As the calendar shifts to the championship portion of their respective schedules, Mancos athletics enjoyed an all-around good week for their fall programs for Homecoming week.
The volleyball program turned in a 2-0 week in San Juan Basin League play, topping Dolores 3-0 and Telluride 3-1, to end a two-match skid. Meanwhile, the girls’ cross-country team won the Chicken Creek Challenge, placing four runners in the top 20 to celebrate a home invitational victory.
Mancos volleyball raced past Dolores and Telluride to improve to 8-4, staying right in the SJBL race in the process. The Jays (4-2 2A/1A SJBL) join a logjam at the top of the league standings, sitting behind Dove Creek (5-0), Ignacio (5-1) and Nucla (5-1).
Junior Teya Yeomans posted a team-best 38 kills in the two-match span, collecting a kill at nearly a 50% rate – a very profitable percentage for the Bluejays. Freshman Claire Goodwin added 18 kills in the week’s efforts, while the Jays combined for 28 service aces.
Senior Jessie Wallace collected 56 assists from her setter position, while classmate Shelby Jabour collected a team-best 35 service receptions to set up the Mancos offense.
Freshman Aysia Mathews and junior Haylie Higgins combined for 14 kills in the wins over the Bears and Miners, as head coach Brianna Yeomans-Allison’s squad swept the regular season series with Dolores and has taken the first two of three meetings with Telluride.
Mancos prepares for a big week in the league, as Ignacio awaits a visit from the Jays on Thursday, Oct. 6, before Mancos returns home to take on Ridgway on Saturday, Oct. 8, to face the Demons.
On the trails at Chicken Creek, the Mancos cross-country team also enjoy home cooking, topping a field of 11 teams represented to win the Chicken Creek Challenge.
Sophomore Teagan Archer continued her impressive 2022 campaign with a runner-up performance, dueling with meet-winner Taylor Begay for much of the race, before the Shiprock sophomore pulled away for the win. The duo finished one minute ahead of the rest of the field, as Archer finished the rugged 5K course with a time of 22:27.
Mancos added a tenth-place finish from sophomore Adaline Kearns (24:28), with senior Madilynn Ritter just behind her in 11th (25:18). Junior Chloe Endres took 20th, and sophomore Sarah Knezek raced in one spot later to help the Jays secure the top spot with 42 points.
The Jays finished in front of Many Farms, Arizona, (47 points) and Dolores (58 points) in the overall team standings.
On the boys side, Mancos junior Braxton Dennison took 20th overall (21:01) to pace the Bluejays effort.
Mancos will look forward to one final tuneup meet, in Durango at the Southwest Classic, before a trip to Delta’s Confluence Park for the 2A Region 4 meet, with the top teams and individuals from that meet qualifying for the State Championships on Oct. 30 in Colorado Springs.
