Smashing his own personal record by a reported 20 to 30 seconds, sophomore Elco Garcia, Jr., not only starred against classification-wide standouts at last Friday's Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, but he finished 21st to pace Bayfield to an 11th-place showing.
With Intermountain League runners Brady Blinzinger (18:41.2) and Josh Lopez (18:42.0) of Alamosa serving practically as pacers in Colorado Springs, the sophomore Wolverine clocked 18 minutes, 47.1 seconds in his first race since his freshman breakout last fall.
Ahead at the front, Lamar senior Blake Davis won in 17:09.5, with Gunnison junior Colton Stice second in 17:20.3 and Greeley Frontier Academy senior Levi Chambers third in 17:23.7.
Broomfield Holy Family senior Kyle McCabe (17:33.0) and Arvada Faith Christian junior Macklin Brockmeyer (17:44.7) rounded out the top five, but were less than a minute ahead of Garcia and other pursuers.
Bayfield senior Sloan Mazur finished 35th in 19:22.3, sophomore newcomer Jonas Nanaeto crossed 61st (20:16.1), senior Nathan Carlson was 79th (21:14.9), freshman James Chenowith took 95th (22:05.5), and sophomore Rylan Ross ended up 98th (22:28.3). Like Garcia, Nanaeto is an Ignacio High student running for Bayfield because IHS doesn't have a cross-country program.
Finishing outside the top 100 was freshman Xander Hovenstine, who took 123rd in 26:15.4.
All told, when non-scoring runners were factored out, BHS' top five individuals combined for 272 team points.
Faith Christian logged the winning low count of 59, with Lamar edging Alamosa 97-99 in the battle for second. Frontier Academy (151) and Holy Family (177) completed the top five, with Denver-based Colorado Academy (256) placing tenth.
Bayfield did not enter a varsity squad in the 3A girls' Stampede. The team competes next at Saturday's Lake County Invitational in Leadville, which begins at 9 a.m.
