Like many of the sports at Montezuma-Cortez High School, the cross country team has tons of youth.
Coach Paul Koops lost nine harriers to graduation last year. This year, the team has a new motto. Run for your life.
I tell the kids, This (running) is something you can do for the rest of your life, Koops said. Its healthy. You can run your whole life and prolong your life doing it.
Koops has a strong contingent of Lady Panthers on the girls side. The boys side only has six and is led by junior co-captain Dillon Wells. There are three seniors in Stephen Garner, Matt Carter and Kyle Baacke. Sophomore Jonathan Bloedel and freshman Chandler Dee round out the Panthers.
We lost a lot of good seniors. I think well come back pretty strong. Weve got some hard runners here, Wells said about the Panthers. Were going to try and stay as a pack, and get our times lower and lower.
Although M-CHS is loaded with youth, Koops feels he has talent that can be really competitive this season.
Dillon Wells has been working really hard in practice. Hes been leading us. Hes putting in extra effort to show that hes ready. I think he can compete with a lot of the runners down here in the southwest corner of the state, Koops said.
The girls are led by sophomore co-captain Abby Lock.
For the girls, Abby is our top returning runner. She has spent a lot of time in the offseason working out in the weight room on her own. Shes in great shape. She has a wonderful attitude. I see her as being our girl leader right now in terms of performance. Im urging her to step up and be a team leader as well. I think she can handle that.
Seniors Bailey Morris, Meggie Curtis and Arlina O-Camb are expected to be heavy contributors. Newcomers Amanda Gallegos (junior) and freshman Rachel Demby, who had a strong career at Cortez Middle School, are big pieces to the 2011 Lady Panthers.
Im pretty excited because Ive improved a bit since last season, said Lock, whos sporting a more toned frame. I feel like Ive gotten stronger from lifting. Our expectations are to improve on our times and get good times for our upcoming girls that are freshmen, and also not to get injured. We have a lot of good girls that have a lot of potential coming up.
The first meet is on Wednesday in Monticello, Utah, at 4 p.m. for the Monticello High School Invitational.
Monticello is a great venue. Its a wonderful course. It runs around a lake up there. Its kind of up against the mountain, Koops said. The competition is kind of small schools, so given my youth and relative inexperience, its a good spot for us to try out our wings a little bit; see where were at.
M-CHS will run at the Bayfield High School meet on Saturday. Other notable meets include the Mancos High School Chicken Creek Challenge on Saturday, Oct. 1, and hosting the Cortez Ancient Trails Invitational at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Oct. 8. Regionals are in Delta on Wednesday, Oct. 19, and state is at Aurora on Saturday, Oct. 29.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.