Cross country shut out of state meet; But Mustangs already thinking next season, as most everyone will return

Neil H. Devlin, Sports Information Director
It happens.
Mullen boys and girls cross country combined to have one of those days on Thursday. Neither team was able to qualify for the state meet in Colorado Springs on Oct. 27. And the Mustangs had no individual come close to earning a spot.
Indeed, it came from nowhere, everyone on the team and coaching staff is shocked and there’s nothing they can do about it.
It happens.
As teams, both Mullen’s boys and girls finished 10th of 12 groups in the Class 4A Region 1 held at a new course in Eagle Vail.
“What happened (on Thursday) for some of our kids who usually have very good races was some had off days,” Mustangs head coach Joe Welling said. “Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose those. We were training for the race when we started in the beginning of June. (Thursday) we had some off days.”
Multiple areas seemed to give Mullen trouble. It was a new course. It was at higher altitude. And the field was dominated by runners who regularly train and perform at higher altitude and if there’s a sport in which it’s relevant, it’s cross country.
“The course was challenging at altitude,” Welling said. “Plus, it was a hilly course and grassy course that was eating kids’ legs up … we knew the course would be challenging and knew it would be tough. It’s never fun as a coach to go into the only results race having not having seen it, but that’s OK. A lot of our training was focusing on strength and to tackle those hills.”
In boys, Mullen had 249 points. The winner was Central (G.J.), which had 72 to the 84 by runner-up Battle Mountain. The Warriors won behind individual winner David Cardenas, who ran 16 minutes, 54.00 seconds. They also had a third and 11th.
Individually for the Mustangs, junior Will Locascio, so strong all season, came in 29th (18:37.40), far from his best effort.
“It’s unfortunate that happened, but we’re so proud for what he has done,” Welling said, “because we have not had an athlete accomplish what he did in a long time. I think Will was consistently in the top 5 of nearly every race he ran. He was 4th in the Centennial (League) and I don’t think (Thursday’s showing) represents all of the good he has done this season and being our front-runner.”
Sophomore Nick Espinola (35th, 18:48.30), freshman Owen McCarter (58th, 19:54.10), sophomore Aidan Schwarz (63rd, 20:02.80) and freshman Jack Tolbert (64th, 20:03.00) completed the Mullen scoring.
For girls, Mullen scored 280, far behind the top performance of Battle Mountain, which had 30 – and it placed a very decisive 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th and 11th.
“(The Huskies) did a great job,” Welling said.
The winner was Eagle Valley’s Joslin Blair, a junior, who was clocked in 19:30.90.  
For the Mustangs, junior Hallie McIntire against was tops, finishing in 22:45.70. Freshman Alicia Muller (51st, 23:16.20), junior Madison Wainscoat (57th, 23:30.50), junior Anika Rosengarten (63rd, 23:54.40) and junior Emily DeLine (68th, 24:43.10) had their usual pack.
With Michael Dudzic due back next season after injury, the Mustangs will return virtually intact, which excites Welling.
“It will probably be the most-experienced girls team we’ve had in years,” Welling said. The Mustangs will lose only one senior between the two teams, a senior girl. “And they’re already talking about next season and they should. Hallie has been No. 1 all season and for her to come in and lead our team without any experience bodes well for next season.”
Both groups, Welling said, figure to be stronger and better equipped to deal with postseason racing.
“Next year,” the coach said, “we’ll have depth and speed and the competitive ability to do really, really well in this region. It’s hard not to allow them to be excited about how they can improve.
“Tenth place is disappointing and they think that, too. We have to have a fire to reestablish as a force in our region.”
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