Red Demons finish 9th, 10th at state cross country meet
By Shelton Burch
Courtesy of Dodge Globe Sports Editor
The Dodge City High School boys and girls cross country teams competed in the state cross country meet at the Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kansas Saturday.
The girls team finished ninth of 12, and the boys team finished 10th of 12. Ayanna Hensley continued her strong performance for the girls’ team, finishing 27th overall in a time of 20:08. Finishing 40 seconds after her was Karina Herrera, who finished 54th overall in a time of 20:48. Luz Lopez finished three seconds after her, completing the 5K course in 20:51, which was good for 57th overall.
Denise Dominguez finished 73rd overall in a time of 21:32, and Caroline
Williams finished 77th overall in a time of 21:40. Elizabeth Dorado finished 80th overall in a time of 21:55, and Lucy Lozano finished 96th overall, completing the course in 22:27.
The results came after the team had won their regional meet just a week earlier.
“We were able to finish the season by running our two best meets at the most important time,” girls head cross country coach Brian Lenz said via email. “Our ninth place finish was a great race for us.”
Saturday’s performance gives the team something to look forward to in 2018, even though one of the top performers will be graduating.
“We will be losing Luz Lopes from this year’s team,” Lenz said. “Luz gave us a dependable
runner that was calm in all situations and helped pace our younger girls in workouts and meets, we return our next nine runners which will start us into next year with high hopes.”
Javier Marquez finished 45th overall in a time of 17:01 and was the first Red Demon to complete the 5K course in the boys race. A few spots behind him was Giovanni Valverde, who finished in 17:04, which was good for 48th overall. Jesus Solis finished 51st in 17:06, and Quest Weller finished in 17:09 for 56th place.
Behind them, Israel Rojas finished 74th in 17:19, and Jair Martinez finished in 89th with a time of 17:38. Montel Love also ran, completing the course in 17:46 for a 92nd place finish.
