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Harriers set for speedy course in Delta

Phil Sandoval

Area cross country runners agreed that the course at Delta’s Confluence Park should produce fast times at Saturday’s Western Regional meet.What remains to be answered is how many of those times earn a spot at next week’s the state championship meet in Colorado Springs.”We love Delta,” said Glenwood Springs coach Kim Worline. “This is where we get our personal-best runs and the kids feel really confident about the course.”Worline, the Demons assistant coach, assumed head coaching duties for Joe Mollica, who recently underwent surgery in California.”We have a really good shot at qualifying both teams for state this year which is really exciting,” Worline said. “What needs to happen is each person has to run the race they know the can run.”Glenwood and Rifle will both compete in the Class 4A meet, with the top four teams advancing to state, along with the 15 fastest individual runners from the remaining six teams.”The hardest thing about Delta is the course has no hills,” said Demons freshman Sharaya Selsor, who has emerged as one of Glenwood’s top girls runners.”It’s a personal-best type of course, but you have to run fast to do well Everyone’s going to run fast on that course, so I can’t slow down during the race. I just have to get faster.”Regionals: see page A32Senior Alex Tiernan, a member of Glenwood’s 2001 regional boys championship team, said the key to a good run is staying within himself.”I’d like to go out and run pretty conservative,” Tiernan said. “The first mile is pretty smooth and flat. Mile two is the hardest part for me because you start to climb up a little bit. That’s where I have to push the hardest.”Tiernan, who competes for Glenwood because his school – Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale – does not field a cross country team.He said he hopes “to get in the low 16-minute range and have a (personal record),” but stopped short of calling himself a favorite to win the boys individual title.”Glenn Randall of Palisade is pretty far out there, time-wise,” he said. “I’d like to get second. I hope that I can have a good race and help the team out.”Rifle’s Elisabeth Strouss said she hopes a good race puts her in the state meet.”I’ve been to Delta before and I’m pretty conformable there,” the Bears sophomore said. “My goal time is 19 minutes, 30 seconds. If I run that, that would be really great.”Last week, running on an unfamiliar course at Palisade’s Riverbend Park, Strouss ran a 20:38 race and finished eighth.”Its all a mental thing. Cross country is a physical sport. You just can’t run. You have to think about it a lot,” Strouss said. “That’s going to be tough, but you have to do that.”In the 3A meet, with Basalt and Grand Valley, the top three teams from both the boys and girls meet move on, along with the next 15 best individual times. And, the Basalt girls, ranked among the state’s top teams all season, should do well.Leading the way are runners Amy Lund, Sofie Stenstadvold and Kate Wilson. Last week at Palisade, Lund was sixth, finishing in just over 20 minutes. Wilson took 11th place. Stenstadvold did not compete at Palisade due to a personal commitment, but will be on hand Saturday.Collin Stewart, who finished sixth at Palisade, Duncan McDaniel and Casey Weaver are in line for a state berth in the boys meet.Grand Valley’s Katie Bryan (see related story) is also capable of slipping inside the top 15 individual girls for a spot in the 3A state meet.The Cardinal sophomore served notice with a 15th-place time at Palisade.”It was a good run for me,” Bryan said. “I beat my best time by two minutes, and that was the best placing I’ve had so far, so I’m pretty excited going into regionals.””It was a good run for me,” Bryan said. “I beat my best time by two minutes, and that was the best placing I’ve had so far, so I’m pretty excited going into regionals.”


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