Three Pagosa Springs High School Pirate harriers earned all-conference honors at Saturday’s McGinn Memorial Cross Country Challenge on Reservoir Hill, which also served as the season’s Intermountain League (IML) meet.
The meet followed days of prescribed burns in the area, with coach Rachael Christiansen writing in the team’s newsletter, “The smoke-filled days leading up to the meet had us quite worried, and we were so glad to see that conditions improved and we were able to host our meet on our scheduled times!”
The Lady Pirates raced first on the day, taking fourth overall out of nine teams and third in the IML.
Sienna Rose was the top Lady Pirate finisher on the day, taking 12th out of 71 runners overall with a time of 24 minutes, 46.58 seconds.
Kaiya Lyons finished a fraction of a second later to finish 13th with a time of 24:46.65.
Rose and Lyons finished eighth and ninth among IML runners, landing them on the all-conference second team.
Madisen Stretton finished 22nd with a time of 26:27.85.
“Madi Stretton had a great day, looking strong the entire race,” Christiansen wrote.
The coach notes Bella Jackson ran most of the race with Stretton and finished 24th with a time of 26:37.76.
“She is starting to realize how good she can be and we are excited to see her continue to grow,” Christiansen wrote.
Hailey Sams finished 40th with a time of 28:07.18, with the coach stating, “She has been working her way through a hip injury and looked good on the course!”
With a time of 28:29.97, Vivy DavRem finished 42nd.
“Vivy is another one of our freshmen who are starting to figure out their potential and we are excited to see what she can accomplish on a flat, fast course,” Christiansen notes.
Gwendolyn Tyler finished 63rd with a time of 35:05.51, with the coach noting, “She has been battling a cold for weeks now and showed up and ran a really great race. We are very proud of the effort put forth by every single one of these Lady Pirates!”
The Pirate boys’ race followed, with the coach noting the team had some “strong showings.”
The Pirates finished eighth out of 10 teams overall and fourth in the IML.
“While this is not where we would like to be, we are seeing a lot of improvement from the majority of the team,” Christiansen notes. “We have a few more weeks to continue to get better and faster and then see where we line up in regards to regionals at the end of the month!”
Connor Thomas was the lead runner for the Pirates, with the coach highlighting he ran “likely his best race yet” on his way to finishing 16th overall and fifth among IML runners with a time of 21:16.03.
“He was strong and confident from the start and only improved throughout the race,” the coach wrote.
Thomas earned first-team all-conference honors with the finish.
Dylan Dempster finished 36th with a time of 22:58.42, with the coach noting he had “never finished this high on our team, and we believe he has just started realizing his own potential in the sport.”
She adds, “Just like some of our other runners, we are looking forward to him running a flat, fast course in Monte Vista!”
The coach notes Merrick Tudor, Eli Nehring and Jesse Beck were a pack of three, finishing 43rd, 44th and 45th respectively.
Tudor finished with a time of 23:27.75, followed by Nehring with a time of 23:33.17 and Beck with a time of 23:41.61.
“This was a solid performance by both Merrick and Eli! Jesse was much further back than we would have liked, but he has been battling illness for the past few weeks and has missed out on some key speed workouts,” the coach explains. “Hopefully he can get a few more hard practices in and make up some of that lost time before the end of the season.”
With a time of 24:12.83, Peyton Jackson finished 51st.
Isaac Hanto followed in 53rd with a time of 24:22.49.
Jacen Easling, who finished 56th with a time of 24:40.08, and Weston Sweet, who finished 60th with a time of 25:03.34, had good days, according to the coach, with Easling consistent in terms of time throughout the season and Sweet starting to figure out racing.
Asher Kurz finished 79th with a time of 28:20.78 despite dealing with a knee issue, with the coach noting he was “able to run a solid race.”
On Saturday, the Pirate teams will race at the Chicken Creek Challenge in Mancos, with the Lady Pirates slated to run at 11 a.m. and the Pirates following at 11:45 a.m.
randi@pagosasun.com
