In their final meet before regionals, the Gunnison High School cross country team competed in Monte Vista on Friday, Oct. 16, at the Eric Wolff Invitational.
“It was a nice meet before regionals to kind of just get a little bit closer to full health and full strength,” said head coach Blake Davis. “The kids did great, they took care of what they needed to take care of, they executed what they needed to execute and we're sharp. We're ready to go for regionals.”
Ari Eberly led the way for the Cowboys with a fifth place finish and a time of 18:29.00. Right behind him was Ian Baker who placed sixth with a time of 18:45.00, Jesus Chona placed 12th with a time of 19:04.00, Brandon Hallock placed 16th with a time of 19:24.00 and Riego Koepsel placed 39th with a time of 20:40.00 to round out the top five scoring boys.
Beck Schwab placed 48th with a time of 21:04.00, Houston Stair placed 49th with a time of 21:04.00, Rylan Sahagun placed 53rd with a time of 21:19.00, Nick Montello placed 63rd with a time of 21:46.00, Roman Loken placed 64th with a time of 21:48.00, Jack Siegrist placed 79th with a time of 23:07.00, Blake Hill placed 81st with a time of 23:29.00, Zaiden Amrich placed 88th with a time of 24:09.00 and Casen Foltz placed 100th with a time of 28:32.00.
The boys placed second out of the 12 teams that scored with 39 points. They finished just two points behind Dolores.
After the race, Davis highlighted Baker’s performance.
“He was struggling with finishing races throughout the season, it's been one of the things you've been working really hard to try to figure out and get through and he did a great job this week of trying something new and trying it taking a leap of faith and It worked really well for him and that's exactly what we need looking towards regionals,” said Davis.
Lucy Orgill placed eighth overall, leading the way for the girls’ team with a time of 22:52.00. Behind her was Brooke Terry who placed 10th with a time of 23:00.00, Elora Jones placed 15th with a time of 23:54.00, Autumn Terry placed 25th with a time of 25:34.00 and Avery Crean placed 27th with a time of 25:37.00 to round out the top five scoring girls at the meet.
Caris Storkel placed 28th with a time of 25:37.00, Emma Carr placed 34th with a time of 26:03.00, Kinley Dziekan placed 35th with a time of 26:07.00, Mila Jorgenson-Clair placed 36th with a time of 26:20.00, Sofia Rascon placed 49th with a time of 27:45.00, Bristol Buffington placed 50th with a time of 27:47.00, Kendall Clark placed 74th with a time of 32:04.00 and Arianna De Marco placed 76th with a time of 34:47.00.
The girls placed second overall out of the nine teams that scored with 51 points.
“Lucy Orgill and Brooke Terry did an amazing job of helping the team out and (they) keep building us to our best running towards the end of October,” said Davis.
The Cowboys will race at Regionals in Pagosa Springs on Thursday, Oct. 22, with the chance to qualify for the State Meet. If either the boys or girls team finishes top four at the meet they will qualify and any runner who finishes in the top 15 will qualify individually.
There has been talk of moving the meet time and location earlier this week due to forecasted inclement weather, but as of now everything is going on as planned. Davis wants his team to not be distracted by the noise and just prepare for their biggest meet of the year so far.
“We just keep telling the kids we’ve got to control what we can control, control our effort, control our energy, control our intensity day in and day out,” said Davis. “And that looks like Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before our race on Thursday and so far, they've been doing a great job.”
Davis’ X-factors for the race on Thursday are Baker and Schwab for the boys and Crean and Rascon for the girls.
“I think if they run to their full potential we have a great chance of placing high in our region,” said Davis. “I say top four at least.”
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