Scoggins wins regional meet

RANGELY I Rangely Panther’s William Scoggins earned championship honors at the recent state qualifying regional cross country meet in Delta as he navigated the 5K course in a time of 16:14. This marked the fourth consecutive year that Scoggins has qualified for the state meet and the sixth straight meet of the season that he has earned first place honors. A common sight in and around Rangely is to see Scoggins running during all seasons of the year, it would appear that the hard work has paid off.
A top four finish in the team standings (based on your top three runners) was needed by the Panthers in order to proceed to state as a team and the runners gave it their all. Freshman Chris Hogan ran the best race of his life, finishing 30 seconds faster than his previous best and earning 16th place. This was a double edged sword however as this left him just one place from moving on to state as an individual. Mitchell Webber also set a new personal best by 14 seconds as he finished the course in 30th with a time of 19:19. Tackling the course with improving times, Daniel Connor finished with a time of 22:35, Kaycee Freeman had a time of 22:48, and Marshall Way crossed the line in a time of 23:17. When the dust had settled and the results were posted, Rangely had finished in fifth place and had just missed going on to state.
Tessa Slagle laced up her running shoes to compete in her second race of the year. Finishing the course with 1:07 personal best, Slagle’s time of 22:38 put her in 17th place, just missing a chance to move on to state. Running throughout the summer and finding time to put on miles while playing on the Panthers volleyball team, Slagle showed the heart of a real competitor. Even with all the great races at the meet, Scoggins will be the only one headed to state this year which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, in Colorado Springs.