Rangely’s Scoggins earns sixth place at state meet

RANGELY | Even though senior Patrick Scoggins was the only Rangely Panther running at the state cross country meet, it was exciting. Scoggins has worked hard all four years, running during the summer, running in all kinds of weather and even on vacations. He placed sixth overall for the 2A classification with 109 runners.
“I am really proud of Patrick and how hard he has worked over the last four years. We will miss him, he is a great role model for the young athletes,” said cross country coach Beth Scoggins.
One of the exciting things about the cross country meet are the fans. Everywhere along the course there are fans encouraging all the runners.The race ends in a stadium where there are hundreds of fans cheering and yelling for everyone and anyone, no matter who is finishing. The fans are excited to see the top runners of the state running and finishing. The Filfreds, along with grandparents from Arkansas and big brother William and his wife Chelsea made the trip to Colorado Springs to watch Scoggins have an amazing finish. When he came into the stadium he was in eighth place and gaining on the next two runners. He found more energy from the crowd cheering and was able to pass the next two runners taking sixth place with a time of 16:55.
Another fun thing about this meet is getting the chance to run against the best in the state and catching up with friends that you don’t see but a couple of times a year. Out of the top 10 placers five of them are seniors and have had the chance to run against each other all four years. Most of them are good friends and you saw them congratulating each other and talking about track season already and where they will be going after high school. Several of them exchanged team cross country t-shirts.
“One of the things that I love about cross country is how the athletes respect and encourage each other. You don’t see that very often in other sports,” said coach Scoggins.
Patrick Scoggins will continue to train for cross country since he will be heading down to the Nike Southwest Regional meet in Casa Grande, Ariz., on Nov. 18. It will have the best runners from Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico competing.