One notable aspect of cross country is that nobody needs to win - though it helps - for a team to win.
It's called "pack mentality."
And last Saturday in Leadville, the Bayfield boys exhibited a strong sense of it en route to a solid fifth-place finish at the 2016 Lake County High School Invitational. Divided at the finish line by just over 33 seconds - and Denver-based 3A D'Evelyn's Donovan Hoffman - junior Sloan Mazur led BHS individually by taking 16th in 20:26.4, and Ignacio freshman Elco Garcia Jr., placed 18th (21:00.0) as the Wolverines totaled 56 team points.
Hoffman and the Jaguars won the Invite's title with just 15 points, while 3A Gunnison - paced by champion Colton Stice's 18:33.9 effort - took second with 18. 4A Lakewood Green Mountain was third with 27. GMHS' Jace Pivonka was second individually in 18:49.2, with 3A Woodland Park's Jack Fisher (19:00.4) third.
Senior Cody Speece was third across the finish line for BHS, placing 27th in an even 21:40, and Jackson Sibley was 43rd in 23:05.7. Ignacio senior Bryan Gram, running for the Wolverines, hung near in 49th (23:34.7), and Gus Roberts followed suit by staying close in 56th (23:58.2).
Nathan Carlson rounded out the varsity's work by coming in 75th in 30 minutes, 46.2 seconds.
In the girls' feature, Bayfield was again geared toward the collective, but the gap between the squad's No. 2 and No. 3 runners was more pronounced at ultra-altitude.
With her 25:39.2 clocking, senior Bridget Goddard placed 29th and led BHS to a 12th-place, 112-point result, with freshman Claire Hufnagel second to the finish in 34th (25:49.5). Senior Amber Johnson took 52nd in 27:31 and change, Isis Gonzales followed closely in 55th (27.58) and IHS' Rachel Cooper, competing for Bayfield, was 61st (28:54). Sarah Ruybal completed the team's showing, taking 69th in 35:32.
3A Englewood Kent Denver's Sam Schaffer was the race winner in 21:11.5, 19 seconds faster than GMHS' Kasey Klocek and 39.5 faster than 2A Buena Vista's Whitney White. Gunnison topped the team table, their 29-point low bettering D'Evelyn's 36. By way of having a higher fourth-place individual finisher, Englewood Kent Denver came in third, matching Green Mountain's score of 39.
On Saturday, Bayfield will compete at the 23rd annual Joe I. Vigil Open at Cattails Golf Course in Alamosa, with the high school boys' feature to start at 9:20 a.m., and the girls' at 10:25.
LCHS INVITE BOYS' STANDINGS: 1.Denver D'Evelyn 15, 2.Gunnison 18, 3.Lakewood Green Mountain 27, 4.Woodland Park 28, 5.BAYFIELD 56, 6.Frisco Summit 79, 7.Evergreen Clear Creek 84, 8.Kiowa 118, 9.Englewood Kent Denver 132, 10.Buena Vista 144, 11.La Jara Centauri 152, 12.Moffat 177. Non-scoring teams - Leadville Lake County, Center, Crested Butte Community, Lake City Community.
LCHS INVITE GIRLS' STANDINGS: 1.Gunnison 29, 2.Denver D'Evelyn 36, 3.Englewood Kent Denver 39 (#4-22nd), 4.Lakewood Green Mountain 39 (#4-24th), 5.Buena Vista 43, 6.Frisco Summit 75, 7.Woodland Park 78, 8.Crested Butte Community 81, 9.Evergreen Clear Creek 99, 10.Leadville Lake County 110, 11.Lake City Community 111, 12.BAYFIELD 112, 13.La Jara Centauri 158. Non-scoring teams - Center, Moffat, Kiowa.
