Continuing to round into form as their regular season winds down, members of the Mancos High School boys and girls cross-country teams performed well during a recent three-meet stretch that figures to serve them well as they move into the postseason.
Kicking off the busy stretch at the Ramble at the Reservoir run in Ridgway on Sept. 20, the Mancos boys team was led by Edgar Hernandez, who finished seventh overall with a time of 21:40. Close behind Hernandez was teammate John Lund, who crossed the line in 11th place (22:25).
Also competing for the boys team at the Ramble were Connor Sehnert, who finished 23rd (24:18), Vanfasai Jaijong, who placed 32nd (25:15), and Sean Bumgarner, who crossed the line in 56th (36:28).
The Mancos boys finished fourth overall in the team standings, while Caprock Academy High School won the team championship.
Leading the way for the Mancos girls team in Ridgway was Grace Manning, who finished seventh overall with a time of 25:11. Madilynn Ritter also competed for the Lady Jays and placed 28th overall (30:05).
“(Ridgway) was the toughest course that we see all season,” Mancos head coach Brady Archer said. “There is a pretty climb within the first ¾ of a mile that is also narrow, so there are not a lot of passing opportunities. The climb takes a number of runners completely out of their normal race strategy and our runners did a nice job of holding on throughout the race.”
Following up their performances in Ridgway, both Mancos teams traveled to Pagosa Springs on Sept. 21 for the Pagosa XC Challenge, and both cracked the top 10 in team standings.
Leading the way for the boys team was Hernandez, who finished 6th with a time of 20:32, and Lund, who placed 7th with a time of 20:36. Sehnert crossed the line in 13th (21:21), Jaijong placed 42nd (25:22) and Bumgarner finished 50th overall.
The Bluejays finished fourth in the team standings behind Aztec, Pagosa Springs and team champion Monticello High School.
On the girls side, Mancos was led by Manning, who finished 25th with a time of 25:18. Amaris Webb crossed the line in 26th with a time of 28:16, Ritter placed 27th with a time of 28:19, and Kylie Guiles finished 33rd with a time of 29:39.
Aspen Bumgarner rounded out members of the Mancos girls team and finished in 37th place (30:46), and the Lady Jays were 6th overall in the team standings. Pagosa Springs High captured the team championship.
“We used the (Pagosa Springs) race to get some workouts in for some runners who had raced the day before,” Archer said. (Manning and Sehnert) did a great job of putting their groups in a great position to have a good race.”
Concluding their busy five-day stretch at the John Thornton Invitational in Blanding, Utah, on Sept. 25, members of both the Mancos boys team and the Mancos girls team again performed well.
Leading the way in the varsity race for the Bluejays was Hernandez, who placed first overall with a time of 19:30. Sehnert crossed the line in eighth place with a time of 20:53.
Manning was the only member of the Mancos girls team to compete in the varsity portion of the John Thornton Invitational and she finished second overall with a time of 23:19.
Next up for both Mancos teams will be the Chicken Creek Challenge, which will take place just outside of Mancos at the Chicken Creek Cross Country Ski Area on Saturday.
