The Durango High School girls cross-country team had six runners finish in the top 10 at the 4A Region 5 championships to win the team title on Thursday at the Elmwood Short Nine Golf Course in Pueblo.
The DHS boys had two runners in the front pack and ended up finishing second behind Cheyenne Mountain. The top four teams in both races advance to the Class 4A state championships on Saturday at the Norris Penrose Events Center in Colorado Springs.
“I was very pleased with the outcome,” said DHS head coach Ron Keller.
The coach said the race had U-turn about 250 yards into it. When the girls came running toward him at about the 600-meter maker, he said saw a “sea of red.”
Senior Willow Lott was at the front of the pack and won the regional title for DHS, crossing first by over 30 seconds in 19 minutes, 31 seconds.
“She had an outstanding race,” Keller said. “Every week she gets better and better.”
Amelia Marmolejo of Pueblo West finished second (20:03), but a bunch of Demons were on her heels.
Sophomore Dewa Ilg was also part of a three-way battle for first and ended up crossing third (20:20) a half step in front of classmate Sofia Voss in fourth (20:20).
“She has been racing well every race,” Keller said about Ilg. He said Voss had to deal with an injury earlier this year, but was able to rest and heal up. “She came out of the Montrose relay really well and gave us confidence in her,” Keller said.
Freshman Mira Quayle finished sixth (20:49) and sophomore Brynn Aggeler placed seventh (20:50).
Keller called Quayle “a great surprise” this season while Aggeler “did a heck of a job while not feeling good.”
Senior Nina Quayle placed 10th (21:14), sophomore Sixtine La Merle finished 24th (22:36), freshman Aileen McManus placed 29th (23:05) and senior Avery Cerwin placed 34th (23:35), to bump up some the competition’s team score.
DHS won the girls team title with 21 points, followed by Cheyenne Mountain (66), Pueblo West (75), Montrose (107), Cañon City (128), Widefield (166), Mesa Ridge (181), Pueblo South (234) and Pueblo County (247).
In the boys race, sophomore Luke Swenk ended up battling Brian Kerrigan of Cheyenne Mountain for the title.
“Luke ran a great race,” Keller said. “He was one-on-one with their No. 1 guy. They ran together and separated from everyone else. Luke kept a great pace and didn’t slow down. Those are the races that make you better.”
Kerrigan won in 16:17, but Swenk crossed second in 16:28. Junior Charlie Dillman finished third in 16:37.
“It was almost like watching a new runner on the DHS team,” Keller said about Dillman. “He just looked confident as a runner and he went for it.”
Freshman Miles Snow finished 16th in 17:46.
Junior Nathaniel Ellis got tripped about 250 yards into the race and went down pretty hard, Keller said, but he fought back and finished 19th in 18:01. Sophomore Anthony Bonanno finished a half step later in 20th (18:01).
Junior Brodie Dorko placed 27th (18:31), freshman Slader Schweitz crossed 32nd (19:09) junior Hudson Curry finished 37th (19:26) and senior Joshua Yu placed 40th (19:45) out of the 86 runners.
Cheyenne Mountain won the team title with 32 points, followed by Durango (60), Montrose (87), Pueblo West (103), Widefield (147), Mesa Ridge (166), Pueblo South (198), Pueblo County (209) Pueblo Central (240) and Pueblo East (277).
