The Durango cross country team is less than two weeks away from competing in regionals and it posted strong results in their latest tuneup meet.
The Demons finished fourth out of 13 schools in both the girls and boys varsity 5,000-meter races at the SWL Championships on Oct. 5 at Lincoln Park in Grand Junction.
The girls team finished with an overall time of one hour, 37 minutes and 42 seconds and an average time of 19:33 per runner. The Durango girls were only 19 seconds behind third-place Fruita Monument and 50 seconds behind second-place Battle Mountain.
Niwot won the meet in the girls and boys varsity 5Ks. The Niwot girls won with an overall time of 1:30:41 and an average time of 18:09 per runner.
The Demon boys squad finished fourth with an overall time of 1:21:31 and an average time of 16:19 per runner. This was a few minutes behind Niwot’s overall time of 1:18:17.
Durango coach Ron Keller was happy with the team’s performance but wished his team could be fully healthy. Numerous kids are either recovering from injuries or are out with an illness.
“We've basically suspended our lifting in the weight room to try to avoid the closer contact and handling and being on all the different machines in there,” Keller said.
Durango girls freshman Lacy Ruggiero set her personal record for the 5K, finishing seventh out of 106 girls varsity runners with a time of 18:40, averaging a six-minute mile.
“When she came in as a freshman we had watched her for a couple of years, we knew that she was going to be a good incoming freshman,” Keller said.
Junior Sofia Voss finished in 12th with a time of 19:06, which equates to 6:08 mile pace.
Sarah Perkins of Niwot won the girls race with a time of 17:35, which is 5:39 mile pace.
Durango boys senior Charlie Dillman finished 12th in the boys varsity race with a time of 15:54 and a mile pace of 5:06.
Sophomore Miles Snow was Durango’s second-best runner in the boys varsity race, finishing 16th with a PR of 16:06 and a mile pace of 5:10.
Porter Middaugh of Battle Mountain won the boys varsity race with a blistering time of 14:38, averaging a 4:42 mile time.
“It's just like Liberty Bell,” Keller said. “It's a fast track in Colorado and people will go there.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
