UPDATE: AHS Cross Country wins titles
NEW CASTLE, CO
Moose boys team finishes seventh in state
ALAMOSA High School closes the books on its cross country season with a second-place team finish in the Colorado 3A Girls Cross Country Championships and a seventh-place team finish in the Colorado 3A Boys Cross Country Championships.
Sophomore Sarah De La Cerda had a top 10 finish in the girls individual standings, finishing 7th overall in 19:14.4. Teammates Autumn McQuitty, Elizabeth McQuitty, and Madeline Castillo all finished together, running 17th, 18th, and 19th , respectively, in the individual finishes.
Basalt’s Katelyn Maley won her second straight girls 3A state title, and The Classical Academy swept the girls and boys team titles.
Jayr Almeida had a top 25 finish to pace the Alamosa boys team. Almeida ran the course in 17:18.2 to finish 21st. Santiago Trujillo was 33rd and Mario Villalba 35th.
Full girls’ results are here.
Full boys’ results are here.
AHS Cross Country wins titles
THE Alamosa High School girls and boys cross country teams captured the Colorado Class 3A Region 1 titles at Coal Ridge High on Friday. Alamosa runners also won the individual titles.
Sarah De La Cerda, a sophomore, won the girls individual title in 19:18.2, while Santiago Trujillo, a junior, won the boys title in 17:09.5.
Alamosa placed all of its girls runners in the top 10 of the individual standings, with Autumn McQuitty finishing 5th overall and Elizabeth McQuitty finishing 7th. The Castillo sisters, Madeline and Lia, finished 8th and 10th, respectively.
After Santiago in the boys race came the Moose’s Izaiah Casanova with a time of 17:25.8. Alamosa’s Jayr Almeida finished 6th and Mario Vallalba was 7th to finish in the top 10 of the individual times.
The Maroons will compete in the Colorado State Cross Country Championships next weekend in Colorado Springs.
Full results here.
Photo courtesy Kristaly Heredia
OCT. 20, 2021
Alamosa’s ‘Powerhouse 5’ girls cross country team looks for regional title
Moose boys also in contention for team title
Photos courtesy Jen McQuitty
Class 3A Cross Country Regional Meet
Region 1
- Date: Friday, Oct. 22 @ 1 p.m.
- Site: VIX Park, New Castle
- Site director: Ben Kirk
- Host: Coal Ridge High School
Schools: Alamosa, Aspen, Basalt, Bayfield, Coal Ridge, Delta, Gunnison, Middle park, Moffat County, Montezuma-Cortez, North Fork, Pagosa Springs, Rifle.
By Garrett Carroll | for The Citizen
ALONGSIDE the start of cold weather in Colorado comes the arrival of high school regional and state cross country meets. For the Alamosa High School cross country teams, enduring the dropping temperatures and running outside is just another part of everyday life for the students. And for this year’s teams, the attainment of a state championship is a goal that is well within reach.
Both the Alamosa girls and boys cross country teams head into Friday’s regional races among the favorites. The regional meet is Friday at Coal Ridge High School.
Jen McQuitty, the Alamosa girls and boys cross country coach, said that the teams’ successes can be attributed to several factors. First, most of the students came from Ortega Middle School, where the same high goals and standards were held. “The team bonding and encouragement that we give to each other as well has been important.”
For the girls team, McQuitty said, “We were fortunate enough to have some girls from Alaska move down here, the Castillo family. With how good they are and my two girls and Peter’s (De La Cerda) daughter, we’ve had that power. We’ve nicknamed the team the ‘Powerhouse 5.’”
There is also a local history involved in the girls team. Peter De La Cerda and Phil Castillo are Adams State alumni and ran on the college’s 1992 NCAA Men’s National Cross Country Championship team.
THE camaraderie runs through the entirety of the cross country team, including the boys. “A major part of our success has been each other and the team chemistry,” said Jayr Almeida. “We’re all super close and we hang out. We’re basically family at this point.”
Running and training go hand-in-hand when it comes to preparing for the meets, but another aspect to improvement and winning comes from being mentally strong. The boys, girls and Coach McQuitty each had the same thoughts. Mental toughness is important when it comes to pushing themselves to continuously improve and outdo the competition.
“We have the history, the training, and the philosophy that Joe Vigil developed back in the day, and that same successful mentality continues to this day with this team,” said McQuitty.
While the running history of the Valley is important, both teams said that they are looking to establish their own success. “The history allows us to push harder without having the expectations to do what they did,” said Lia Castillo, a junior on the girls team.
In addition to working harder and pushing themselves physically and mentally, the team is also focusing on recovery as larger meets come up. The girls on the team emphasized the importance of getting enough rest to maintain the high level of success that comes along with working toward the regional and state titles.
The success of a team in any sport will always come down to a variety of factors. For the cross country team of Alamosa High School, the history, work ethic, and winning mentality have gone a long way in creating a state-championship caliber team. The boys and girls cross country teams currently rank first in the region.
When asked about their goals for the rest of the season, both teams responded resoundingly with horizons of working toward their own legacy.
“The elevation and the history from the region helps push us,” said Almeida. “So many state champions have been established here in the Valley, why can’t that be us? We just try to make the most out of it.”
The Colorado State Cross Country Championships will be held at Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs on Oct. 30.
