Last Saturday, the Mancos cross-country team competed with nine other teams at its annual Chicken Creek Challenge held in the San Juan Forest north of town. The meet attracted schools from Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
On the boys side, the Bluejays were led by Zane Willburn, who finished the hilly, 5K course in a time of 21 minutes, 16 seconds, which was good for 27th place. Willburn was followed closely by teammate Justin Burton in 28th with a time of 21:21. Brandon McKie was next at 21:45 in 34th place. Zion Knauss rounded out the team score with a 44th place finish in a time of 23:10. The boys finished seventh as a squad. Pagosa Springs was the team champion. The individual champion was Carlos Brinkmann of Pagosa Springs, who finished the course in 18:11, a full 40 seconds ahead of second place.
For the Lady Bluejays, freshman Kristin Adams took 16th in 24:22 to lead her teammates. She was followed by Rachel Beverlin in 20th place and a time of 25:01. Devin Kroeker was close behind in 23rd at 25:10. The girls team champion was Bayfield, while the individual champion was Lindsey Friesenhahn from Farmington (N.M.) in a time of 20:42.
This course is deceptively tough. It doesnt have any really big hills to it, but the beginning of the course does get to a lot of runners. The day was almost perfect, if not a bit too warm, Mancos coach Brady Archer said. We had some runners who are not used to leading our team have really good races today. I think Zane is really starting to use the speed he always shows in practice, and Kristin Adams is doing a really good job of learning how to run a race. She has started to move her self up in races earlier, and that has really helped her finish with faster times.
Mancos will compete at the Ancient Trails Invitational 5K at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds at 9 a.m. The meet is hosted by Montezuma-Cortez High School.
Mancos will finish out the regular season in Monte Vista on Saturday, Oct. 15.
M-CHS also competes at meet
The M-CHS cross-country team also competed at the Chicken Creek Challenge.
The Panthers took sixth as a team with 127 points, and were led by Dillon Wells ninth-place time of 19, 34. Wells was followed by Jonathan Bloedel, 25th, 21:03; Mack Carter, 45th, 23:28; and, Chandler Dee, 48th, 23:41.
Freshman Rachel Demby took ninth in 23:39 en route to leading the Lady Panthers to a seventh place team finish of 116 points. Other girls finishes were Abby Lock, 25th, 25:29; Elana Cope, 39th, 27:42; and, Selene LaPaz, 43rd, 31:26.