In their last race before this week’s regional meet, the Pagosa Springs High School cross-country teams traveled to Monte Vista for the Eric Wolff Invitational.
The meet was held on Friday, Oct. 16, and this year’s meet featured a new course.
Coach Josh Kurz noted that, for 25 years, the course at the Eric Wolff Invitational was the fastest course they raced on all season, but this year that was not the case.
The new course was longer than a typical 5k and had sections that had fast runners crossing paths with slower runners, noted Kurz.
Typically, Kurz and his staff use this race as both one last workout before regionals and a chance for many athletes to run personal records (PRs) and boost their confidence.
“We generally end the regular season with kids [running] their PR and feeling confident, and that race was not ideal, but it was just a hard workout,” said Kurz. “So, that’s how it was treated. I just wanted to get one more hard workout in, and that accomplished that.”
Despite the long course and the lack of PRs, Rylan Ash still came in third overall for the boys, leading the way with a time of 17 minutes, 52.00 seconds.
Miles Dempster finished next for the Pirates in ninth place with a time of 18:57.00, Weston Sweet placed 10th with a time of 18:58.00, and Jacen Easling placed 18th with a time of 19:31.00 to round out the top-four scoring Pirates at the meet.
Hawkin Kofke placed 36th with a time of 20:34.00, Liam McKnight placed 42nd with a time of 20:51.00, Kieran Kurz placed 47th with a time of 21:04.00, Wells Witting placed 60th with a time of 21:35.00, Isaac Hanto placed 69th with a time of 22:21.00, Davyn Leiker placed 89th with a time of 24:19.00, Matthew Mars placed 91st with a time of 25:04.00, and Breland Bridges placed 98th with a time of 28:20.00.
The boys placed third overall out of the 12 teams that scored with 40 points. They were just one point behind Gunnison and three points off of first place.
Madi Stretton led the way for the Lady Pirates, placing 12th overall with a time of 23:32.00. Bella Jackson placed 17th with a time of 24:12.00.Lucy Rivera placed 18th with a time of 24:13.00, and Olivia Diffey placed 22nd with a time of 24:44.00 to round out the top four scoring Lady Pirates in Monte Vista.
Elsy Wood placed 33rd with a time of 26:03.00, Vivy DavRem placed 40th with a time of 26:38.00, Isabelle Ratcliff placed 52nd with a time of 28:03.00, and Skylar Leiker placed 63rd with a time of 29:58.00.
The girls placed third at the meet amongst the nine scoring teams with 61 points.
“We’re just trying to recover,” said Josh Kurz. “I just treated it [as] if you did your best, then that’s money in the bank for this weekend. I’m just trying to treat that race more as based on effort. If they were satisfied with how they pushed themselves [physically] and themselves mentally, then that’s gonna pay off for this weekend.”
The regional meet, hosted by the Pirates, is set to be run on Thursday, Oct. 22.
Despite expected inclement weather, the race is set to go off as planned on Thursday morning, according to Josh Kurz.
“[It’s] still running as originally planned,” said Josh Kurz. “It could be kind of chaotic for the runners and not comfortable. ... I think the course should probably have standing water on it on the grassy parts, but it shouldn’t be crazy. There aren’t any really tight corners. There’s no slopes on it. It’s flat. It should be a safe course.”
In order to qualify for the state meet, both the Pirates and Lady Pirates must finish in the top four teams. Individual runners who place in the top 15 will also earn a spot at the state meet.
According to the coach, state qualification will come down to a lot of factors, but the X-factors on both the girls’ and boys’ sides are the fifth runners.
The top four runners on the boys side have been incredibly consistent this year, emphasized Josh Kurz, so it will be important that runners such as Kofke, Kieran Kurz and McKnight have great races.
Josh Kurz mentioned that Wood, DavRem and Adi Oelking all have the potential to help propel the Lady Pirates to the state meet.
The girls’ race is set to start at 10 a.m., while the boys will start at 10:40 a.m. Each race will be held at Pagosa Springs High School, with the start and finish taking place in Golden Peaks Stadium.
jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com
>