Blue Jays qualify for Class 3A State Cross-Country Meet in Denver

Blue Jays qualify for Class 3A State Cross-Country Meet in Denver

Oct. 26, 2000

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

It turned out to be more than being able to hob-knob with the rich and super rich this past Saturday, Oct. 21. For the first time in school history, the Blue Jays qualified as a team to the Class 3A Cross-Country State Championships set this Saturday, Oct. 28, at Kent-Denver in Denver.

Mancos High School only started its cross-country program a year ago and is forced to run against schools nearly twice its size at the Regional and State level. There are not that many Class 2A schools across Colorado which have a cross-country program. It routinely runs against schools much larger at area meets.

The Blue Jays did not compete in their final scheduled meet of the season at Sargent on Oct. 14. The MHS Marching Band competed at Regionals and several members, including drum major Sven McNeil, was part of that team. It was just too much traveling in a short amount of time. So, instead, the team focused on Regionals. They ran time trials and kept training hard for the past two weeks. Apparently, it paid off in dividends.

MHS head coach Tim Dunham was not unavailable for comment, but wife and assistant Denise Dunham said the boys ran very well.

The top three teams qualified and Mancos placed third with 57 points. Gunnison finished first with 24 and Aspen second with 27.

Jesse Rousset was the top Mancos individual placer as he placed eighth in 18 minutes, 40 seconds. Sven McNeil finished 16th in 19:13, Greg Cummings 19th in 19:30, Doyle Edgerton 24th in 19:39, and Alan Cummings 32nd in 20:16.

Aspen’s Michael Odie took first in 17:30.

The Mancos girls did not have enough runners to place as a team. However, Amanda Kennedy came in 34th at 26:16, Megan Doty 36th at 27:05, and Dorothy Edgerton 43rd in 30:59.

Finishing in the top spot for the females was Megan Lund of Alpine Christian. She finished in 21:08. She led her team to the team title with 17 points. Aspen took second with 41 and Gunnison third 50.

Natalie Hughes of Palisade High School successfully defended her Class 4A West Regional cross country title by 41 seconds at Delta's Confluence Park last Saturday.

The rest of her teammates will join her next week at the Class 4A state championships in Englewood as the Bulldog girls placed fourth behind Moffat County, Montrose and Steamboat Springs.

The top four teams and top seven individuals not on the qualifying teams advance. Jakob Taylor was the only runner that qualified for state for the Bulldogs boys. Taylor finished ninth place finish in 17:23. Ben Tobler of Montrose won the boys regional title in 16:05. Chaz Salmon of Glenwood Springs was second in 16:31 followed by his brother, Marco Salmon, in 16:43.

Danielle Brown of Moffat County was second to Hughes in the girls race. She finished in 18:58. Her teammate, Stephanie Hurd, was third.

Montrose, Moffat County and Steamboat Springs qualified their boys and girls cross country teams for state by placing in the top four. The Glenwood Springs boys also qualified for state with a second-place finish.

Battle Mountain, Delta and Rifle each qualified two boys runners. Their names were not available.

Glenwood Springs qualified three girls, Battle Mountain two and Delta one.

As for Montezuma-Cortez High School, the harriers placed near the bottom third out of the 49 runners who competed on the girls’ side. Julie Christenson finished 30th in 22:51, Chesleigh Keene 32nd in 23:02, Holly Smith 31st in 23:08, Sara Snyder 33rd in 23:28, Jessica Millican 40th in 25:11, and Becca Whitehead 41st in 25:20. They finished sixth out of nine teams with 170 points.

"They ran a great race, collectively," MCHS coach Dave Dillman said. "They were all below or close to the target times we had set for the race. Five out of six of our runners set personal records, also. They improved an average of one minute from the first race we ran in Delta back in September. But in the end, it wasn't enough to get by some of the other schools."

The Panthers ended their season. How does Dillman look back?

"The team deserves credit for running close to 200 intense miles since Mid-August. You won't find a group of girls who work harder or have a better attitude than these young ladies. We ran in some tough conditions and had week after week of challenging workouts but they still came to practice and our meets ready to run. In addition to their athletics, they are all excellent students and certainly represent Montezuma-Cortez High School well. I'm proud of their accomplishments.

Unfortunately, the team will lose Sara Snyder to graduation this year, but all the rest will be back for next season."

Dillman is hoping to get a boys’ team going again. It was been several years now since MCHS has fielded boys in the sport.