DURANGO — By the time the smoke from the starter’s gun had drifted up into the sky, Senior Josh Medina already was up with the leaders. Moving swiftly over the wet grassy course, the Mean Moose dominated the field.

Medina led his team to victory with a 14-point gap over Gunnison’s second-place finish. Medina completed the 5K in the time of 16:14, fastest for the season with a second-place finish. Close behind was Isaac Higareda finishing in 4th with a personal record of 16:53. Coming in 8th for the boys was Santiago Trujillo, with a personal record of 17:21. Izaiah Casanova crossed the line with a personal record of 17:38 in 12th place. Freshman, Mario Villalba ran the biggest personal record time by a minute with an 18:20 time and a 21st finish. Rounding out the team was Sophomore Jaxon Morgan finishing strong at 21:12 with a 49th place. “These boys really stepped it up it up today with a big win over Gunnison moving them up in the rankings to 3rd going into the State meet.” Commented Coach Peter DeLaCerda.

On the girl’s side leading her team, and individually qualifying for the state meet, was Freshman Sarah DeLaCerda with a 6th place finish in the time of 19:20 with the biggest person record by over a minute. Coming in behind her was Sophomore Autumn McQuitty in 12th place with a personal record of 20:39. Abby Wubben finished with a season-best of 21:26 in 20th place. Completing her first season of cross country was Junior Malia Tuioti-Mariner with a personal best of 22:08 in 30th place. Coming in 41st place with the time of 23:00 was Whitney Thong and finishing up for the team in 47th place, was Annahi Molina with the time of 23:26, a season best. The girls team finished 4th, which in a normal year would get them into the state meet, but due to COVID restrictions, they missed their shot by 9 points.

“The young ladies may have missed going to state by a matter of passing a couple of runners but this might be a blessing in disguise because they will take this feeling and use it as motivation to train harder for next.” Coach DeLaCerda continued,

“The bright spot in this situation is the girls are a very young team and with all of them returning next year I can predict they will not want this feeling again and will return with a vengeance.” 

“Another bright spot was Sarah, only a freshman, she did everything the coaches asked of her, stayed the path, and paid the price. She will represent her school and team with pride, she has a bright future.” Coach DeLaCerda concluded.