The Mancos, Montezuma-Cortez and Dolores cross-country teams raced under the lights at Hillcrest Golf Course in Durango on Friday evening in the Southwest Sunset XC Classic.
The Mancos Blue Jays were the highest placing team of the bunch, with both the boys and girls finishing in sixth place out of 10 scoring teams.
The Lady Jays were led by seniors Emma Most and Kaylee Rose. Most finished in 22 minutes and 23 seconds to take 21st place and Rose was just behind in 22:41.50 to finish 26th. Then Hannah Skinner (24:18.90) finished 48th, freshman Maggie Delaney (24:50.98) was 52nd and Jessalyn Bay-Voit (25:36.46) placed 54th. Mimi Archuleta (27:03.47) and Olivia Coppinger (30:16.37) rounded out the Lady Blue Jays in 63rd and 66th place, respectively.
Simon Kearns once again led the Mancos boys, finishing 10th in a time of 17:05.03. He was followed by Jake McKie (18:02.81) in 24th, Teslin Stecher (18:14.20) in 30th, Caleb Yoder (19:01.70) was 45th, and Ryoya Shima (19:06.88) ran a season-best time to finish 46th.
Zane Wilson (20:19.04) finished 61st and Alex Fleitz (21:20.72) was 69th, and then in the JV race, Colt Spencer (23:47.18) finished 42nd and Griff Huver (24:13.10) ran his best race of the season to take 43rd.
The M-CHS boys finished in eighth place, led by seniors Josh Ramos and Sonny Boren.
Ramos (17:43.86) finished in 19th, Boren (18:44.64) was 37th, sophomore Ben Castillo-Calvillo ran a new personal-best time of 19:59.95 to finish 56th, and freshman Will Brown (20:03.76) was on his heels to finish 57th.
Running in his first race, Mike Vanik (21:10.86) finished 67th, Blair Rice (21:50.20) placed 73rd and Marcus Amrine (22:29.76) finished 75th. Riley Whiteskunk (24:31.79) and David Vanik (27:17.84) finished 47th and 53rd, respectively, in the JV race.
Finishing ninth as a team, the Lady Panthers were led by juniors Caisey Duran (23:01.79) in 31st and Emma Thissen (23:25.35) in 35th. And then Sam Bagge (24:59.99) placed 53rd, and Lynda LaPaz (25:47.62) and Maya LaMunyon each ran new personal bests to finish 56th and 66th, respectively.
Still with just three runners, the Dolores Bears were unable to score as a team. However, all three improved on their times from the Loyd’s Lake Classic, even though that race was a smidge shorter in distance.
Sophomores Philip Hufman (19:00.37) and Brennan Hite (19:01.47) stuck together to finish back-to-back in 43rd and 44th. And then freshman Alex Olson ran the 5K in 21:44.40 to take 72nd.
Dolores will run at the Ramble at the Reservoir in Ridgway on Friday, and Mancos and M-CHS will each take their teams to the Pagosa Springs Invitational on Saturday.
