The Mancos cross country team opened its season at the Tiger Invitational in Aztec, N.M., on Thursday.
Neither the boys or the girls teams ran with enough runners on varsity to score as teams.
In the boys race, Brandon McKie led the way with a time of 20:53 and a 17th-place finish in the varsity division. He was followed by Zane Willburn, who finished in 23rd with a time of 21:55. In the JV race, freshman Zion Knauss was 12th with a time of 22:19 and Justin Burton was 20th with a time of 23:53. The individual champion in the boys varsity race was Timberlin Henderson from Kirtland Central (N.M.) with a time of 17:44. The team champion was Monticello (Utah) followed by New Mexicos Farmington and Aztec.
In the girls race, Rachel Beverlin finished in fifth place with a time of 23:38 in the varsity division. She was followed by Devin Kroeker in 15th with a time of 25:46. In the JV race, freshman Kristin Adams was sixth with a time of 27:39 and Sequoia Lovelace was 15th with a time of 34:01. The individual champion was Lindsey Friesenhahn of Farmington with a time of 21:18. The team champion was Aztec followed by Monticello.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the way our runners competed at this meet. We had a number of runners who had not run in a high school race before, Mancos coach Brady Archer said. This course is always a good challenge to start the season and get an idea of where the runners are at in their training.
Mancos will compete next at the Bayfield meet on Saturday. The middle school races start at 9 a.m. with all of the other races following.
