When the starting gun sounds for the Class 2A State Cross-country Championship in Colorado Springs on Oct. 27, runners from Dolores and Mancos high schools will be well represented in a talented field.
Unlike previous seasons in which the Mancos boys team contended for team titles and Mancos standout Ro Paschal sought an individual crown, local runners are unlikely to find themselves at the top of the standings this year.
That said, a talented group of youngsters led by Mancos standouts Grace Manning and Edgar Hernandez will join grizzled Dolores veterans Phillip Hufman and Brennan Hite as they attempt to leave a legacy at Colorado’s most important high school cross-country race.
As this year’s state meet approaches, one of the main questions on the minds of knowledgeable local cross-country fans is whether Dolores seniors Hufman and Hite can crack the Top 10.
Far and away the most decorated runner in the short history of Dolores’ cross-country program, Hufman will enter this year’s meet teeming with confidence after winning three meets during the regular season and finishing third at the Class 2A Region 4 Meet.
Now a three-time state qualifier, Hufman placed 20th at last season’s state meet and finished 71st in the state meet as a sophomore before training hard throughout last summer and entering this season in top-notch condition.
“What has been going really well this year is that I’ve been training hard and racing,” Hufman said. “I want to go to state and finish in the Top 10. That’s what I’m looking to do this year.”
Although has not dominated the headlines to the degree that Hufman has this season, the senior has enjoyed an outstanding season in his own right and has consistently found his name near the top of meet standings.
Hite’s most recent strong finish came at the Class 2A Region 4 Championship where the senior, who had not previously qualified for Colorado’s state meet, placed fifth with a career-best time of 17:18.69.
In order to finish in the Top 10 this year, Hufman and Hite will need to run near the front of a talented field that includes Telluride High School’s Jaden Evans, who won Regionals with a blistering time of 15:40.42.
Heritage Christian High School will also send several talented runners to the meet, including odds-on favorite Seth Bruxvoort, who won the Class 2A Region 1 Championship with a time of 16:14 on a difficult course in Lyons.
How will the Mancos girls’ team perform?
Although the Lady Jays were not favored to qualify for this year’s state meet, a spate of career-best performances during the Class 2A Region 4 Championship allowed the team to squeak into state with a fifth-place finish.
Figuring to lead Mancos at this year’s state meet will be sophomore standout Grace Manning, who finished fifth at the Class 2A Region 4 Meet with a career-best time of 20:38.55. Manning qualified for last year’s state meet and finished 17th.
Joining Manning will be teammates Hakayla Snow and Kaysi Thomas, who will both be competing at state for the second time. Aspen Bumgarner, Kylie Guiles and Zoey Steele also represented the Lady Jays at this year’s Class 2A Region 4 Meet.
“For our girls, every runner stepped up,” Mancos head coach Brady Archer wrote in an email to The Journal. “I am very proud of the way that all of our runners competed today. They represented the team and our community very well.”
For the first time in a long time, Mancos High School will not have a full team of male runners competing at this year’s state meet.
Freshman Edgar Hernandez will look to continue his team’s winning tradition when he hits the course at Colorado Springs for the first state meet of what already has the look of a special high school career.
Although Hernandez had his eye on state qualification for the entire season, a trip to Colorado Springs came only after the freshman ran a nearly perfect race and squeaked into the state competition with a 15th-place finish at the Class 2A Region 4 meet.
“Edgar got himself in the top 15 from the start and he stayed with them,” Archer wrote. “We talked all week about how fast the Delta course was, and (Hernandez) came out and ran the way we had planned on running.”
While this year’s Colorado State Cross Country Championships will not be broadcast online, individuals interested in tracking live results may do so at www.comilesplit.com. The Class 2A girls race is scheduled to begin Saturday at 12:20 p.m., and the Class 2A boys’ race is scheduled to start at 1:40 p.m.
