in 15:26.54; freshman Travis Hugentobler finished 27th in 15:51.79; junior Jackson Fisher finished 33rd in 16:06.03 and junior Benjamin Lively finished 38th in 16:14.79 to round out the top five for Durango.
The Durango boys were missing two of its top runners. Senior Miles Snow was sick a few days before the race and junior Jack Purcell has been dealing with a hip injury that Fadil hopes will be better by regionals. Fadil was happy to see his top seven runners within a minute of each other.
Next for Durango is the 5A regional at deKoevend Park in Centennial on Oct. 23. The top four teams from each regional make it to state. Fadil is confident the Durango girls can finish in the top two and give the Air Academy team a scare. He hopes the boys team can win the battle for the fourth spot.
The Durango football team took its first loss since Aug. 22 on Friday. The Demons lost a t Palmer Ridge, 21-7, in a matchup between two of 4A’s top-five teams to snap Durango’s five-game winning streak.
Palmer Ridge improved to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the 4A Soco 2 League with the win, while Durango dropped to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the 4A Soco 2 League with the loss.
The game was tied, 7-7, after the first quarter, before Palmer Ridge scored 14 unanswered to take a 21-7 lead into halftime.
Durango junior quarterback Grady Feeney didn’t have his most accurate game, finishing 11/20 passing for 115 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Demons didn’t have much success on the ground as they finished with 97 yards rushing on 26 carries. Junior wide receiver Mason Miller led the Demons with one reception for 47 yards and a touchdown.
The Demons’ seven points were the least they’ve scored in a game this season and Palmer Ridge’s 21 points were the second-most Durango has allowed in a game since Montrose.
Palmer Ridge did most of its damage on the ground with 42 carries for 250 yards and a rushing score. The Bears also had two passing touchdowns.
Durango returns home to face Air Academy on Friday at 6 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
