The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate harriers faced off against hundreds of runners at the 32nd annual Joe I. Vigil cross-country meet in Alamosa, with coach Josh Kurz explaining the team is “extremely pleased” with its performances at the meet.
There were large schools that traveled all the way from the Front Range, New Mexico, and even Texas,” Kurz explains in an email.
Results from the meet show 403 runners finishing on the boys’ side, with 370 finishing on the girls’ side.
“To put the race in perspective, only 150 boys and 145 girls finished the 3A State Championship race last year,” Kurz wrote. “The fast competition and fans fueled 13 out of 18 of our athletes to new personal records [PRs]! And 3 more athletes were within 2 seconds of their personal record! We’re excited that so many of our athletes are running their best times so early in the season.”
The Pirate boys’ squad finished 25th out of 35 teams.
Rylan Ash was the team’s top finisher, taking 55th with a time of 17 minutes, 17.37 seconds, with Kurz noting Ash was the third fastest freshman in the high school boys’ division at the meet.
Eli Nehring finished 179th with a time of 19:2168, beating his PR by 21 seconds and besting his time from the same meet last year by 1:17.
Weston Sweet dropped the most time from the same meet last season, according to the coach, finishing 203rd in 19:42.45 — 1:34 faster than last season.
Kurz also highlights Sweet bettered his PR by 57 seconds.
Kieran Kurz finished one second later, taking 205th with a time of 19:43.16.
Merrick Tudor was the final scoring runner for the team, finishing 210th with a time of 19:46.07.
Josh Kurz notes Tudor bettered his PR by 11 seconds and ran the course 54 seconds faster than last year.
“Dylan Dempster ran 57 seconds faster than last year,” Josh Kurz wrote, with Dempster finishing 221st with a time of 20:09.20.
Kurz also highlights that Stetson Osborn shaved 1:25 off his time from last season, finishing 257th in 20:52.09.
“Stetson Osborn is progressing nicely,” the coach wrote.
Jacen Easling finished 270th with a time of 21:11.38.
“Jacen was next, shaving 37 seconds off his PR despite some adversity during the week,” Josh Kurz wrote.
Liam McKnight ran a time of 21:20.52 to finish 276th, with the coach calling McKnight’s debut “solid.”
Isaac Hanto ran while battling a cold, according to the coach, and finished 315th with a time of 22:26.86.
Israel Rivera ran a time of 22:49.75 to finish 326th.
Josh Kurz notes the top five boys averaged 50 seconds faster than at the same meet last year.
“Our boys placed 5th out of the teams in our region (top 4 qualify for state), although Lamar, who qualified last year, wasn’t present,” he wrote. “Our boys will need to catch up to Woodland Park, whose top 5 boys averaged 18:18. Our top 5 boys averaged 19:10, so we have some work to do, as our region has become even faster than last year.”
The Lady Pirates, he notes, “trained through some minor injuries this week,” placing 22nd out of 27 teams.
Lily DeClark led the Lady Pirates on the day, finishing 125th overall with a time of 21:58.49, which the coach calls “a phenomenal freshman 5k debut.”
Madi Stretton, he notes, was close behind with a time of 22:04.02, which landed her in 132nd.
The coach also highlights that Stretton bettered her PR by 40 seconds and ran the course 1:21 faster than last season.
Kaiya Lyons, whom the coach notes was running “cautiously” due to an injury, finished 162nd with a time of 22:43.88.
“Bella Jackson ran her guts out and finished 4th on the team with a 23:29, which was a 3-second PR,” Josh Kurz wrote.
Jackson finished 191st overall.
Lucy Rivera was the team’s fifth runner, finishing 215th overall with a time of 23:59.66, which the coach called an “awesome debut.”
Mila Miller logged a time of 25:56.68, one second off her PR, and finished 286th overall.
Xyra Belarmino ran a time of 29:39.94 to finish 342nd, with the coach noting they were glad to have her back and indicating she continues to deal with an injury.
“Our top 5 girls averaged 22:51, which is 3 seconds slower than last year, which is not too bad considering our 3-time state qualifier, Sienna Rose, graduated,” the coach wrote. “The 4th-place team in our region was Alamosa with an average time of 21 minutes.”
The coach further notes that, for him, it isn’t about how the harriers did in the standings at the event.
“There were schools from all divisions, so I don’t put much stock in our athletes’ overall placement,” he wrote. “We’re striving for continuous improvement, comparing ourselves to the runners we used to be, and using our competition to drag us further into the pain cave. One of our goals is always to qualify for the State Championship, so the race was a great preview of most of the top teams in our region.”
He also adds that, two weeks ago, the team ran a time trial in downtown Pagosa Springs, with the “excellent competition” at the Alamosa meet and the team’s additional training enabling the athletes to run an average of 2:11 faster than two weeks ago.
“We’re thrilled with our fitness progression,” he wrote.
This week, the Pirate squads will travel to Bayfield for the Bayfield Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 13.
The Lady Pirates will run at 10:20 a.m., followed by the Pirates at 10:50 a.m.
“I expect both teams to place well at the Bayfield Meet,” the coach wrote. “The girls will be chasing Centauri, who placed just ahead of us last Saturday. The boys will target Dolores and Ignacio, who were within range last Saturday. Our top runners will also have some great individual competition.”
randi@pagosasun.com
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