Dudzic, O'Connell impressive in first meet

By Neil; H. Devlin, Mullen Sports Information Director
Junior, frosh shine brightly at Englewood Windjammer; both teams 6th.
Head cross country coach Joe Welling didn’t hold back.

“We did great,” he said after Mullen boys and girls teams finished sixth at the Englewood Windjammer meet on Saturday.

“For the first race of the year to have both the boys and girls finish sixth, that’s an excellent start.”

In addition, Mustangs junior Michael Dudzic grabbed third place and freshman Amy O’Connell took 11th.

And it was particularly sweet for Dudzic, who qualified for state as a freshman, but missed all of the past season because of injury.

“From the gun,” Welling said, “he went out with confidence, stayed with the leaders and was tremendous.”

Dudzic completed the course in 16 minutes, 32 seconds. Senior Will Locascio was 17th in 17:35 and Welling said he’s rounding back into cross-country mode after hitting the triathlon circuit “and will be right up there.”

Jack Tolbert was 23rd (18:22), Owen McCarter 49th (19:18) and Jonathan Egan 50th (19:24.).

In girls, O’Connell ran 20:36 on a pleasant morning and her showing was every bit as enticing as Dudzic’s.

“She also started out with the lead pack,” Welling said. “She ran a gutsy race and it was only the second 5k (3.1-mile) in her life. And doing what she did is a very promising thing.”

Further promise – Octavia Gomez, another freshman, was Mullen’s second finisher, 34th (23:17). Sophomore Alicia Muller was 37th (23:23), Lauren Sciullo 38th (23:26) and Madison Wainscoat 40th (23:48).

Cohesiveness also has been evident early, Welling said, as “a couple of kids came up to me and said they never felt a season so close.”

Overall, Arapahoe won the boys chase and Overland’s Grant Bradley took first (16:15). For girls, the Warriors made it a sweep and also had the top two finishers with Eva Escorcia winning in 19:06.

Here is a link for full results from the Windjammer: http://www.runningbears.com/2019XC/windjammer/index.html.
Next up for the Mustangs is a meet on Friday, Aug. 30, the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational at deKoevend Park, beginning with lower levels at 4 p.m.
 
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