Huskies XC nabs two titles
Special to the Daily |
Region 6 Meet
Boys
2. Gino Giovagnoli, EV, 16:03
4. Alexis Aguirre, BM, 16:11
7. Cameron Moore, BM, 16:16
12. Ethan Pence, BM, 16:45
15. Josh Braun, BM, 16:53
19. Ty Willoughby, BM, 17:11
20. Ricky Arreola, BM, 17:14
21. Riley Mehan, EV, 17:28
22. Brandon Sheard, EV, 17:33
23. Franklin Reilly, BM, 17:36
24. Michael Niemeyer, EV, 17:39
28. Aiden Branch, EV, 17:48
30. Jake Borel, BM, 17:53
31. Nathaniel Badger, BM, 17:53 (tenths)
32. Matt Jordan, EV, 17:57
41. Vladimir Carbajal, EV, 18:36
42. Matt Genelin, EV, 18:38
58. Harry Trotter, EV, 19:19
Girls
6. Carly Volkmer, EV, 19:20
8. Hannah Gaylord, BM, 19:41
9. Rychelle Denardo, BM, 19:47
12. Kaela Fahrney, BM, 19:54
13. Anabel Johnson, BM, 19:57
19. Megan Rossman, BM, 20:15
20. Ize Calabrese, BM, 20:18
22. Alex Raichart, BM, 20:22
23. Shawna Adams, EV, 20:23
26. Brynn Mehan, EV, 20:35
30, Elizabeth Constien, BM, 20:55
32. Melissa Delgado, BM, 21:05
33. Taylor Hermosillo, EV, 21:05 (tenths)
37. Desi Mendoza, EV, 21:13
45. Tyler Beckum, EV, 21:44
48. Madison Baxter, EV, 22:01
51. Shelby Essex, EV, 22:03
52. Michaela Mitchell, EV, 22:05
DELTA — Hey Ryan McKay, you need a new banner in the gym.
Huskies cross-country made some new work for the Battle Mountain athletic director on Friday afternoon, capturing two league titles at the Region 6 Meet in Delta.
The ladies are the queens of the Slope, making it back-to-back-to-back-to-back regional and league titles. (That’s four for the math-impaired, of which the author is one.)
The Huskies boys finished second behind state-colossus Durango, but still won the Slope title. (The Demons are a regional opponent, but not in the Slope League.)
Both Battle Mountain teams, as well as the Eagle Valley boys (third place) are off to the state meet next week in Colorado Springs. The Devils girls finished fifth as a team in a competitive field and did not qualify as a team.
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Dynasty
Four titles in a row is a dynasty in high school. The Huskies girls harriers join only Battle Mountain boys soccer (2004-07 and 2010-13) and boys cross-country (2005-08) as the school’s only squads to four-peat.
“These girls did such a good job of creating the culture of their own team,” Huskies coach Rob Parish said. “The Ortizes (Amelia and Mandy), the Constiens (Val and Elizabeth) and the Gaylords (Sydney and Hannah), they got to see them start this run of titles, and the current girls are continuing the dynasty. They formed a new group and reveled in this task in defending the title.”
Battle Mountain finished with 60 points, well ahead of Durango (85). Again, lower is better in cross-country.
While Rohanabelny led this effort — Hannah Gaylord, Rychelle Denardo and Anabel Jonson have to make room for Kaela Fahrney — Parish credited two seniors, Ize Calabrese and Lilly McMurrain, who were not as influential in the statistical result on Friday.
“The strength of the girls is their pack mentality,” Parish said. “They’ve not been concerned with the pecking order. When they pass each other or are near each other there’s a lot of positive talk. I give a lot of credit to Lilly and Ize for that.”
Coming for Durango
Since the kids like and use the Internets so much these days, Battle Mountain’s boys knew they had their work cut out for them. The website, co.milesplit.com, can run simulations for meets, and it looked downright awful for the Huskies.
The virtual meet had the Demons demolishing the Huskies, 21-60. The Demons would have four runner finish ahead of the Huskies’ first, according to the computer.
Durango did win, but the score was 38-50.
Alexis Aguirre finished in 16 minutes, 11 seconds — Jonny Stevens’ school record lives for another year — and was actually ahead of Durango’s top runner. Cameron Moore (seventh, 16:16) was on the heels of the Demons’ top-two runners.
“Durango, undoubtedly, is one of the teams in the state. They’ve had four guys run under 16 minutes this year,” Parish said. “Our guys stepped up to the challenge. Durango handed it to us at (the season-opening) pre-state (meet). I couldn’t be more proud and more pleased with their effort and their belief in the season and race plan.”
Welcome back
Devils cross-country coach Melinda Brandt had to pause for a moment to think of how many times in a row the Eagle Valley boys harriers have qualified for state.
Friday made it four in a row, Coach.
That’s one of those nice things when making state is just habit.
“The boys are pumped,” she said. “That was our goal through all of this. The most exciting thing is that we had to beat Montrose or Palisade to get to state, and we beat both.”
And that would be the cherry on top.
Eagle Valley’s Gino Giovagnoli finished second with a blistering time of 16:03. That is a new school record. Seven of nine of the Eagle Valley gents set personal bests.
You may yell, “Ain’t it great to be a Devil …”
The Eagle Valley girls had heartbreak for the second year in a row. Four teams qualify for state, and, yep, the Devils were fifth.
“I would say that this was the strongest field for women in the time I’ve been coaching,” Brandt said. “There were seven good teams for four spots. I felt good about our race. We beat Montrose and Palisade, but Summit was a little too strong for our girls.”
The silver lining is that the Devils’ Carly Volkmer finished sixth and qualified for state as an individual.
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934, cfreud@vaildaily.com and @cfreud.
