Cross Country News — Page 3

Red Demons Boys Cross Country places 4th at State

November 1, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons take 4th at state

By: John Zetmeir

The Dodge City High School boys cross country team ended their season with a 4th place finish out of 12 teams at the 6A state meet on Saturday in Lawrence by accumulating 139 team points.

Senior Marcelo Cruz led the way by earning three team points with a 4th place individual finish. Fellow senior Brett Groth earned 21 points with his 25th place finish. Jason Luft and Alex Ultreras both finished in the Top-40 as well.

The Red Demons fell 20 points shy of Garden City who took second as a team.

The Dodge City girls finished in 11th place. Sophomore Ayanna Hensley led the group by finishing 21st individually.

Other finishers Boys – Jose Rodriguez 70, Javier Marquez 71, Liam Scott 90.

Girls – Coral Neave 67, Luz Lopez 71, America Garcia

77, Lucy Lozano 83, Alessia Cargnino 94, Chia Okoro 97.

Red Demon runners return to state

October 27, 2016 By DCHS Sports

CROSS COUNTRY

Red Demon runners return to state

By: John Zetmeir

Both Dodge City High School cross country teams will travel to Lawrence this weekend for the 6A state championship meet.

Qualifying for state is starting to become an expectation for the Dodge City girls cross country team. Even after losing five of their seven runners who made up last year’s team that took 7th out of 12 teams at state, the Red Demon girls qualified with a 3rd place finish at regionals last week.

This is the 3rd year in a row that the Dodge City girls have qualified for state as a team.

“This team has come a long way from the start of the year and have probably grown more than any team that I’ve ever coached,” head coach Brian Lenz said. “I like where we are going in. We’re not as talented as we’ve been the last couple of years but they’ve got the focus.”

Senior Coral Neave returned this season after finishing 27th at state last fall. Neave was the Red Demons’ top finisher in Lawrence last year.

“It’s breathtaking,” Neave said about competing at the state meet. “It’s such a big meet and the course is so beautiful. It will be my fourth time running it and I don’t think I’ll get over it.”

Neave and sophomore Ayanna Hensley are the only returners who competed at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence last year. As a freshman, Hensley finished 55th out of 104 runners.

The Dodge City boys head back to Rim Rock with added motivation from last year’s state meet.

In 2015, the Red Demons won both the Western Athletic Conference championship and a regional title on their way to state. When they got to Lawrence, things did not go the way that they planned.

The Red Demons finished 10th out of 12 teams, which included finishing behind a few teams that theyoutran during the season. With their top five runners back from last year, the Red Demons are looking to run a better race this time around.

“State last year was really disappointing,” Dodge City senior Brett Groth said after the WAC championship meet. “Our team slogan this year has been unfinished business. We’re keeping that in the back of our minds.”

The Red Demons defended their WAC title this season but fell by 1 point to Garden City in regionals last week.

Senior Alex Ultreras was the Red Demons’ top finisher last year at state, finishing 22nd individually. In 2014, senior Marcelo Cruz finished in the Top 20.

The girls’ race is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Lawrence on Saturday. The boys will follow at 12:30 p.m.

“This team has come a long way from the start of the year and have probably grown more than any team that I’ve ever coach— Head coach Brian Lenz

Red Demon Round-Up for Oct. 22

October 25, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Dodge City runners qualify for state

By: John Zetmeir

Both the Dodge City boys and girls cross country teams qualified from the 6A state meet at the regionals in Wichita on Saturday.

The Dodge City girls edged out Garden City by two points to finish third as a team. The difference between second place and fifth place was 3 points.

“We knew it would be close between four teams for the last two qualifying spots, but 3 points separating second from fifth was closer than I thought it would be,” head coach Brian Lenz said. “This team has come a long way from the beginning of the season and we are looking forward to competing at Rim Rock.”

Sophomore Ayanna Hensley was the top Red Demon finisher on the girls side. Hensley finished fifth with senior Coral Neave just behind her in seventh. Junior Luz Lopez and senior America Garcia also finished in the Top 20.

A week after beating Garden City for the Western Athletic Conference, the Red Demon boys were edged out by their conference rivals. The Buffaloes won the regional team title with 40 points, beating Dodge City by 1 point.

Garden City had the top three finishers individually. Dodge City had four runners finished in the Top 10. Senior Marcelo Cruz led the way for the Red Demons by finishing fourth. Fellow senior Alex Ultreras finished sixth, sophomore Javier Marquez finished eighth and senior Jason Luft rounded out the Top 10.

Both teams will compete at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence this Saturday.

VOLLEYBALL

The Red Demon volleyball team’s season came to an end over the weekend in Wichita with a 2-0 loss to Garden City in sub-state play. Dodge City finished the season with a 3-31 record.

“I knew we were in rebuilding mode this season,” head coach Amy Fleener said. “New coach, new philosophy, new schematic system and trying to incorporate all of it with a very young team.

“I did not, however, think we would struggle quite as much as we did. We just didn’t become consistent with our communication, skill execution and confidence this season.”

