It was an up-and-down cross country season last year for Durango High School. A strong group of returners this year could provide a lot more “up” moments, ending in a strong finish at state.
The Demons, especially on the girls side, were plagued by injuries. Star senior runner Sofia Voss didn’t run in the fall after going through six surgeries on her calves. Fellow senior Dewa Ilg battled injuries and illnesses and missed a good chunk of the season. Ayumi Lambert has struggled with injuries throughout most of her high school career and last season was no exception.
Therefore, Lacy Ruggiero and senior Bryn Aggeler carried a lot of the scoring load for the Demons and pushed them to state. But, the Durango girls could’ve been a lot stronger if Voss and Ilg were healthy.
The Durango boys cross country squad was young and therefore inexperienced last season. AJ Bonanno was the lone senior who was scoring for the Durango boys. He was a consistent runner and hard worker. However, the team didn’t have the top-end pace needed to get to state.
Both teams should improve and Durango should see both of its teams make it to state this year, with a strong group of returners on both teams and a few exciting freshmen to bolster the program’s prospects.
“I'm excited,” Durango cross country head coach Michael Fadil said. “Kids are all coming in, for the most part, healthy … all the people who are returning are healthy for the first time which is really exciting. Girls in their practice on Tuesday looked really solid. They made state last year and were 16th. Unless something really crazy happens, we should improve on that a lot; we've got a lot of potential on the girls side … We've got a really solid shot at making states this year on the boys side. We've had a bunch of them progress last spring, a number of them put in good miles over the summer.”
The top returner on either team is Ruggiero. Now a junior, she has shown strong pace since beginning her high school career as a freshman. She finished 69th out of 152 runners in 19 minutes and 48.02 seconds at the 5A Colorado State Cross Country Championships at Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs in November.
Fadil thinks Ruggiero has gotten a lot stronger as she was very active during the track and field season in the spring and Fadil has had her doing long workouts. He thinks if his strong runners like Ruggiero can do five or six miles at a decent pace then a 5-kilometer high school race will be easy.
It’s a balancing act for Fadil, as he wants his varsity runners to do long workouts, but not do too many of them because that increase the possibility of burnout or injury. He likes to do two or three weeks of more volume before backing off a week to give his runners’ bodies a break.
Seniors Mira Quayle and Lambert return after Lambert finished in 111th in the 5A cross country state championships in 20:33.81; Quayle finished in 113th in 20:39.75. Fadil said Lambert feels as healthy as ever and she had a really good spring season.
Junior Olivia Glover returns after finishing in 114th in 20:41.83 at the state meet last year. Sophomores Mena Cerwin, Maeve Daley and Isla Shaw after gaining a lot of valuable experience as freshman.
The addition to the girls side that could propel the team to another level is the head coach’s daughter, Zia Fadil. Zia was a middle school running phenomenon, finishing third in her age group at the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympics in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2023, along with other regional and national accomplishments.
Zia now has the chance to show her speed translates to the high school level as she enters her freshman year. She is expected to lead the team on the girls side, along with Ruggiero, according to Fadil.
“She's been loving it,” Fadil said about his daughter. “I've had to kind of pull back the reins on her, because she went from a really low mileage running program … this week, for the first time, she's starting to feel a little more tired … the workouts are a little longer than what she's used to … It's so exciting for her and so much more fun to be able to run with teammates.”
On the boys side, the Demons return a lot after only losing Bonanno to graduation. Caden Voss returns after a strong freshman year where he routinely challenged Bonanno as the top Demon.
Unfortunately, Voss had a small fracture in his toe during the summer. Fadil said he just began running again, but stayed fit with cross-training. Senior Miles Snow returns after he spent last season in Poland on an exchange program. He was a good runner for the Demons in 2023 when the boys team went to state.
The Demons return a large junior class on the boys side, with Rocco Enea and Jack Purcell contributing last season. Another junior contributor is Jackson Fisher, who Fadil thinks turned a corner during the track season in the spring. After that, Fadil thinks Fischer believes in himself more and has put in a lot of miles in the summer.
Sophomore Art Dillman is another runner on the boys side who should be in the mix.
The Demons began their season on Saturday at the Macen Holderman Cleveland Invitational in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The Demons don’t have any home meets this year. One of the biggest meets of the year will be the Coronado Cougar Classic in Colorado Springs on Sept. 20. Fadil thinks there will be a lot of solid teams there, including those from the Front Range.
Durango will compete in the 5A regionals on Oct. 23. Then, the Demons will try to show they’ve returned to being a strong program at the state level at the state championship on Nov. 5 in Colorado Springs.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
