The Durango cross country squad was the best of the rest behind Cheyenne Mountain in Thursday’s Region 5 Class 4A regional championships at Pueblo’s Elmwood Short Nine Golf Course.
The Durango girls finished second out of nine schools in the 5,000-meter race, while the Durango boys finished second out of 11 schools.
Junior Sofia Voss and freshman Lacey Ruggiero crossed the finish line at almost the same time. Voss finished second with a time of 20 minutes and 20.1 seconds. Ruggiero finished third out of 73 runners with a time of 20:20.20.
Senior Charlie Dillman and junior Luke Swenk were once again Durango’s top boys runners. Dillman finished seventh out of 86 runners with a time of 17:05, while Swenk finished eighth at 17:09.
Despite second-place finishes for both squads, Demons coach Ron Keller realized his runners were in a tough spot.
“Generally speaking about our race, we were flat,” Keller said. “Our legs need to be more fresh going into the state meet. We ran SWL on (Oct. 12) and then came back with Bloomfield on (Oct. 14). Then four days off before we ran the regional meet. Yeah, so that's kind of a tight squeeze. And it's a hard call to decide your rest and workout and all that.”
Durango has plenty of time to rest before the state meet, according to Keller. He also doesn’t regret participating in the Bloomfield Invitational because it provided a good opportunity to run a hilly course similar to the state course in Colorado Springs.
Aside from the top two runners for each team, sophomore Miles Snow finished in the top 10 for the boys and junior Dewa Ilg also did so for the girls. Snow finished 10th, crossing the line at 17:21. Ilg finished eighth with a time of 20:54.
“Dewa has been real steady throughout the year,” Keller said. “She was eighth place overall, so I thought she had a good race.”
Both squads will compete in the 4A Colorado State Cross Country Championships in Colorado Springs next Saturday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
