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
