It's a tough assignment, but can George Rykovich and his Eaglecrest teammates upset either Arapahoe or Cherry Creek at the Centennial League Championships? Photo by Alan Versaw.
Through the remainder of this week, I'll be previewing as many of the league meets as I can possibly get to. We'll have a quick discussion of some of the highlights and possibilities, followed by links to virtual meets for both the boys and girls divisions of the league meet. The virtual meets have the feature that you can eliminate runners you don't think will be running (simply hover with your mouse over the athlete name, then click on the 'X' that appears at the left-hand end of the line). Note, however, that virtual meet links require MileSplit Insider status for viewing.
We continue now with the Centennial League.
The Centennial League has always been strong in cross country--and in any other sport you care to mention, for that matter.
But, this year seems to be better than most. Arapahoe and Cherry Creek are top-ten teams on the boys side, with Cherokee Trail and Eaglecrest enjoying their best seasons in years.
Cherry Creek is the top-ranked girls team in 5A, and Cherokee Trail also occupies a top ten residence. Grandview has been steadily closing in on the top ten all season long.
If you like picking favorites, the Arapahoe boys and Cherry Creek girls are your picks, but neither team can afford to take this meet likely if they aim to win it. There just isn't that much margin.
Arapahoe's Steven Goldy has the best time in the league this season, but Mason Brevig and Kyle Moran are both also capable of challenging for the individual crown.
On the girls side, the question may have become, "Can anyone stop Brie Oakley?" To be sure, Oakley's been beaten this fall, but not often, and not by anyone from the Centennial League. Just four meets into her high school cross country career, Oakley has changed a lot of thinking around these parts. Figure that Creek's Devon Peterson has the best shot, assuming her absence from last week's Pat Amato results portends nothing about this week.