The two host teams both will view Saturday’s Southwest Colorado XC Challenge through very different lenses.
Bayfield High School wants to test its young team on a challenging course.
Durango High School sees it as a stepping stone toward a more difficult slate of races in October.
The meet kicks off with 13 high school teams and 15 middle school teams at 9 a.m. Saturday at Saul’s Creek west of Bayfield.
The girls’ varsity race starts at 11 a.m. and is followed by the boys race.
“I think I have a few more teams this year than I did last year,” BHS head coach Josh Walton said.
Bayfield, Durango, Mancos, Montezuma-Cortez and Pagosa Springs will make up the Colorado contingent with the rest coming from New Mexico and Utah.
One school even is making a 300-mile trek from Socorro, New Mexico.
“They heard about our meet and wanted to do something different,” Walton said.
For DHS, the roster of opposition isn’t particularly threatening, so head coach David McMillan will have his team view it as preparation for tougher meets later in the year.
The Demons endured their highest mileage week of the season to stay sharp early in the season.
“From that perspective, we’re not resting,” McMillan said. “We’re not preparing ourselves for an all-out race to the wire. We’re telling the kids it’s an important meet because it’s the home meet, but it’s really preparation for October.”
DHS hasn’t had trouble finding form early in the season, though.
The Demons’ boys squad won the first two meets it competed in, while the girls’ team took eighth and second.
“I think, team-wise, it’s been buying into the philosophy of what we’re trying to do,” McMillan said of his team’s success. “The kids put time in over the summer, led by some of the upperclassmen. That’s really paying dividends.”
BHS, on the other hand, fields a team with only one senior who has competed in cross country before.
Trevor Gabbard finished in the top five at the Joe Vigil/PUMA Invitational last weekend in Alamosa and has been Bayfield’s top runner this season.
“Everyone else is juniors, sophomores or freshmen,” Walton said. “We have some minor injuries here and there, but that comes with running.”
The race’s course will be steeper than the ones Bayfield’s athletes have competed on earlier this season, and Walton is excited to see how his team will handle the challenge.
“Our kids really enjoy hosting this meet. I think they enjoy the fact that it’s not a flat course,” he said. “A lot of my kids do better on courses like ours as compared to really flat courses.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
If you go
Who: Bayfield, Durango at Southwest Colorado XC Challenge
What: high school cross country
When: 9 a.m. today
Where: Saul’s Creek west of Bayfield
