The Manitou Springs boys cross-country team continues to generate solid performances, and the general feeling is that the Mustangs haven’t peaked yet.
As a team, the boys finished third out of 12 teams at the Vanguard Courser Lightning Invite on Sept. 30. They were edged out by Montrose and Durango and have maintained their streak of not losing to another Class 3A or 2A team.
To pace that result, Cody Kelley finished in 16 minutes, 1.38 seconds to take third overall in the race. Cody Wyman was right behind Kelley to finish fourth with 16:22.28.
“We’re pretty close to the boys putting together a finished product,” coach Andy Sherwood said. “We haven’t had our fastest race yet as a team, but we’ll get there.”
Sherwood also like what he saw from the girls. Gaia Drotar finished 23:38.35, which is a solid time for her this season. Ellen Lowe was less than a minute behind her and is doing her part to show that the girls team is progressing the way Sherwood has been hoping since the season started.
The Mustangs next head to the Tri-Peaks League meet at Monument Valley Park on Friday, Oct. 7. This will be a good chance for the overall program to take a major step forward and accomplish something it hasn’t done before, at least to Sherwood’s knowledge.
“As far as I can tell, neither the boys or girls have ever won a Tri-Peaks title,” Sherwood said. “The boys will be really close. It’s going to come down to four teams in (us), CSCS, St. Mary’s and Salida. I never count Salida out and think they’ll be our toughest competition.”
A Tri-Peaks banner would be nice, but it’s not something that Sherwood believes is essential for the team’s overall goals for this year. He has an eye on regionals and state as the races where he really wants the Mustangs to shine.