It wasn’t the race the Demons expected. Even on a bad day, they were good enough for third in the state.
The Durango High School girls cross-country team ran to third place as a team in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A state championship race at the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.
Battle Mountain won a second consecutive girls cross-country state title. The Huskies from Edwards scored 59 points to finish well ahead of second place Palmer Ridge’s 157. Durango scored 168 to place third. Air Academy was fourth with 185 points, and Valor Christian placed fifth with 200.
“We have mixed emotions,” DHS head coach David McMillan said. “With the girls, we wouldn’t have beat Battle Mountain on any day of any week or any year. They ran stunningly, probably the lowest points score on the girls side ever in a 4A state championship. We missed a few pieces out there, but I’m really proud of the way our kids ran on both sides.”
The Durango boys cross-country team placed sixth as a team with 189 points. Palmer Ridge won with 77 points to beat Centaurus (100) and Silver Creek (103). Niwot (141) was fourth, and Air Academy (173) ran to fifth. Centaurus challenged the results at the end of the race, leading to an hour-long review before final scores were issued.
“The boys executed the game plan well,” McMillan said. “We finished a few places back from where we could have, but we ran well. In the closing, we were picking people off.”
In the girls race, Battle Mountain’s Elizabeth Constein, a senior, was the individual champion in the 5-kilometer race in 18 minutes, 3.9 seconds. Palmer Ridge’s Isabella Prosceno, only a freshman, was second in 18:17.8.
Durango’s top run came from sophomore Kiara Hamlin, who finished in 19:07.9 to place 12th. Madeleine Burns, a DHS sophomore who was the team’s top runner all season, was 17th in 19:14.9.
“Kiara had a great race,” McMillan said. “She ran controlled and came on really strong in the end. She challenged (Burns) in the regional meet and passed her this time. Madeleine struggled from midway through the race. She was not quite comfortable, and the pace was furious. At 1½ miles, there was a big sweeping downhill and all the front kids took off. It made it hard for everyone else.”
DHS senior Abby Scott, the lone senior on the state team, finished 37th in 19:48. Freshman Ruth Holcomb was 49th in 20:07.1 and DHS junior Anna Smagacz rounded out the team’s scoring five in 53rd in 20:16.1.
DHS junior Bekah Moenning placed 58th in 20:19.7 and freshman Brenna Wolf was 66th in 20:26.7.
“The young kids ran well,” McMillan said. “They have an appreciation for the level of challenge in Colorado cross-country. We need to get these kids in bigger competitions and have to pick a schedule that is heavy up front and going against big teams. We need to be against competition where we’re challenged every single race.
“The kids are a little disappointed, but not because we didn’t win. That math wasn’t going to work.”
Noah Bodewes was the top Durango boys runner. The junior finished 19th in 16:30.1. The race was won by Valor Christian’s Cole Sprout, a sophomore who finished in 15:42.1. Silver Creek senior Brock Dykema was second in 15:56.4.
Durango junior Aidan Fitzgerald ran to 24th in 16:37. Logan Moore, a sophomore, was 35th in 16:50.3. DHS freshman Paul Knight finished 47th in 17:00.6 and junior Marcus Flint rounded out the team’s scorers in 64th in 17:21.9. DHS junior Ethan Holst finished 80th in 17:36.7 and junior Pablo Smagacz ran to 81st in 17:38.6.
“Noah Bodewes ran tough,” McMillan said. “Aidan had a good race, and all the boys were moving positively at the end. Maybe we could have been fourth or fifth, but it was a good performance on our boys side.”
In the Class 3A boys race, Bayfield’s Sloan Mazur finished 117th in 18:36.4. The winning time was 15:56.7 by Classical Academy sophomore Mason Norman. Mazur, a senior, was the lone Bayfield runner to qualify for state.
CHSAA also held a unified 3-kilometer race for runners that would fall under the Paralympics umbrella. Durango’s Teddy Rodd won the race in 10:27.
Rodd had spinal surgeries as a young boy and had to relearn how to move and walk. He was on the Durango cross-country team all season and was the team’s 10th best runner. Based on the way he ran Saturday morning, he would’ve been right there with some of the Demons runners.
“For him to be able to run with us, it’s really impressive,” McMillan said. “Talk about a leader. He’s our emotional leader on this team. He’s a kid who gives it his all all the time, and the kids notice that.
“Teddy was pushed for the first half mile. The way he ran, he would have been not far off our varsity pack in the 5K today. It was huge.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
