Durango High School junior girls cross country runner Lacy Ruggiero didn’t have the ending to her season she wanted, but Durango Herald readers still rewarded her for a great season.
Ruggiero won The Herald’s poll as Durango High School’s best fall athlete. She won 38.15% of the vote, beating out volleyball’s Hadyn Neiman, who finished with 31% of the vote. Softball’s Avery Clair, boys golf’s Drew Jepson and football’s Owen Cheatham were also nominated.
“It means a lot because last year, I was also in the voting,” Ruggiero said. “To have such support within Durango … it’s been really awesome to see all these people really supporting me in that way. It’s not only me, but it’s also the running community that really came out this year … getting first place was pretty awesome and really showing the Durango community that running stands out.”
Ruggiero finished as the top female cross country runner in nearly every race except for state, racking up top-five and top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place finish at the league meet and a third-place finish at regionals.
State was a tough experience for Ruggiero; she said she got sick a few weeks before state and couldn’t get rid of the sickness before the biggest meet of the year.
Ruggiero said it was a painful and hard experience, but she was grateful to have the support of her team. It made her a stronger runner, knowing success doesn’t always come easily, and there will be set backs. She’s excited to bounce back in the spring in outdoor track season and next fall in her final high school cross country season.
“I'm really proud of my year,” Ruggiero said. “I definitely did more than I was expecting. I got a new PR (personal record) on multiple different courses, a PR on a road-race course and then a PR on more of a cross country course. I really put in the work during the summer, even though I had some health challenges.”
Now that she’s in between high school seasons, Ruggiero has been putting in the miles while the weather is good in Durango. She learned last year that putting in the miles in the winter season really sets her up for success in the outdoor track season. Ruggiero is also planning on going down to Albuquerque to compete in some indoor track events.
Next up for Ruggiero is her outdoor track season. She plans on breaking the school record for the mile and setting some more PRs that will set her up for college. After that, she wants to finish inside the top 20 at state cross country next fall if Durango stays in 5A. If Durango drops to 4A, she’d like to finish inside the top 10.
She hopes to run at the Division I level, and she has been talking to some coaches, but a lot of the coaches have told her they haven’t started focusing on her class yet. She’s already visited some colleges in California, and she wants to visit Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.
“I cannot imagine my life without running in college,” Ruggiero said. “I’m super excited to go into college, compete in hopefully Division I and get an education.”
Ruggiero wants to study video journalism in college, with a focus on documentaries.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
