Putting forth the type of ‘pack’ performance all cross-country coaches preach, Ignacio High’s four boys, stuck in the middle of 67 entrants competing in Mancos’ 2022 Chicken Creek Challenge, nevertheless managed to cross the finish line in succession, helping IHS record a seventh-place adjusted score-4 result of 90 points.
Freshman Aven Bourriague was the top ’Cat in the race, placing 32nd in 22 minutes, 10.19 seconds. Classmates Dillon Brann (22:10.68) and Trace Crane (22:18.27) finished 33rd and 34th, and junior Corey Gomez (22:18.34) took 35th overall.
Winning the individual title was Blanding, Utah, San Juan junior Edward Lyman, who clocked 18:09.56 and beat Monticello, Utah, junior Jesse Pettit (18:20.40) by nearly 11 seconds. First to finish from a Colorado school was Sargent junior Westen Burkhart, who placed third in 18:56.98 (Bayfield junior Tristan Sager was the second to finish, placing eighth in 19:46.78).
SJHS totaled a winning-low 20 points, while Monticello placed second with 27 and BHS third with 47. Shiprock, N.M., took fourth with 59 points, and Montezuma Creek, Utah, Whitehorse rounded out the top five with 79. Monument Valley, Utah’s 89 points ranked sixth, and Shiprock, N.M., Northwest (117) finished eighth.
Shiprock sophomore Taylor Begay earned the girls’ championship, with her 22:00.39 well ahead of Mancos sophomore Teagan Archer’s 22:27.83. Clocking 23:27.18, Monticello sophomore Marah Long came in third with classmates Lilly Burton (23:27.81) and Ayla Carling (23:30.09) rounding out the top five.
Had the Lady Buckaroos entered one more runner, the team title would likely have been theirs. Instead, the first-place chase came down to a tiebreaker; Many Farms, Ariz., and the meet-hosting Lady Jays each tallied a score-4 total of 32 points, meaning first place was determined by each crew’s No. 5 runner – with Mancos sophomore Sarah Knezek placing 21st and MFHS soph Abrianna Chato 28th.
Third place went to Dolores (35), with Whitehorse (59), Shiprock (63), Montezuma-Cortez (86) and SJHS (99) following.
Posting a time of 28 minutes, 40.96 seconds, Ignacio junior Lauren deKay placed 33rd out of 55 finishers.
Now in the 2022 season’s final month, IHS will next lace ’em up to compete Friday afternoon, Oct. 7, in Durango at the Four Corners Southwest Challenge held at Hillcrest Golf Course.