Battle Mountain is expected to win the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A Girls Cross-Country Championship for the second consecutive year Saturday in Colorado Springs. If the Huskies from Edwards slip, the Durango Demons are ready to pounce.
Led by runners such as Madeleine Burns, Kiara Hamlin, Ruth Holcomb and Abby Scott, who all ran sub-20 minute 5-kilometer races at the 4A Region 5 meet last week, the Demons will be another force to reckon with when the race starts at noon Saturday at the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.
“I think we’re all pretty confident in our abilities,” Burns said after the Demons won the regional championship. “I think we’ve known what we want most of the season.”
Burns gives Durango a podium contender, but an impressive performance by Hamlin running right on the heels of Burns at regionals gives Durango hope of two top-10 runners and potentially a third in Scott, who was fifth on the same course as the state championship when the Demons ran the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede on Aug. 25.
To win a state title, teams need to run close together and have at least three runners in the top 20. The Demons live to run together, evident when three girls – Hamlin, Holcomb and Scott – ran together while holding hands as they crossed the finish line to win the Southwest Sunset XC Classic on Sept. 15 in Durango.
“Our goal for state is to run as a team,” Hamlin said. “If we can put out a performance and run close together, I think we can really dominate.”
Elizabeth Constein has the Huskies’ fastest 5K this year at 17:56.86 in Delta, but Burns has an even faster time of 17:52.30 at the Desert Twilight XC Festival in Arizona.
Battle Mountain can put a lot of runners in the top 20, with Lizzy and Naomi Harding running sub-20 times at regionals. Grace Johnson and Alex Raichart also produce strong results for the Huskies.
Anna Smagacz will be a key runner for Durango. She ran 20:02 at regionals and has a personal record of 19:19.70 in the 5K distance. Bekah Moenning and Brenna Wolf also are more than capable of putting together strong runs, giving the Demons a great shot at winning their third girls cross-country state title and first since 1998.
“If we get two in the top 10 and three in the top 15, that’s the equation we like,” DHS head coach David McMillan said.
“Kiara running the way she did (at regionals) was big, and Abby ran well at pre-state and has positive energy on the course. Ruth is a tough freshman, and I think there is competition down below that is healthy for us. We’re excited and ready.”
The Durango boys also will send a full team to the state cross-country championship and will run at 1:20 p.m. Saturday.
The front runners in the boys race include Air Academy, Centaurus, Niwot, Palmer Ridge and Silver Creek, but the Demons could make some noise.
Aidan Fitzgerald will be extra motivated after a tough regional race when he took an elbow to the stomach and fell out of the top 10. He has the team’s best 5K time this year of 15:31.30. He is backed by talented runners such as Noah Bodewes, Marcus Flint, Ethan Holst, Paul Knight, Logan Moore and Pablo Smagacz.
Bodewes and Fitzgerald have run toward the front of every race they’ve entered this season, and they will be ready to give it their all Saturday.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
