Mancos Middle School Cross Country had a meet in Monticello on Friday and competed against runners from Cortez, Dolores, Monticello, Blanding and Whitehorse. The course was 1.7 miles long.
Out of 65 girls, Emma Most finished 3rd, Hannah Skinner finished 9th, and Jessalyn Bay-Voit was 23rd.
There were 69 boys running and Simon Kearns finished at first place in his first meet an amazing accomplishment. Bryce Baumgarten finished 18th and Kole Romero-Keller was 23rd. The boys finished 4th as a team against some tough competition.
Well done, middle school cross country!
The Mancos High School Cross Country team opened up their 2012 season in Monticello on Friday competing with ten other teams. The meet saw competitors from New Mexico, Colorado and Utah run a three mile course around Loyds Lake just outside of Monticello. The teams included Piedra Vista, Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores, Mancos, Monticello, San Juan, Whitehorse, Monument Valley (Utah), Green River, Navajo Mountain and Pinnacle Canyon Academy.
For the Bluejays, Kristin Adams was the lone varsity girl completing the course in 23 minutes and 53 seconds which was good for eighth place out of the 33 runners. The girls champion was Rachel Demby from Montezuma-Cortez High School who ran the course in 21:52. Mancos also had two junior varsity girls. Kia Baikie finished first in the JV race in 24:43 and Maya Bonde finished in 18th with a time of 29:34.
On the boys side, Justin Burton led the Mancos boys in the varsity race with a fifth place finish out of 39 runners in a time of 18 minutes and 16 seconds. Brandon McKie finished in 25th with a time 21:12. The varsity boys champion was Harrison Fleming from Piedra Vista with a time of 17:30. In the JV race, Mancos ran five freshmen. Ro Paschal led the team with a time of 19:25 coming in second place. Asa Kearns was right behind him in fourth place with a time of 19:42. Nic Archuleta and Vincent Grego were next in 20th and 22nd places with time of 22:21 and 22:35 respectively. Zane Goodell finished out the team score with a 30th place finish in a time of 25:04.
This was the first high school cross country race for most of our runners today, said coach Brady Archer. In the races, I just want to see them go out and finish the race and get a feel for what the length of the race feels like. We have a good group of freshman boys that I know will do well once they have figured out the high school race. Overall today, we had a good start to the season. It was nice to get our first meet out of the way so that the runners can see where they are now in terms of being in race shape. We are still looking forward to some runners who are nursing injuries returning to help us out later in the season.
Next Friday, Mancos will compete in the Southwest XC Challenge in Durango on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Middle school, high school and college runners will being competing starting at 3 p.m.
