The ultimate cross country trivia challenge

If you know where these competitors are, you know the answer to one of the trivia questions. Photo by Jeff McCoy.

It's almost cross country season. It's time to dust off your knowledge of the sport we hold dear. The questions below will gradually increase in difficulty, just like the courses for which they were named. If you've been reading Colorado Track XC over the last couple of years, many of these questions have been answered in articles posted on the site. Have fun! You may look these up--that is half the fun, after all--unless the question says not to, but try to work through them on your own first.

Wiggins Invitational level

1. Without looking up the results, name four teams that won state titles last fall.

2. What high school hosts the Liberty Bell Invitational?

3. How many runners and scorers per team in 3A this fall?

4. Name two long-time head coaches who have left their positions since the end of last cross country season.

5. Bill Stahl's fall-in-the-water-and-get-wet meet was held where up until this last year when the park adminstration said, "No more."

6. What was the state cross country distance before it was 5K?

7. On the official state meet course map, what is the name of the first climb, a little past the one-mile mark?

 

Monument Valley Park level

1. What high school did Chris Severy of Running with the Buffaloes fame attend? What was his other sporting passion?

2. What is the smallest school in Colorado that fields their own cross country team?

3. Who is the CHSAA associate commissioner over cross country?

4. Coronado hosts their large invitational at Monument Valley Park. Name two other Colorado Springs high schools that have hosted invitationals at Monument Valley Park in this century.

5. What school hosts the Pat Amato Invitational?

6. The Arapahoe Warrior invitational is held at what venue?

7. Byers, West Grand, and Limon are each adding cross country this fall. Which of these schools most recently had a cross country team?

 

St. Vrain Invitational level

1. What course hosted the fastest boys high school 5K ever run in Colorado?

2. What course hosted the fastest girls high school 5K ever run in Colorado?

3. In what year did 5K become the state meet course distance for cross country?

4. Randy Cooper made his fame coaching at Moffat County. Where did he end his high school coaching career?

5. Who was coach at Clear Creek High School during their glory years and also the architect of the old Georgetown cross country course?

6. Name six state meet venues since 5K became the standard course distance.

7. Noah Hoffman was the 2006 3A boys state cross country champion. In what event did Hoffman compete in the Olympic Games?

 

Pat Patten level

1. Name three coaches who have won state titles at two different schools.

2. Who was coach at Durango High School during their glory years?

3. What is the most recent year that a state cross country meet was postponed due to snow?

4. Name six current or former Colorado high school head cross country coaches who attended Adams State College (now Adams State University).

5. It's fairly well know that Adam Goucher won the NCAA cross country title in 1998, but his high school teammate finished third in NCAA cross country in 1995. Who was that high school teammate of Goucher's?

6. Who was the high school coach of the two runners mentioned in the question above? Spelling counts.

7. Which current collegiate coaches in Colorado also previously coached at the high school level in the state?

 

Norris Penrose/Bear Creek Park level

1. Name five sibling pairs who have been state medalists in the same year

2. She won four consecutive state cross country titles but never won a track and field state title.

3. Name a San Luis Valley high school that has never had a cross country program of their own.

4. Name all Colorado schools that have had a team run at Nike Cross Nationals.

5. According to the state meet program, who is credited with the Colorado boys state meet record for 5K cross country?

6. In 1984, the state meet was postponed by snow. Where was the make-up meet held?

7. Name two teams (must give the year as well as the school) that have won state titles wearing alternate uniforms.

 

Battle Mountain (Beaver Creek ski area) level

1. Name two state individual title winners who ran for a school they did not attend.

2. Name a Lake County head coach, other than Frank Mencin or Dick Anderson, who won a state title at Lake County.

3. What school did Basalt head coach Ron Lund coach at before taking the position at Basalt?

4. Name two Grand Junction HS cross country graduates who went on to college careers at Stanford.

5. Who was the only Colorado high school girl ever to beat Melody Fairchild in a state meet race?

6. Name two schools that own at least five second-place finishes at the state meet (boys and girls combined) but which have never won a state title.

7. What was Emma Coburn's highest finish in a Colorado state cross country meet (note that she ran in 3A before there was a separate 2A division)?