Dodge City will return a majority of this year’s team in 2017. This season’s roster was constructed of mostly underclassmen, which included a large sophomore class. “I am resolute we will get there,” Fleener said. “Practices up to the very last one Friday have been fantastic. The girls want

to learn and improve and practices have been high energy and competitive.”

The Dodge City boys soccer team will begin their postseason journey on Tuesday evening when they host Wichita Southeast.

The Red Demons (16-0) were the only team in Kansas to finish the regular season with an undefeated record.

Action will begin at 6 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

FOOTBALL

When the 6A Kansas football playoff bracket was released late Friday night, it was determined that the Red Demons will travel to Topeka for a match up with Washburn Rural.

Washburn Rural (5-3) and Dodge City were among four teams that finished the season with 5-3 records. The Red Demons finished last amongst those four teams in point differential.

WAC Cross Country Results

October 14, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Red Demon runners repeat as champs

By: John Zetmeir

For the fifth time this season, the Dodge City High Schoolboys cross country team took first place at a meet. However, Thursday’s win was a little more special for the Red Demon runners.

Dodge City hosted the Western Athletic Conference meet which gave all of the Red Demons an opportunity to run in front of many of their friends and family for the first time since they have been in high school. The Dodge City boys fed off of the energy from the crowd on their way to a second-consecutive conference championship.

“We got a lot of people out here which really helps out,” Dodge City senior Brett Groth said. “It’s WAC so it’s a big win going back to back.”

Senior Marcelo Cruz led the group with a fourth place individual finish.

The rest of the team was not far behind as seniors Alex Ultreras and Jason Luft finished fifth and sixth.

Brett Groth and Javier Marquez also snuck into the top-10 with eighth and 10th place finishes.

“We’re all at the point where we’re peaking and it’s a great time to be peaking at this time of the season,” Groth said.

The Red Demons topped Garden City by l team points, finishing with a team score of 33. The Buffaloes had two runners finish in the top three but it was Dodge City’s depth that ultimately proved to be the difference. Dodge City boys head coach Buc Bolmer was named WAC Coach of the Year.

Dodge City girls fall short of three-peat

The Dodge City girls fell seven points short of winning a third-straight WAC title on Thursday. The Red Demons tallied 60 team points to finish second by edging out Garden City who tallied 61.

“Our top four really ran well,” Dodge City girls head coach Brian Lenz said. “Our other three didn’t run bad, we just knew coming in that we needed one of them to have an outstanding race today. This was an important (race) but next week’s is more important than today’s was.”

Sophomore Ayanna Hensley and senior Coral Neave finished neck-and neck for the second meet in a row. Last week in Salina, Neave just edged out her teammate by less than a second. On Thursday, Hensley was the Red Demons top finisher by a

similar margin. Hensley led the Dodge City girls with a sixth place finish. Neave finished in seventh place.

“We do try to run together and those two are fairly equal so there have been a lot of meets this year that they’ve been together most of the race,” Lenz said.

Both Red Demon squads will travel to Wichita for regionals on Oct. 22.

FINISHERS

Girls – Ayanna Hensley 6, Coral Neave 7, America Garcia 9, Luz Lopez 14, Alessia Cargnino 24, Chia Okoro 26, Lucy Lozano 28.

Boys – Marcelo Cruz 4, Alex Ultreras 5, Jason Luft 6, Brett Groth 8, Javier Marquez 10, Jose Rodriguez 14, Liam Scott 18.3

WAC Cross Country Preview

October 13, 2016 By DCHS Sports

By: John Zetmeir

Both the Dodge City High School boys and girls cross country teams will try to defend their Western Athletic Conference titles on Thursday. Not only will both teams be trying to repeat as conference champions, they will get to do it in their hometown.

Dodge City will host the WAC championship meet at Mariah Hills Golf Course. It will be the first time that the current Red Demon runners have had a home meet since they have been in high school.

“I think it’s great,” Dodge City senior Marcelo Cruz said. “It gives us a lot of confidence and strength being around everybody. Maybe it will help us be a better team and win a WAC title.”

Cruz finished second individually at last year’s WAC championship meet. Seniors Alex Ultreras and Jason Luft also finished in the top-five last season.

The Dodge City girls will be competing for their third-straight WAC title. Last season, the Red Demons ran away with their second consecutive conference championship. After losing their top-two runners from last season, the Red Demons know that they will not be the favorite going into the meet.

“Liberal is the top team coming in and everyone knows that,” Dodge City girls head coach Brian Lenz said. “But we’re feeling a lot better about our chances right now.”

Coral Neave and Ayanna Hensley both finished in the top-10 a year ago. The two have been the Red Demons top-two runners for a majority of the fall. At the Salina Invitational last Saturday, Neave led the team with a fifth place finish while Hensley finished just behind her in sixth.

Luz Lopez, America Garcia and Lucy Lozano all finished in the top-five of last year’s WAC junior varsity meet. The trio will also try to help Dodge City bring home a third-straight championship.

After getting off to a slow start, Lenz has been happy with the way his team has progressed over the last month.

“We’ve come a long way this season,” Lenz said. “We started out pretty slow. We started out as a mediocre team but the girls’ focus over the last three weeks has been tremendous.”

The first junior varsity race is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at Mariah Hills with varsity following.