Mustang cross country heads to state

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photo by Deborah Hast | SEND OFf TO STATE (L to R) Freshman Allura Luna, sophomore Joy Hast, junior Jessica Gregory, sophomore Danielle Demattos, and sophomore Samantha Westfahl. The Kremmling Police department will be escorting the girls cross country team as they head to compete at the state competition in Colorado Springs! They will be leaving from the high school, Friday the 26th at noon, and they will head to the town square going around the town square, past Northwest Ranch supply, down to the Kremmling Merchantile, turn around and head back to Hwy 9 where they will go south out of town. PLEASE come out and line the streets to cheer them on as they head to state!
photo by Deborah Hast | SEND OFf TO STATE (L to R) Freshman Allura Luna, sophomore Joy Hast, junior Jessica Gregory, sophomore Danielle Demattos, and sophomore Samantha Westfahl. The Kremmling Police department will be escorting the girls cross country team as they head to compete at the state competition in Colorado Springs! They will be leaving from the high school, Friday the 26th at noon, and they will head to the town square going around the town square, past Northwest Ranch supply, down to the Kremmling Merchantile, turn around and head back to Hwy 9 where they will go south out of town. PLEASE come out and line the streets to cheer them on as they head to state!

by Ryan Tripichio
West Grand
Cross Country Coach

On a partly cloudy day in Delta, at a delightful 52 degrees at race time, the Mustangs had another excellent performance in Confluence Park, culiminating in new personal records for all and qualifying for the state championship for the girls team!

Beginning with the boys, Junior Jose Rosas-Valente led the boys with a 19:00 performance, for 31st place, followed by Senior Jimmy Uren in 19:04, and Freshman Igor Bergman with a strong 19:32 to conclude his Freshman campaign. Sophomore Tylor Ususan also concluded his season on a high note with a 21:14, and Freshman Galen Wilkinson close behind in 21:19. Seniors Gabe Demattos and Mat Bensing closed out the boys running with a 22:59 and a 23:09 respectively. Demattos’ performance was especially noteworthy, as he was still dealing with the knee problems that have plagued him all season to be within 10 seconds of his career PR’s. A big congratulations to seniors Jimmy Uren, Jonathan Belcher, Gabe Demattos, and Mat Bensing for completing their senior seasons and a thank you to them and their families for all of their contributions for this and all of their seasons.

On the girls side, Sophomores Samantha Westfahl and Joy Hast continued a strong season of excellence with an 8th and 10th place performance in 21:00 and 21:03 respectively. The 8th and 10th place performances would have made them automatic qualifiers for state. Fellow sophomore Danielle Demattos ran a strong 3rd place on the team to capture 25th overall and a 22:53 time. Junior Jessica Gregory ran an excellent 26:10, followed by Freshman Allura Luna, our secret weapon waiting in the wings, in 26:55.
A year ago we had only a few times under 27; now the entire team is. This is a girls group that has been amazing to work with and has worked very hard to get this far.

The state meet will be at the Norris Penrose Events Center in Colorado Springs this Saturday, October 27th, with the girls competing at 12:20 PM. There will be a send off for the team this Friday, October 26th, at noon, starting at the high school.

A very big thanks to everyone who made the journey all the way down to Delta to be a part of this special day, including the Lunas for hosting our team dinner; the Hasts; the Belchers for also providing snacks; Jenny Uren and Joe; the Westfahls for snacks and being an amazing family to work with; Susie and Ollie Bergman, and the illustrious Mr. James “Uncle” Gregory for driving the bus and being a part of our journey this season.