The course was mainly on the Chicken Creek Cross-Country Ski Area trails but veered off and went around the west side of Joe Moore Lake. The 3.1-mile course is a good one because the runners run through the woods. It is perhaps a true cross-country course in every sense of the word.

A total of 17 boys compete in their bracket. Gilbert Rowley of Monticello, Utah, won the individuals contest with a time of 18 minutes, 08 seconds. Andrew Butler, also of Monticello, came in second with 18:35. Jesse Rousset of Mancos placed third in 18:38 (a new personal record for him), Allister McCray of Navajo Prep (Farmington) came in fourth in 18:49, and Rusty Sanchez of Bayfield fifth in 19:00.

The Buckaroos won the team event with 19 points. Mancos came in second with 27, followed by Bayfield 46, Navajo Prep 61, and Creede 70.

Other top placers for Mancos were Doyle Edgerton at 19:06, Sven McNeil 19:08, Greg Cummings 19:09; and Micah Sucherman 20:24. All of their times were personal records.

The Mancos JV boys won with the team competition. Alan Cummings took the individual title in 19:53 and Preston Hennrich came in second in 20:16.

On the girls’ side of the ledger, Bayfield won the team title with 21, Bayfield came in second with 29, Navajo Prep 41, and Del Norte 63. Mancos did not have enough runners to score as a team.

A total of 19 runners competed. Jackie Shaw of Bayfield was the individual winner with 21:42. Julianna Redd of Monticello came in second in 21:54, followed by Kerri Randall of Monticello in 21:56, Sasha Lewis of Navajo Prep in 22:29, and Jessica Randolph of Bayfield in 22:35.

Individually for Mancos, Amanda Kennedy ran a PR in 25:51 and Megan Doty also recorded a PR in 25:55.

"It was good to have more teams here this time," Dunham commented after the race. "We doubled in size and that was great. On the girls side, Amanda and Megan did real well. The varsity guys ran well, too. Hopefully, we can still place if we don’t have any more leave school (as in the case of Jordan Davis) or players get injured."

Mancos will not compete this weekend at Sargent as scheduled, according to Dunham. They will focus on Regionals at Aspen on Oct. 21.

The Panthers competed during the week (Oct. 4) last week at Monticello.

Timmie Murphy of Farmington High was the winner for the girls in 19 minutes, 08 seconds.

The Panthers did not have enough runners to score as a team (Utah rules require five runners needed). Holly Smith, 13th, 22:59; Chesleigh Keene, 19th, 23:56; Sara Snyder, 23rd, 24:51; and Jessica Millican, 26th, 25:50.

"Holly Smith ran her best race of the year," MCHS head coach Dave Dillman said. " It was great to see her finish in less than 23 minutes. She has really worked hard this year and I'm real happy for her to do so well."

Keene and Millican also turned in solid performances.

"They continue to improve week to week," he commented about the two girls.

"Sara Snyder had some lower leg problems this race, but toughed it out and still finished strong. Our other runners did not run and we will certainly need them as our season heads down the home stretch."

The Panthers did not compete at Mancos as originally scheduled.

"We did not run in Mancos this past weekend as we had four runners gone for a band activity and the other two are nursing nagging injuries. I'd hate to see their conditions get worse this late in the season," Dillman said.