By CONOR NICHOLL
Dodge City girls captured the Class 6A cross country regional held at Cessna Activities Center. DC, paced by senior Serenity Larson, posted 40 points. Derby was second at 42, and Garden City third with 67.
Larson, the two-time Western Athletic Conference runner of the year, won the meet in 19 minutes, 27.63 seconds, more than 28 seconds ahead of the field.
Freshman Ashley Alonso was sixth in 20:56.05. Junior Alex Gere took ninth in 21:24.77. Senior Norma Rodriguez was tenth in 21:26.58. Junior Andrea Yates was 15th in 21:59.68. Senior Karina Estrada took 19th in 22:40.91. Senior Daisy Orozco was 22nd in 22:49.92.
The boys team also qualified for state with a second place showing and 56 points, two behind rival Garden City. Junior Danny Lamas was seventh in 17:16.72. Junior Matthew Banuelos took tenth in 17:31.08. Junior David Ultreras finished in 12th in 17:36.30.
Senior Martin Marquez earned 14th in 17:46.99. Senior Josias Chavez was 18th in 18:06.11. Sophomore Brandon Juarez-Ramos was 24th in 18:36.88. Freshman Alexis Vega took 26th in 18:38.78.
Class 6A state is Saturday at Augusta-4 Mile Creek Resort. Boys run at 10:40 a.m., and the girls compete at noon.
Last year, DC finished ninth and the Red Demon boys took tenth at the Class 6A state meet. Larson was 33rd to pace the girls in a time of 20:24.4. For the boys, Marquez was the top finisher at state last year with a 39th place finish in 17:37.
Larson, who also won the conference last season, earned the WAC title this year in a time of 15:46 over four kilometers. Both boys and girls teams finished second in WAC.
Larson has delivered an excellent year, including a 20:14.38 to win the Hays High Invitational earlier this fall, more than 30 seconds ahead of Manhattan’s Rebecca Pickering. She also notably earned titles at Great Bend, Perryton (Tex.) and Salina this fall.
