Entering this season, the youth movement at Buena Vista can be seen easiest in the cross country team, where young faces not only set the pace last season, but also made their marks in the standings at last years 2A state meet in Colorado Springs.
The Demons last season were fortunate enough to take a pair of full teams to the state meet, with the girls team putting two in the top 20, and saw every racer finish in the top 66 (a fantastic feat when the field is almost double that).
On the boys side, the success as state wasn’t a easy to see in the places the athletes took, but for one of the first times, the boys team is showing more numbers than the girls team, and with that many new faces, including all three of the Hutching’s brothers from the wrestling team and five of the six runners from the state meet, there should be plenty of good competitive races this season. The boys field saw a lot of graduations from the top teams, although there will be a few senior heavy classes returning to the field this season.
The girls side is really where the success should be expected, although not guaranteed, as the young runners at BV are mirrored by young runners from other top teams across the state. The top two runners from last years state team also made it onto the podium at the state track meet, and Mallory Salazar (11th) and Molly McMurry (13th) should be able to break into the top 10 in this years meet. With improvement over the year, the chances are strong this team ends up bringing home a bit of hardware from the state meet.
Caleb’s Prediction: Both teams should take a full team to state. Look for the girls to finish around 5th while the boys should climb a few spots, and could also see around a 5th place finish as well.
