Valley runners headed to state

ALAMOSA — Alamosa and Centauri high schools will be well represented at the state cross country championships as both schools qualified their boys and girls teams.

Alamosa swept took first place in both competitions at the Class 3A Region 1 meet last Friday in New Castle.

The Mean Moose boys team won its meet with 44 points easily outdistancing second-place Gunnison which scored 96.

Leading the way for the Moose was junior Santiago Trujillo, who was the individual champion in 17:09.50. Also qualifying for Alamosa are junior Izaiah Casanova who was third in 17:25.80, Jayr Almeida, who was sixth in 17:38.20, sophomore Mario Villalba who was seventh in 17:47.30, and sophomore Thaddeus Cody who was 27th in 19:07.00.

Other Mean Moose state qualifiers include junior Alan Flores who was 28th in 19:12.00, and junior Isaac Higareda.

The Lady Mean Moose also won their regional meet quite easily as they scored 31 points which was far ahead of second-place Basalt with 68.

Sophomore Sarah DeLaCerda was the girls individual champion with a time of 19:18.20. Other scorers include junior Autumn McQuitty who was fifth in 19:47.50, freshman Elizabeth McQuitty who was seventh in 19:57.10, sophomore Madeline Castillo who was eighth in 19:58.20, and junior Lia Castillo who was 10th in 20:33.90.

Also qualifying for the Lady Moose were junior Abby Wubben who was 27th in 22:21.10, and freshman Audrey Howard who was 28th in 22:21.80.

The Centauri girls were second in the Class 2A Region 3 meet Friday in Rocky Ford. The Lady Falcons were just edged out for the regional title by Buena Vista by a one-point margin 21-22.

Senior Jocelyn Jarvies was Centauri’s top runner as she placed second in 21:11.10. Also qualifying for the Lady Falcons were sophomore Tayte Hostetter who was third in 21:15.30, sophomore Kaia Skadberg who was seventh in 21:57.10, junior Makenna Guymon who was 11th in 22”31.00, freshman Hannah Guymon who was 25th in 24:35.20, and freshman Tayden Montoya who was 33rd in 25:40.80.

The Centauri boys finished fifth in their regional with 91 points. The Falcon state qualifiers are junior Mason Sowards who was 20th in 18:24.30, junior Ren Canty who was 22nd in 18:30.80, freshman Carson Bagwell who was 27th in 18:46.60, freshman Troy Sowards who was 35th in 19:18.60, junior Estevan Vega who was 39th in 19:29.20, and freshman Tyrel Hostetter who was 41st in 19:36.90.

Another local runner who will run as an individual is Del Norte junior Riley Orr. He was 12th in the regional meet in a time of 17:46.80.

The state cross country meets will take place at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs on Saturday. The 2A boys race begins at 9:40 a.m., the 2A girls will run at 11 a.m., the 3A girls meet will take place at 1 p.m., and the 3A boys run at 2:20 p.m.

IF you’re going

To get to the Norris Penrose Event Center from the south, go north on Interstate 25 and go to exit 141 for US-24 toward Cimarron St. Turn left at Cimarron and then turn left at 8th St. Turn right at Lower Gold Camp Road and the meets will be on the left-hand side of the street.