Update: The races will take place in the vicinity of the high school, with the Lady Pirates racing at 9:50 a.m. and the Pirates at 10:25 a.m.
Original: The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate cross-country teams competed at the Coronado Cougar Classic in Colorado Springs on Saturday, Sept. 19.
Though both the boys’ and girls’ teams were not at full strength, the boys placed third out of the 16 teams competing and the girls placed second out of the eight teams competing.
The only team from the Pirates’ region was Lamar and, according to coach Josh Kurz, both teams need to beat Lamar to qualify for the state meet. The girls beat Lamar by 11 points and the boys were edged out by Lamar by three points.
“I believe with a full squad, the boys could have eclipsed Lamar’s narrow margin, and the girls would have widened their lead substantially,” Kurz wrote in an email to The SUN.
Rylan Ash led the way for the Pirates, finishing fourth overall at the meet with a time of 16 minutes, 48.40 seconds.
Weston Sweet placed 16th with a time of 17:57.40, Miles Dempster placed 17th with a time of 18:15.60, Jacen Easling placed 32nd with a time of 19:01.80 and Kieran Kurz placed 46th with a time of 19:41.90 to round out the top five boys who scored for the Pirates.
Liam McKnight was the only other Pirate to race at the varsity level, and he placed 57th with a time of 20:19.20.
Madi Stretton led the way for the Lady Pirates, finishing 10th overall at the meet with a time of 22:02.80. Bella Jackson placed 14th with a time of 22:59.60, Lucy Rivera placed 16th with a time of 23:49.40, Olivia Diffey placed 25th with a time of 24:24.60, and Adelaide Oelking placed 31st with a time of 25:09.10 to round out the top five scoring girls.
Elsy Wood was the only other Lady Pirate to run at the varsity meet. She placed 37th with a time of 25:35.30.
Nine athletes ran personal best races on Saturday, according to Kurz, including Oelking, Easling, Diffey and Dempster.
JV runners setting new personal records on the day were Skylar Leiker, Matthew Mars, Breland Bridges, Jacob Freeman and Stetson Osborn.
“Lucy was the monster of the week, dropping 1:31 from last week, and Adi was close behind with an improvement of 1:14,” wrote Josh Kurz.
This week the team will be hosting their home meet, the McGinn Memorial Cross Country Challenge, on Saturday, Sept. 26. There are currently five teams registered to race, not including Pagosa Springs.
The Lady Pirates’ race is slated to begin at 10 a.m. atop Reservoir Hill, with the Pirate boys’ set to follow at 10:45 a.m.
“We are pleased with the way our teams are progressing, and we encouraged our athletes to ensure that their actions and choices are consistent with their goals,” wrote Josh Kurz. “In order to qualify for state, we must take charge of the things that we can control: diet, hydration, sleep, attitude, work ethic, and quality stretching.”
jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com
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