Lots of other Devo riders scored top-five finishes to reach the podium as well.
In the varsity male and female races, for instance, four of top-five finishers were from Durango in both categories.
“It was another great weekend for us with solid results across the board,” said Devo coach Levi Kurlander.
Bailey Cioppa and Ivan Sippy won their third varsity races in a row to complete a perfect regular season for DHS.
Cioppa won the varsity girls race by nearly 5 minutes, in 1 hour, 21 minutes and 48.68 seconds.
“She’s been putting in a lot of work throughout the year with a full calendar around the country and at the world championships,” Kurlander said. “Same thing with Ivan. ”They’ve both committed a lot of time and energy into it.“
Joining Cioppa on the podium Saturday were Hannah Garvey (third, 1:28:52.69), Maddy Glotfelty (fourth, 1:31:55.41) and Ellie McLean (fifth, 1:33:49.62).
Sippy, meanwhile, finished more than 2 minutes ahead of his closest competitor, winning the varsity boys race in 1:10:16.44.
Jesus Vargas finished third in 1:13:09.52, followed by Riley Jaber (fourth, 1:16:02.78) and Jack Lootens (fifth, 1:16:08.14).
“Those boys really stepped it up to make it on the podium and give Ivan some company there,” Kurlander said.
Ben Mackenzie wasn’t too far back, crossing seventh in 1:16:58.37 while Nicholas Elliot finished eighth in 1:17:45.60.
Willow Lott, who has been the Durango Demons’ No. 1 cross-country runner most of the year, competed in her first bike race of the season and finished first in the junior varsity girls competition. Lott started in the back row and passed all her competitors to win in 1:01:08.12. She finished more than 2 minutes ahead of the Salida’s Hayden Bevington, who won the two previous races.
“She’s been really serious about running cross-country this fall, but wanted to jump in on one of these races,” Kurlander said. “She’s super-strong and talented.” Since she only did one race, and not the requisite two, Kurlander said they’ll have to petition to get her into the state championships.
Most of the Devo riders qualified for state.
“Almost all of the racers that competed in all three races qualified,” Kurlander said.
Julia Glotfelty, meanwhile, finished third behind Lott in 1:04:57.95 while Harper Jones crossed 27th.
Two other Devo riders also won their races in Saturday and finished as the regular-season point leaders with the results.
Liam Bezek won the sophomore boys race in 50:30.49. Brayn Hastey (second, 52:28.73), Braden Amos (fourth, 54:06.73) and Chase Groom (fifth, 55:06.84) joined Bezek on the podium while Brayden Harms finished 3 seconds off in sixth.
Chase Connors, meanwhile, won the freshman boys race in 53:03.50.
“Liam and Chase pretty much rode away with it from lap one,” Kurlander said.
Kai Lokey finished second in 54:19.13 behind Connors, and Emmett McManus crossed fourth in 54:38.44.
The junior varsity boys only completed one lap before the course was evacuated due to inclement weather. Orrin Bleth was in eighth after the first lap and finished there.
In the sophomore girls’ race, Lauryn Christensen finished 10th and Manhattan Adams finished 14th.
In the team standings, Durango finished first in Division 1 with 7,843 points, followed by Salida (6,955) and Chatfield (6,543).
Sippy, Cioppa, Garvey, Jaber, Lott, Lootens, McLean, Mackenzie, Elliot, Bezek, Connors, Hastey, Lokey, Bleth and Amos were Durango’s 15 point scorers.
Animas won Division 3 with 2,460 points, finishing ahead of Pagosa Springs (2,327), Regis Jesuit (2,276), High Desert Composite (2,056), Ponderosa (1,933) and others.
Vargas, Maddy and Julia Glotfelty, Harms and Jones were Animas’ five point scorers.
The teams will now prepare for the state championships, which will be held here at the Durango Mesa on Oct. 23-24.
“It will be a little untested waters at state; we’ll be racing kids in different divisions that we haven’t seen,” Kurlander said. “We’ll see kids who haven’t lost all season go up against each other.”
Varsity riders Markus Dewire from Aspen/Basalt and Chloe Lutgring from Glenwood Springs will also take undefeated seasons into the championships. Racing the day after Durango in Eagle, Dewire’s time was a minute slower than Sippy’s and Lutgring’s was two minutes behind Ciopa’s, but they also won heir races comfortably.
In the team races, Boulder and Fairview, which is also in Boulder, will challenge Durango in the Division 1 race.
“It will be a pretty tight race with them at st... Click here to read full article
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