Brandon Ries, co-captain of the cross-country team at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado, died on September 16 after collapsing in the third mile of a nearby race. He was 18.
“Brandon was incredible athletically, academically, and musically, but mostly as a human being,” said Kim McConnell, Peak to Peak cross-country and track coach. “It really sounds cliché when people say, ‘This kid was so great.’ But Brandon really was. He was that kid in the school every single person just loved.”
Ries, a senior, was in his final cross-country season at Peak to Peak, a K–12 public charter school 10 miles east of Boulder. He was the No. 3 runner on the boys’ state championship-qualifying team last fall and advanced to the 2016 state track and field championships in the 3200 meters in May. Ries was the top returnee from last fall’s successful team and the only senior on the small boys’ squad.
McConnell held most of her varsity athletes out of the Broomfield Invitational, but Ries was running because he had missed the team’s previous competition while taking the ACT college entrance exam. “We’re going to Arizona at the end of the month to race Desert Twilight,” McConnell said, “and I wanted to give Brandon another race opportunity. I was projecting he might break 16:30 there.”
During the opening mile at Broomfield, Ries started strongly and settled in just behind the lead pack. McConnell watched as he completed the first mile in about 20th place in the 110-runner field and felt he was having a good race. “I remember thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to go over to the two-mile because it’s possible he’ll PR today,’” she said.
During the second mile, Ries slowed.
“When he went by me at two miles,” McConnell said, “he wasn’t at all on PR pace. And then as I watched him continue on, I saw him getting passed by people, which is pretty unusual, because he’s a really tough runner. But I said to myself, ‘It’s okay, it’s just a rough day; he’ll bounce back from this.’”
McConnell got to the finish line in time to see the race winner cross the line in 16:24. Another 20 runners came in over the next minute, and she still saw no signs of Ries approaching along the final straightaway. Junior Jay Kang, the only other Puma team member competing in the varsity race, finished 87th in 19:54 and reported no recollection of passing Ries during the final mile.
“I figured I’d just missed him,” McConnell said, “so I started heading to the tent. But then tons of people started running by me really fast to where Brandon had gone down out on the course.
“Apparently he just started walking and then lay down on the side of the course,” McConnell said, “and that was it, he was gone. He was given CPR right away and emergency people came pretty fast and they tried for a long time, there on the course and in the ambulance and at the hospital.”
The cause of death has not been determined. Ries suffered from asthma and allergies and always ran carrying an inhaler, but his coach said there had been no signs he was having complications in the days and weeks leading up to the meet.
Ries is survived by his parents, two younger sisters, and hundreds of classmates, teammates, and teachers who gathered the day after he died at the track on the Peak to Peak campus to grieve the loss of their friend and share memories.
Many spoke about Ries’s diverse talents and great promise as he prepared to move on to college next fall. Several also mentioned his fun-loving personality and kindness.
“The kids have been deeply affected by him across the years,” McConnell said. “He was just one of those people who was so kind and unselfish, and that came from his faith. It’s not that he just decided he wanted to be a nice person. He was a strong follower of Christ, and that’s what made him who he was.”
Ries, who excelled in math, science, and music, was considering several colleges including Colorado School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University. He had been uncertain about continuing to run competitively in college. “He had said he might walk on, depending where he ended up,” McConnell said. “But he had so many interests and he also wanted to keep music in the picture.”
The loss of Ries has hit the small co-ed cross country program hard, and McConnell said she is giving her athletes options with their training and upcoming competitions. “Some people will want to go hard and get their grief out on a hard run,” she said. “Others aren’t going to want to do that, they just don’t have the energy. And both are fine. I tell them there’s no blueprint for this—none of us has ever had to deal with something like this.
“But I also tell them that Brandon was the consummate go-getter who pursued excellence and never quit,” McConnell continued. “One of the kids who ran the JV race Friday said, ‘Gosh, 20 minutes before he died he was there for me, yelling at the finish line.’ And so we’ve got to keep going in his memory. We’ll go to Arizona, a trip we’ve been planning since summer, and we’ll run super-hard there. Our team is feeling pressure this season, especially the girls because they’re poised to win state. But we’re trying to move away from that and focus on the intrinsic value of what running can do, and what being part of this team can do.”
A memorial service will be held on September 23 at Calvary Bible Church in Erie, Colorado.
