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Sept. 11, 1999 By Jim Thomas Mancos and Montezuma-Cortez high school teams got the 1999 cross-country season off and running Sept. 4. Only the Blue Jays will be running over hill and dale today, Sept. 11. The Blue Jays will be attending a small meet at Durango. They were scheduled to go to Aztec, N.M., but opted to go to Durango instead. MCHS has an open date. The MCHS girls finished seventh out of a field of 13 Western Slope teams which participated at the Delta Invitational on Sept. 4. MCHS was led by Dolores High student Tegan Brown who finished 20th with a time of 22 minutes, 43 seconds. Other runners include Julie Christenson who placed 32nd with a clocking of 23:54, Holly Smith 45th in 25:05, Krystal Begay 56th in 27:17, Jessica Millican 59th in 28:25 and Janelle Knox 60th in 29:14. The field of 70 runners was led by a Glenwood Springs runner with a time of 19:46 over the 3.2-mile course. Glenwood won the girls' division. "The runners did well," MCHS coach Dave Dillman said. "Some of them are already approaching their seasonal goals in the first meet. We trained through this meet so they entered the race a little tired." Dillman said he is expecting his runners to chop anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes off their times by mid-October. "I am happy with where they are at this point in the season," Dillman added. The Panthers will next compete at Shiprock, N.M., Sept. 18. He said they will have four more girls eligible to compete in that race. "The Shiprock race is a great venue and the varsity race is limited to seven runners per team. It will be interesting to see who performs well at our time trials to see who gets each of those spots. The other runners will compete in the JV race," he said. The Panthers do not have a boys' team this year. Mancos did not field a full girls' team at its opening meet at Pagosa Springs. The Jays did not score as a team. Running were Amanda Kennedy in 28:47, Tiffany Young 29:41 (first-ever meet), and Karena Dunham 30:34. Gallup, N.M., which has one of the best cross-country programs in the nation, placed from first through seventh and easily took the team title. Shiprock came in second over the 3.2-mile course that featured a couple hills with a gentle grade to a top point and then a gentle grade to the finish. The Mancos boys took third place with 92 points. Gallup easily won with 19 while Aztec finished with 95 and Bayfield 104. Jesse Rousset took 15th overall with a time of 19:10, Jordan Davis followed right behind him in 19:12. Sven McNeil finished 20th in 19:27 and Greg Cummings placed 41st in 20:46. "I was very pleased with the boys and how they are progressing," MHS coach Tim Dunham remarked. "To get three of four to finish in the low 19s was very good. I think we are off to a good start." Also competing for Mancos were Alan Cummings 22:33, Preston Hennrich 23:02, and Clint Hill 24:34. |
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