Members of the Durango High School cross country team collected money and spent it on $100 worth of glow sticks.

The Demons will need them for the Desert Twilight Cross Country meet Friday in Casa Grande, Arizona.

The event’s sweepstakes races for the largest and most accomplished high school runners mirror the event’s name, running at twilight and into the darkness at the Grande Sports Complex.

Spotlights are used to light the course, and the glow sticks help the runners and spectators see the competitors.

In order to finance the trip, the Demons’ boys team completed a fundraising run along the Colorado trail, and the girls team sold merchandise.

“The kids work really hard,” DHS head coach David McMillan said. “We try and put it into a big trip fund.”

This season is Durango’s third consecutive trip to the Twilight Open, and this year’s Demons are bringing one of their strongest teams yet.

DHS has won three meets on the boys side this season and finished second at Coronado, the last time the Demons let their top guns push it.

Both the Demons’ boys and girls teams are focused on Oct. 2 and the state championship race, and Friday is the first step toward that.

“It’s a great tipping point,” McMillan said. “We have been running with this theme of progression.”

That doesn’t mean Durango’s systemic pack philosophy will change, though.

It just will get a little more difficult with nearly 300 athletes in a given race, nearly three times what the Demons usually see.

“It helps for the kids to key off each other,” McMillan said. “We know if our top guns can be at the front of that mass of humanity, the other kids will find comfort in that.”

Shannon Maloney has epitomized that for Durango’s girls team this year, regularly finishing in the race’s top 15.

The Demons’ depth behind her did suffer a blow, though, when junior Emily Fogel, who has been the No. 3 DHS runner all season, decided to leave the team.

“I’m a little disappointed, but she’s got a heavy academic load,” McMillan said.

DHS elevated junior Marley Weaver-Gabel to the varsity squad to help fill that gap.

The eligibility of junior Aubree Lorenzen, who had to sit out the first half of the season after transferring from Bayfield, also will help augment the Demons’ depth.

In addition to the varsity squad, DHS also will bring its junior varsity and freshman teams, placing them in categories that match up with their skill levels.

But the trip is about more than running, though.

The Demons camped out on the way to Arizona and will spend a couple days around Sedona, Arizona, for a retreat after the race.

The Desert Twilight will mark the end of the JV season for DHS, so the coaches will talk with the team about the season in wrap and its goals for next year.

Durango’s varsity team will focus on their goals for regionals and the potential state meet.

“It brings the kids closer,” McMillan said.

Even with more than 5,000 athletes at the meet, McMillan understands where his team fits in the larger scheme of the race.

“We’ve done fairly well there and are fairly competitive in the different categories we run in,” he said. “I’d like them to run fast and get some confidence. (The meet) is an indicator of our fitness, but it isn’t a make-or-break race.”

kgrabowski@ durangoherald.com

Wolverines to begin a new long-distance relationship

Changing things up once in a while is as necessary for cross country teams as it is in relationships.

The BHS coaches wanted to do something different this season rather than going to the same old meets, so head coach Josh Walton decided on the Desert Twilight Invitational in Casa Grande, Arizona, as their new long-distance relationship.

“We really wanted to do something that would kind of get the kids excited about cross country,” he said.

The Wolverines are paying for their trip with a combination of school funding and team fundraising.

One of the key draws about the meet for Walton was the different levels of competition available.

“I’m really excited about the fact that my freshman Sloan Mazur is getting to run in the freshman race,” Walton said. “The focus will be on him for that race. He gets to see where he’s sitting among the freshmen in the southwestern United States.”

Bayfield’s top runner, junior Trevor Gabbard, will compete in the Sweepstakes race, which is the highest level of competition available.

“He’s looking forward to the competition there and to see what he can run, being 6,000 feet lower than we usually run at,” Walton said of Gabbard, who’s had several top-five finishes this season, including a runaway victory at the hometown Southwest XC Challenge.

Walton also is excited for the rest of the team to race against competition at a different level than they usually see.

“I think that it actually will get them excited about running at the regionals, give them some excitement to get ready for the regional tournament,” Walton said. “Both teams are sitting on that edge of if they perform well, maybe, they get to go to state. If they don’t, they may not go to state as a team. Our hope is that it gets them excited. They have a chance to run a (personal record) that some of them haven’t seen this year yet.”

kgrabowski@durangoherald.com