The decorated Durango High School cross-country teams were invited to Denver to run with the state’s elite talent in Saturday’s Metro State Roadrunner/Mountain Vista High School Invitational.
The DHS girls finished in the middle of the talent-loaded pack with a sixth-place finish out of the 12 teams. The boys took 11th out of 13.
“We met some great competition, and it was good to run against the big schools,” Durango head coach David McMillan said. “We ran well but didn’t race well. It was nice, though, to dip our toes in the water and learn that we have some work to do if we want to compete with this kind of talent.”
In the impressive 180-runner field, Abby Scott’s time of 20 minutes, 49 seconds led the way for the Demons and put the junior in 26th place in the girls race. Not far behind was DHS freshman Madeleine Burns, who placed 28th finishing in 20:54. Anna Smagacz (21:20) was 38th, Bekah Moenning crossed 41st in 21:28, Maggie Wigton (22:19) was 74th, Mary Fenberg finished 87th in 22:42.
In the boys race, Marcus Flint continued to run well and led Durango with a 38th-place finish in 17:39. Just seconds behind was Coltin Gallegos (17:41) who took 40th.
Durango sent its junior varsity squad to Mancos for the Chicken Creek Challenge, and the Demons JV girls ended up winning it all, while the boys team finished in sixth place.
Freshman Kiara Hamlin’s second-place 22:32 time led the DHS girls, and Saylor Stottlemeyer finished right behind in third with a time of 22:37. Demons sophomore Julia Peterson (23:08) finished fifth, Kaylan Wait (23:13) was seventh and Claudia Luthy ran a 12th-place run of 23:36.
On the boys side, Logan Moore was the top finisher for Durango with a time of 18 minutes, 52 seconds. Moore was also the top freshman in the entire race, finishing 42 seconds faster than the next freshman, Luke Tichi, also of Durango. Tichi’s 19:36 gave him 15th place.
Bayfield’s boys and girls cross-country teams both finished in 11th place out of 14 teams Saturday at the Salida Invitational.
Cody Speece led the Bayfield boys with a 38th place finish in the 210-runner field. Speece’s time of 19:20 was followed closely by Elco Garcia (19:23) who finished 43rd.
In the girls race, Bayfield was led by Bridget Goddard’s 23:22 time, which was good for 39th place.
Volleyball
VolleyballThe Durango Demons volleyball team finished off an impressive weekend in Grand Junction with an exclamation point Saturday.
After a gritty, five-set comeback win Friday against Grand Junction, the Demons only needed four to secure victory Saturday. Durango beat Central 29-31, 25-22, 25-22, 25-7 to wipeout the Warriors (3-11, 0-5 5A/4A Southwestern League).
“It was really good weekend for us,” Demons head coach Colleen Vogt said. “We were coming off an emotional win (Friday), and we continued it through (Saturday).”
Brianna Brown led the Demons (7-6, 3-1 5A/4A Southwestern League) again with 20 assists, while Josie Surmeier led with 10 kills.
Durango has a week to recover before hosting Montrose at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Bayfield volleyball didn’t lose a game Saturday, as the Wolverines swept Monte Vista and Pagosa Springs 3-0 each.
Setter Courtney Bayles distributed the ball beautifully and led the well-balanced Wolverines attack by setting up hitters coming from all angles.
BHS beat Monte Vista 25-10 in all three games before beating the Pirates 25-17, 25-16, 30-28. The third-set win came after Bayfield survived three Pagosa Springs set points and rallied to win.
“That’s hard to do,” Bayfield head coach Terene Foutz said. “We were in a great rhythm all day and, in the end, we keep winning with heart.”
Bayfield will face Piedra Vista at 4 p.m. Tuesday in a homecoming blackout game.
The Ignacio High School volleyball team’s sluggish start Saturday at Norwood didn’t worry Bobcats’ head coach Thaddeus Cano much.
His composure rubbed off on his team, and the Bobcats rallied after losing the first set to win the next three and win the match, 12-25, 25-25, 25-21, 25-14.
Alex Forsythe led Ignacio with seven kills, and Ryley Webb added six. Morgan Herrera had three blocks in the win.
“I think it was just a matter of waking up and getting the energy level up,” Cano said. “I wasn’t too worried, they were just a step slow, but still trying to execute the game plan. When they got the wakeup call, the girls really played wonderfully as a team. There wasn’t one standout, just an outstanding team effort.”
Ignacio (6-6, 5-3 2A District 3) will host Centauri at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
