The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate harriers put on a few pounds at The Sept. 13 Bayfield XC Invitational — pounds of mud, that is.
“The Bayfield meet will go down as one of the muddiest races in recent memory,” coach Josh Kurz wrote in a newsletter. “However, we are very grateful that the sun came out long enough to race.”
The coach notes that, while the middle school racers compacted the mud a bit before the high school races, there were still plenty of “giant mud puddles to charge through!”
The coach adds, “Surprisingly, five athletes ran faster than last year despite the extra pounds of mud on their feet!”
Those athletes were Madi Stretton, Merrick Tudor, Stetson Osborn, Jacen Easling and Isaac Hanto, he highlights.
The coach also notes the Pirate squads logged two top-10 finishers in Lily DeClark and Rylan Ash.
DeClark finished seventh out of 75 runners with a time of 24 minutes, 13.32 seconds.
Kaiya Lyons was the next Lady Pirate finisher, claiming 17th with a time of 26:08.67.
Stretton followed in 18th with a time of 26:24.35.
With a time of 27:05.83, Bella Jackson notched 22nd overall.
Xyra Belarmino finished 66th with a time of 33:54.71.
Overall, the Lady Pirates took fourth out of eight teams, with Kurz noting the team was down two runners.
The Pirates boys finished fifth out of 10 teams, led by Ash’s 10th-place finish in 19:44.67.
Tudor finished 37th out of 119 runners with a time of 21:27.33.
Eli Nehring took 46th with a time of 22:17.25.
Kieran Kurz, Weston Sweet and Dylan Dempster finished close together, with Kieran Kurz taking 52nd in 22:37.21, Sweet finishing 54th in 22:46.89 and Dempster running a time of 22:52.29 to finish 56th.
Easling took 61st with a time of 23:21.82 and Osborn finished 65th in 23:35.10.
Liam McKnight notched 82nd with a time of 24:30.73 and Hanto finished 89th with a time of 24:56.29.
Josh Kurz highlights that the Pirates finished first out of the four schools from their region at the event.
“We were proud of both teams for adapting to the slick conditions and giving their best effort,” he wrote.
The coach adds it was expected for the Pirates to add time compared to the “manicured Joe Vigil race,” but highlights, “Merrick was the monster of the week since he added the least amount of time (1:41) compared to last week. He ran tough, and he actually looked like he was thriving in the muddy conditions! Jacen was next with 2:10 added, followed by Lily, who only added 2:15.”
The Pirates will be off from racing this weekend, with the team’s next meet being the McGinn Memorial XCountry Challenge Sept. 27 in Pagosa Springs.
randi@pagosasun.com
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