MCHS, Mancos ready for x-country regionals

MCHS, Mancos ready for x-country regionals

October 18, 2001

STAFF REPORT

Two high schools — Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos — will be competing this Saturday, Oct. 20, in their respective classification regional cross-country meets. The Panthers will head to Delta while the Blue Jays will go Rangely.

The Class 4A District IX Cross-Country Meet is hosted by Montrose but will be at Delta’s Confluence Park.

"This is a fast course," MCHS head coach Amber Olson commented. "The girls are ready and running well right now."

Joining MCHS and Montrose will be Delta, Battle Mountain, Glenwood Springs, Moffat County, Palisade, Rifle, and Steamboat Springs.

The Panthers heading to Delta include Amanda Graffis, Chesleigh Keene, Jessica Millican, Chelsea Mortensen, Hannah Mortensen, and Holly Smith. Only one boy, Drew Webster, will be going to compete.

MCHS competed in its final regular-season meet of the season at Durango last Saturday, Oct. 13.

On the girls’ side, Graffis came in second place with a clocking of 22 minutes, 44 seconds. Hannah Mortensen placed 14th in 25:19, Keene finished 15th in 25:29, Smith, 16th in 26:07, Chelsea Mortensen 17th in 26:08, and Millican 27th in 30:08. She reported that for the runners who ran that course a year ago, most of them improved their times by at least two minutes or more.

On the boys’ side, Webster placed 20th in 22:31. Jordan Davis was disqualified. According to Colorado High School Activites Association rules, Davis must sit out for the next meet thus he can’t compete at this week’s Regionals or qualify to run at State.

"The times weren’t all that great," she said of the course located at Hillcrest Golf Course near the Fort Lewis College campus. "There was no passing on the track. It was a mostly single-laned track except at the beginning and right at the end were the only places runners could pass. It slowed the runners down a little bit."

The Durango Invitational Cross-Country meet served as a qualifying meet for the Blue Jays to Saturday’s Western Regional 3A Cross-Country meet at Rangely.

Mancos High School boys qualifying are Preston Hennrich, Levi Martinez, Alan Cummings, Ian Mullikin, Justin Wince, and Logan Stiles. Qualifying for the girls are Deana Vegas, Karena Dunham, Aspen Hennrich, Dorothy Edgerton, Cassandra Kennedy, and Lyndi Rousset.

Joining Mancos and host Rangely will be Aspen, Gunnison, Ridgway, Ouray, Cedaredge, Vail Christian, Meeker, Silverton, Telluride, Crested Butte Community, DeBeque, Hotchkiss, and Olathe. The top three boys’ teams and the top two girls’ teams advance to State, slated Oct. 27 at Kent-Denver. The top five individuals (boys and girls) not on a qualifying team, also will advance to State.

Host Class 5A Durango easily won the meet last Saturday, Oct. 13, with 18 points for the boys. Monument-Valley High School (Kayenta, Ariz.) came in second with 66, Aztec, N.M. 84, and Mancos 88.

Tanner Kroeger of Durango won with a time 19:04. He finished well ahead, some 35 seconds faster, than teammate and second place finisher Sam Miller. In fact Demons Shaun Cooper came in third in 19:56, and Matt Cummings fourth 20:04. Had Tyler Fedelchak finished fifth, the Demons would have had a perfect team score but he placed eighth in 20:39.

For Mancos, it was Hennrich 12th in 21:06, Martinez 13th in 21:19, Cummings 15th in 21:41, Mullikin 22nd in 22:51, and Kyle Yeomans 26th in 24:48. Although running with the junior varsity, Wince and Stiles both qualified, finishing ahead of Yeomans. Both the varsity and junior varsity teams ran together.

"The boys are running great right now," MHS head coach Tim Dunham commented. "It was a small meet and a strange mix of teams. I think the course was a little long because our guys can certainly run faster. It was a slow course, any way."

Durango’s Emily Roser finished more than a minute ahead of second place to win the race.

For the MHS girls, Vegas placed 21st in 27:05, Dunham 26th in 29:51, Hennrich 28th in 30:22, Edgerton 29th in 31:52, and Crystal Amrine 31st in 36:01. Kennedy and Rousset both finished ahead of Amrine to qualify. Again both the varsity and JVs ran together, instead of in a separate meet.

"The girls continue to improve," he said. "We just have a majority of our girls who are so young. But this meet got them some more experience under their belt."