In the fall of 2025, the Pagosa Springs Middle School (PSMS) cross-country team battled through sun, mud, rain and cold for a hard-fought season and many wins.
These students put in the hard work and dedication to themselves, their sport and their team, and they made huge strides over the season.
Some highlights of the season include co-captain Miles Dempster (eighth grade) taking first place in the McGinn Memorial Invitational (home meet with a time of 11 minutes, 22:05 seconds), the Montezuma-Cortez Invitational (10:21:00) and the Bayfield Invitational (12:07:52), and second place in the Eric Wolff Invitational (11:17:60).
Co-captain Olivia Diffey (eighth grade) also had a phenomenal season, receiving sixth place at the Bayfield Invitational (14:46:14) and the Montezuma-Cortez Invitational meets (12:10:00), leading the charge for the girls’ teams.
Eli Becker Sweeden and Micah Tyler (also eighth-graders) placed high in several meets, including our home meet, where they got sixth (11:47:83) and seventh place (11:48:18). Becker Sweeden placed fourth in the Montezuma-Cortez Invitational (10:35:00), and eighth place at the Bayfield meet (12:33:23). Tyler also placed in the Montezuma-Cortez meet in seventh place (11:05:00).
Jacob Freeman (eighth grade) took first in the B Group Boys race at the Mancos meet (19:07:29) despite the challenges presented by the weather and a muddy course.
Many of our cross-country athletes chose to compete in the state meet in Denver to represent themselves and Pagosa Springs Middle School.
Dempster was the Pirates’ top-placing boy, placing 18th in the finals with a time of 13:32:00, and Diffey was the highest-placing girl at 98th place with a time of 17:25:00. Each race had more than 170 competitors in each bracket.
Overall on the season, the middle school boys’ team took home three first-place awards, a second place, a third place and an eighth place award.
The middle school girls’ team brought home a second place, a third place, two fourth places, a fifth place and an eighth place.
Thank you to Kimberly Taylor, Merci Williams, Jerri Moeller, Kaci Moeller, Ainsley Bracken, Skylar Leiker, Diffey, Zeigh Thomas, Davyn Leiker, Tyler, Wells Witting, Eli Hanto, Freeman, Becker Sweeden, and Dempster for an incredible season.
Coach Ross Wagle, who was an athlete throughout his educational experience and beyond, gave great advice and pushed the athletes to their peak performances.
He has enjoyed coaching at PSMS this year, watching these hard working athletes grow in toughness, resilience, and to see them bond as a team.
He looks forward to another season of coaching the cross-country team next year. Seeing the team persevere and win and the growth of new members like Thomas, Taylor, Kaci Moeller, Jerri Moeller and Bracken has been inspiring to witness.
This was coach Hannah Hemenger’s first cross-country season, and she enjoyed working with this team immensely and seeing everyone push themselves and learn a lot about who they are in the process.
She feels grateful to the team and Ross for teaching her about this sport, and for letting her be a part of the cross-country family.
We hope to see many of you next season, competing in the middle school and high school levels. The 2026-2027 vice captain will be Merci Williams, a dedicated athlete who showed up for her team in every way, and had incredible races this year.
We would love to see more students join us in August, and we really need more male runners to join, so please reach out to Ross at rwagle@pagosa.k12.co.us or to Hemenger at hhemenger@pagosa.k12.co.us with any questions, or if you want to be a part our wonderful cross-country family for the next season.
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