Blue Jay boy harriers finish 20th at state championships

Blue Jay boy harriers finish 20th at state championships

Nov. 4, 2000

STAFF REPORT

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE — The Blue Jays made their second appearance at the Class 3A State Cross-Country Championships on Oct. 28 at Kent-Denver High School.

Mancos High School didn’t even come close to finishing among the top five schools. However, just qualifying for the meet was a major accomplishment because Mancos was the only 2A level full team at the meet, according to MHS head coach Tim Dunham.

Denver Christian's Bret Schoolmeester was undefeated entering Saturday's (Oct. 28) championship meet and cruised to the individual Class 3A boys state championship, crossing the finish line in 15 minutes, 53 seconds over the relatively flat 3.1-mile course. Schoolmeester's victory also lifted Denver Christian to a sweep of the boys and girls team titles. It was the Crusaders' second straight boys team state title.

Jason Baker, who was fifth last year as a junior, helped the Crusaders to the state title with a third-place finish in 16:43.5. Also scoring for Denver Christian were Tommy Matthews, who placed 14th, and Todd Schuster, who was 17th. Denver Christian finished with 28 points, Gunnison came in a distant second with 62, followed by Colorado Springs Christian 125, Lyons 127, and Aspen 136. Mancos finished in 20th out of 24 teams with 274 points.

Individually for the Blue Jays, none of them finished among the top 20 placers. However, they still ran well.

"We had a blast," Dunham said. "It was a great experience just to have the kids compete at that level."

Jesse Rousset came in 44th in 18:23, Doyle Edgerton 85th in 19:05, Sven McNeil 104th in 19:22, Greg Cummings 105th, also 19:22, and Alan Cummings, 140th, in 19:54.

"It was a neat course because people lined the street everywhere. They had to run through a tunnel of people. Our meets around here are not set up that way," Dunham remarked.

The Blue Jays had qualified for State the week before by placing third as a team at the Regional meet in Delta. The MHS girls did not have enough runners to compete and none qualified for State as individuals. The Blue Jay boys did not compete in their final scheduled meet of the season at Sargent on Oct. 14. So, instead, the team focused on Regionals. They ran time trials and kept training hard for two weeks prior to State.

The top three teams qualified the week before at Regionals at Delta. Mancos had placed third with 57 points.

"Actually, we qualified as a team in our first year of existence. But it was a lot harder this time because they changed the rules," Dunham, who has headed the program since its beginning three years ago, noted.

"We had a great season, especially for the boys. I thought the boys and what few girls we had did extremely well all year. We saw significant improvement in their times," he added.

The Panther girls ended their cross-country season this week at Regionals in Delta.