Mancos and Montezuma-Cortez cross-country runners were challenged by a difficult, hilly course at the Wolf Creek Invitational in Pagosa Springs on Saturday.
But both squads powered through to produce excellent results.
Led by junior Simon Kearns’ first-place finish in 18:52.85, the Mancos boys took home first place in the team standings.
Kearns was followed by Teslin Stecher (20:03.63) in sixth place and Jake McKie (20:49.59) in 13th.
Then Caleb Yoder (21:25.77) finished 19th, Ryoya Shima (21:27.85) was just behind in 20th, and Zane Wilson (22:27.90) and Alex Fleitz (23:22.94) wrapped up the team in 35th and 40th, respectively.
“This was the first course we have run this season which was pretty hilly,” Mancos head coach Brady Archer said via email. “This slowed the races down but our runners did an outstanding job of being patient and moving up throughout their races.”
“Our boys won the varsity boys race and Simon was the individual champion,” he continued. “He ran a smart race. He let some other runners set the pace early on and this paid off for him. Teslin Stecher also had a great race and has been getting better every race this season.”
Archer said that the Lady Blue Jays have been dealing with some sickness and injuries, so their third-place finish was nice to see.
Emma Most (24:16.75) led the group by finishing fourth, and she was followed by Kaylee Rose (26:28.60) in 13th, Jessalyn Bay-Voit (27:18.26) in 15th and Hannah Skinner (28:23.61) in 18th.
And then Olivia Coppinger (28:46.82) finished 21st for the Lady Jays and Mimi Archuleta (30:15.32) was 27th.
The M-CHS Lady Panthers finished just ahead of the Mancos girls in second place, and the boys took home sixth place.
“The Pagosa meet was a nice shot of confidence for our runners,” M-CHS head coach Paul Koops said via email. “The course was challenging so the times were unremarkable, but our runners embraced the lovely trails through the ponderosa and rose to the challenge.”
Juniors Emma Thissen and Caisey Duran led the Lady Panthers to a second-place finish by both crossing the finish line in the top ten. Thissen (24:13.82) finished in third place and Duran (24:57.36) was eighth.
And then rounding out the group was Regina Schuster (27:00.56) in 14th, Sam Bagge (28:13.46) in 17th, Lynda LaPaz (29:01.61) was 24th and Maya LaMunyon (33:00.67) finished 32nd.
“The girls were thrilled to finish second as a team,” Koops said. “Even more encouraging was the way Emma Thissen and Caisey Duran competed. They both were in the lead group for the whole race.”
“Emma just got stronger as the race progressed,” he continued. “It was probably her best race wearing the Panther singlet. Caisey is still learning the 5k distance, but raced with great enthusiasm.”
The Panther boys were led by senior Josh Ramos, who Koops said is discovering how to race the 5K and had an encouraging performance on Saturday.
Ramos finished in 19:33.61, good for fourth place.
He was followed by Will Brown (22:22.92) in 33rd place, Mike Vanik (23:15.77) in 39th and Marcus Amrine (24:18.96) in 43rd.
Blair Rice (24:21), Noah Peterson (25:38.81) and David Vanik (28:25.55) rounded out the Panthers in 44th, 48th and 55th, respectively.
The Blue Jays and Panthers hope to carry their momentum over into Saturday, when they will race at the Chicken Creek Challenge in Mancos.
