The Durango High School boys and girls cross-country teams are state-bound after they both finished second at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A Region 2 meet Thursday afternoon at Mesa Ridge High School in Colorado Springs.
Cheyenne Mountain narrowly edged the Demon boys with 47 points. Durango came in second with 52 points. Coronado and Widefield rounded out the team qualifiers for the state meet with 97 and 105 points, respectively. In the girls race,Cheyenne Mountain took the team title with 42 points, while the Demons ended up with 51. Coronado and Widefield rounded out the teams who qualified for state with 95 and 122 points, respectively.
“I was pleased with their performances, and our main goal for today was to qualify,” DHS head coach Ken Flint said. “I thought we ran smart and were composed and it was enough to punch a ticket to state.”
Senior runner Aidan Fitzgerald led the Demon boys, as he crossed the finish line in sixth overall with a time of 16 minutes, 25.37 seconds. Fellow senior Noah Bodewes was right behind Fitzgerald in seventh with a time of 16:33.14. The Demons had all of their top-five runners in the top 20, as Marcus Flint finished 10th in 16:39.82, Teslin Stecher took 15th in 16:55.73 and Luke Tichi finished in 16th with a time of 16:58.13.
Ryan Outler, a senior from Widefield, won the race in 15:46.72.
On the girls side, the Demons also finished second and had solid performances. Senior Madeleine Burns led DHS, as she broke the 19-minute mark. She crossed the finish line with a time of 18:59.99, which was good enough for third overall. Freshman Hope Stark from Cheyenne Mountain won the girls race in 18:52.85.
DHS junior Kiara Hamlin finished fourth with a time of 19:29.71, and Flint was impressed with Hamlin’s performance.
“I thought it was Kiara’s best race of the year, and she looked very strong,” Flint said. “We’d love to see that type of performance out of her at the state meet.”
DHS freshman Tea Forrest crossed the line 12th with a time of 19:55.70, while fellow freshman Angela McManus finished in 14th with a time of 19:57.91, and senior Bekah Moenning took 18th in 20:34.47.
“Once again, I gave the girls the same mission as the guys today, which was to take care of business,” Flint said. “We were able to do that, and now we’re going to get into that state championship mentality mode. From here on in, it’s going to be the really fun part of the season.”
While Flint was pleased with his team’s performance, he wanted to get ahead of the game, even before the regional meet. Flint had both teams practice at Missionary Ridge last Saturday in an attempt to simulate what the state championship course will be like.
“I thought they showed some discipline, and we tried to simulate what the state course will be like, and I though they did well,” Flint said.
Durango will race for the final time this season at the state meet Oct. 27 at the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs. The boys will race at 1 p.m., while the girls will race at 2:20 p.m.
bploen@durangoherald.com
