Centauri girls earn silver as a team

Elijah DeLaCerda finishes the 3A race on Friday. DeLaCerda placed first overall, logging a time of 17:08. DeLaCerda's placing was pivotal in his team placing first overall with 80 team points.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Entering the weekend, the Alamosa and Centauri cross country teams headed north to compete at the annual Cheyenne Mountain Stampede hosted at the Norris Penrose Event Center. The Norris Penrose Event Center will also be the location for this years state championship.

As a team the Alamosa boys finished with 80 points and took first in the 3A class competition. Alamosa’s girls accumulated 97 points and finished third in 3A. In the 2A competition Centauri’s girls scooped up 26 points and placed second as a team. Centauri’s boys earned 60 team points and a seventh place finish.

Alamosa junior Lilly Lavier races to a 3A first overall finish . Lavier picked up the gold as an individual and helped her team to a third place finish.

Individually the Centauri boys’ top runners were seniors Cimmaron Mestas, Zach Sandoval, and junior Breck Guymon. The three Falcons all finished within three minutes of each other. Centauri’s girls faired really well with two girls in the top ten. Sophomores Kelcee Coombs and Lizzy Valentine placed 5th and 6th respectively both finishing in under 24 minutes. Fellow sophomore Brenna McDaniel picked up a fifteenth place overall finish with a time of 24:24.

Meanwhile in the the 3A class, Alamosa’s Lilly Lavier picked up the number one overall finish in a little over 20 minutes. Lavier’s teammate and fellow junior Alliyah Molina placed second on the team and 12th overall two minutes later. Emily Lavier, Sariah Lopez and Rachel Sucharski rounded out the Mean Moose’s top five competitors for the team total of 97 points.

Centauri sophomore Kelcee Coombs reaches the home stretch in 2A competition at Cheyenne Mountain Stampede in Colorado Springs. Coombs finished fifth overall with a time of 22:24.

For the boys from the Hub of the San Luis Valley it was Elijah DeLaCerda taking first overall with a 17:08 time. The Mean Moose boys also placed Josh Lopez in the top ten with a time of 18 flat. Behind the top two Josh Medina, Cole Schweizer and Maximo Salazar finished in the next 58 seconds to give Alamosa a first overall finish on Friday.

With a team average of 18.23 Alamosa gapped the next closest team, Holy Family by 16 points. The Mean Moose will be on the road on Friday August 31 when they attend the Widefield Invite in Rocky Ford. Centauri will run the next day at the Lake County Invite in Leadville. Both teams will be in Alamosa the following weekend - Sept. 8th - for the Joe Vigil Invite at Cattials Golf Course.