Mancos, MCHS harriers stay busy

Mancos, MCHS harriers stay busy

October 2, 2001

By Jim Thomas
Journal Sports Editor

The Mancos and Montezuma-Cortez high schools boys and girls cross-country teams have been busy lately.

Montezuma-Cortez High School’s girls cross-country team brought home a trophy from the Bayfield Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 27.

While the host Wolverines won over the 12-team field with a total of 15 points (four girls), the Panthers finished in second with 39 while Pagosa Springs came in third with 52, Aztec 59 and Mancos 124.

It is an usual course with a lot of pavement and some hills, according to MCHS head coach Amber Olson. She said the times were rather slow, but she said she was pleased with the overall outcome. She said it was hot.

"The girls did bring home a trophy which was nice," Olson commented. "It wasn’t our best outing of the season, but we’re showing improvement."

Bayfield’s Jackie Shaw, an excellent distant runner who has already won several meets this season, won with a time of 21 minutes, 51 seconds. Michelle Miller of Bayfield came in right behind her in 22:08.

Amanda Graffis had another good outing for MCHS as she placed fourth individually with a time of 22:24. Hannah Mortensen placed eighth in 24:20, and Julie Christensen 12th in 24:53. Chesleigh Keene, who has been out with a foot injury, placed 15th with a 24:58. Holly Smith was right behind her in 16th in 25:06. Chelsea Mortensen came in 18th while Casie Johnson and Jessica Millican finished in 31st and 33rd, respectively.

"It wasn’t the best of fields (Harrison High of Colorado Springs and Monte Vista did not show up as expected). Bayfield runners were really quick," she added.

Mancos girls came in fifth with 124 points. Dena Vegas was the top placer at 24th in 27:24. Aspen Henrich came in 29th in 28:25, Kara Dunham 36th in 35:09, Lyndi Rousset 37th in 37:15 and Cassandra Kennedy 38th in 37:16. Karena Dunham, top runner for MHS, was out of town.

"The girls are progressing but they still have a long ways to go. We have a young team this year, mainly freshman and sophomores," MHS head coach Tim Dunham said.

The Bayfield boys took second in their portion of the varsity meet, following Aztec’s 39 points with 46 of their own. Mancos followed in third with 57 while Bloomfield, N.M., took fourth with 61 and Pagosa Springs fifth at 68.

Jordan Davis of MCHS came in fifth overall with a run of 19:29, Drew Webster was not available to run for this meet. Bloomfield’s Adam Garcia won the meet in 19:03.

Preston Hennrich came in seventh for Mancos in 20:21. Alan Cummings placed 13th in 20:40, Levi Martinez 15th in 20:54, Ian Mullikin 22nd in 21:22, Kyle Yeomans 27th in 22:13, Clint Hill 29th in 22:27, and Logan Stiles 30th in 23:13. Incidentally, Justin Wince placed second in the JV boys’ race.

"The boys are doing great. They are coming right along. They, too, have a young team with our only senior a first-year runner," Dunham added.

At the Totah Invitational, Gallup, N.M.’s powerful boy's and girl's squads ran to the team titles at the Totah Invitational cross country meet held on Sept. 21, at Lions Wilderness Park in Farmington.

Gallup’s boy's team, with the top three finishers, won its meet with 18 points while Window Rock, Ariz., was second with 55 points and Kirtland-Central third with 97 points.

C.R. Davis of Gallup won the boy's meet in a time of 16:23.

"Gallup really was impressive to watch," Dunham remarked. "They are nationally ranked and they ran really well. All five of their runners finished among the top seven. The reason they run so well is that they run all summer. I told our guys that if they want to move up to that level they have got to put in the miles over the summer."

The Blue Jays placed eighth out of 11 schools at the meet. MHS was led by Hennrich who placed 32nd with a time of 19:39. Dunham said he really ran a very good race, better than the 19:57 he had last week at Shiprock. Cummings came in 40th in 20:11, Martinez took 41st in 20:12, Mullikin 53rd in 21:16, Yeomans 54th in 21:59, and Hill 55th in 22:02.

Davis of MCHS placed 19th overall.

Gallup's girls didn't have quite as easy a time, winning their meet with 52 points over second place Chinle's total of 67.

Nationally ranked harrier Felicia Guilford of Gallup won the girls’ meet in a time of 18:50.

MCHS’ Graffis placed seventh overall.

"It was a very tough course with lots of hills. I thought they ran very well," Olson commented.

Karena Dunham was the only one to run at the varsity level for MHS and she came in 50th.

"The course was hilly. It was a little on the hot side. The meet was run in the late afternoon. It certainly was hotter than our runners are used to up here," coach Dunham remarked.

The Panthers competed at Blanding, Utah, on Sept. 19. The MCHS girls captured first place, according to Olson.

"We ran very well. Everyone had PRs (personal records). This was a good meet considering it was small," she said.

Graffis came in second with a time of 20:11. Christensen came in fourth, Smith seventh, Mortensen 10th, Millican 13th, and Johnson 15th.

Individually for the boys, Davis came in second with a time of 18:00. Webster took fourth.

At Shiprock, N.M. on Sept. 15, although the Blue Jays boys and girls cross-country teams did not place high at the Shiprock Invitational, Dunham was still pleased with their effort.

"We were pretty much outclassed," Dunham commented. "But it was fun to see them run against some pretty outstanding runners. This was by far our biggest meet of the season. If we go to State that one will be larger. But it was good experience for them. They needed to bump elbows and jossel for positions."

Farmington’s Timmie Murphy, an All-American harrier, won the girls’ division. Murphy broke away from the large of field of 180 runners early and then breezed by more than 30 seconds over the second-place competitor. Farmington captured the team title with 73 points. Kirtland-Central came in second with 78, followed by host Shiprock, N.M. 98; Bayfield 133; and Crownpoint, N.M. 138. Rest of the top 10 finishers were Window Rock, Ariz.; Newcomb, N.M.; Aztec, N.M.; Zuni, N.M.; and MCHS (281). A total of 22 teams competed in the girls’ division.

Individually for the MHS girls, Dunham came in 81st in 26 minutes, 56 seconds; Dorothy Edgerton 100th in 29:24; Aspen Hennrich 102nd 29:53; and Lindy Rousset 107th 32:15.

On the boys’ side, Zuni won with 55 points. Zuni is the defending New Mexico A-AA state champs. It had all five runners place among the top 20. Bryan Waatsa of Zuni was the individual winner. Host Shiprock came in second with a distant 89 points. Kirtland-Central and Window Rock rounded out the top five teams.

Individually for the Mancos boys, Hennrich clocked 54th in 19:52; Cummings 69th in 20:23; Martinez 97th in 20:22; Yeomans 101st in 22:38; and Hill 102nd in 22:46.

The Panthers will compete Monticello, Utah, on Wednesday, Oct. 3, and then will travel to Mancos to compete at the annual Mancos Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 6, at Chicken Creek Ski Area. The Jays will not compete until their own meet, which gets under way at 9 a.m.