The Pagosa Springs High School (PSHS) Pirate cross-country team logged a number of highlights at the Oct. 23 regional meet, among them having a state qualifier, recording a number of personal records (PRs), a runner displaying sportsmanship and sacrifice, and catching back up with a cross-country runner.
“We had some awesome performances at regionals on Thursday,” coach Josh Kurz wrote in the team’s newsletter. “The biggest highlight was [Rylan Ash’s] state-qualifying finish as a freshman! He’s the first freshman boy we’ve ever taken to state as an individual!”
Ash finished 13th out of 95 runners with a time of 16 minutes, 54.24 seconds, with the top 15 individual runners qualifying for state.
“He was in 16th place with 800 meters to go, but he had an exceptional finish, passing 3 strong runners to finish 13th overall (only the top 15 individuals qualify for state),” Kurz wrote. “Rylan also had a 1s PR finishing in 16:54, which makes him the 3rd fastest freshman in 3A!”
Kurz adds, “After Rylan, we had a pack of three boys that finished within one second of each other!”
That pack was led by Merrick Tudor, who finished 45th with a time of 19:19.13 — a 20-second PR, according to the coach.
Weston Sweet followed in 47th in 19:20.09, with Kieran Kurz close behind in 48th with a time of 19:20.67 — a nine-second PR.
Dylan Dempster was the team’s final scoring runner with a time of 19:39.90, which put him in 54th with a three-second PR.
Jacen Easling followed in 55th with a time of 19:39.91.
“Jacen was a hundredth of a second behind Dylan, surprising us all with a whopping 56-second PR, earning him the male monster of the week,” Josh Kurz wrote.
Eli Nehring, the coach noted, worked through illness to finish 60th with a time of 20:07.85.
Isaac Hanto finished 66th with a time of 20:42.12 — only five seconds off his PR.
Liam McKnight finished 72nd with a time of 21:03.55, with the coach noting he wrapped up “a solid freshman season.”
The boys’ team placed sixth overall out of 11 teams, with the coach highlighting that’s one spot higher than the Pirates were seeded.
The Lady Pirates finished eighth out of 10 teams, with the coach noting, “all of our girls ran really well.”
The Lady Pirates were led on the day by Lily DeClark, who finished 38th out of 79 runners with a time of 22:22.46.
“It was great to have Lily back after she took two weeks off to rehab her knee, which worked,” Josh Kurz wrote.
Lucy Rivera finished less than a second later, taking 39th with a time of 22:22.95.
Josh Kurz explains Rivera’s time”was a huge 30-second PR (our female monster of the week)!”
Kaiya Lyons, he adds, had her best race of the season, finishing 41st in 22:31.60.
Madisen Stretton finished 49th with a time of 23:51.37.
“Madi was leading the Lady Pirates when she decided to sacrifice a potential PR to help a Salida girl, who she found in the dirt with 1200m to go,” the coach wrote. “Madi got the Salida girl moving again and encouraged her all the way to the finish.”
A post on the team’s Instagram post indicates the sacrifice “embodies the spirit of cross country.”
The coach’s Instagram post adds, “I was strategically standing 800m from the finish and became concerned when Madi wasn’t leading her pack of teammates. As Lily passed me, she told me that Madi was helping a girl who fell. About a minute later, Madi rounded the corner holding the Salida girl’s hand and I looked in disbelief. Madi shouted at me, ‘Sorry coach!’
“Her apology made her selfless act even sweeter. Madi is extremely competitive, but in that conflicted moment, she chose compassion over competition, but still felt the need to apologize. Madi saw a need and acted on it, the very definition of initiative. The choice was decisive, innate, selfless, and right.”
The team’s final scorer was Xyra Belarmino, who finished 77th with a time of 29:27.85 — a nine-second PR.
The day before the regional race in Colorado Springs, the Pirate teams also again caught up with Jason Doyle, who they’d met while he was running through Pagosa Springs the previous week as part of a cross-country trek.
The coach notes in the newsletter he realized Doyle was still running U.S. 160 and texted him. When the team caught up to him, the harriers were about to jog with Doyle for 2 miles and ask him questions.
“His advice to the team was to ‘surprise yourself!’ Jason inspired us, and we were able to encourage him. The kids even made him a card, and he said it brought tears to his eyes! What a serendipitous encounter two weekends in a row,” Josh Kurz wrote.
This weekend, on Saturday, Nov. 1, Ash will return to Colorado Springs for the state meet.
The championships will be held at the Norris-Penrose Event Center, with the 3A boys set to race at 1 p.m.
randi@pagosasun.com
>