It looks as if it was a happy day in the Haebe household of Evergreen on Saturday. Siblings Ryan and Bryn won the individual titles at the Centaurus Cross Country Invitational on Saturday. The team trophies, however, stayed in the school district, moving a only few miles west to Fairview High School.
Speaking of siblings who live in the foothills of the Front Range, the Robinson sisters of Nederland did a very nice 1-2 finish at the Estes Park Invitational on Friday.
The Joe Vigil Invitational took a substantial hit by virtue of moving from Labor Day weekend to this weekend. Once a favored early-season stop for New Mexico powers such as Los Alamos, the Vigil Invitational lost most of the NM schools to the prestigious UNM Lobo Invite. Without the Hilltoppers in the field, Alamosa easily bested the rest of the competition, but the absence of Lindsey Sowards from the Mean Moose lineup leaves some questions. We hope she returns to competition soon.
My own personal favorite meet of the season, the St. Vrain Invitational in Lyons, hosted 29 teams and some very impressive times under the cool and calm conditions that prevailed Saturday morning. Boulder and TCA swapped team titles in the large school division. Colorado Academy and Peak to Peak claimed the small school titles. Course records fell like bricks.
The Cherry Creek Invitational highlighted Friday's action. Air Academy HS ran there but Allie McLaughlin did not. Resting varsity runners from competition on a regular basis is becoming more and more the norm, but the Cherry Creek Invite hasn't been a meet many people have trained through in the past. Nevertheless, kudos to Walter Schafer and Natosha Rogers on their individual titles at this meet. Falcon's boys looked very good even in the absence of Wes Rickman and Kevin Johnson. Watch this team.
The Longhorn Invitational in Basalt hosted a showdown of probably the two best female 3A runners on the western slope--Sam Berggren of Middle Park and Chiara del Piccolo of Basalt. Berggren won by five seconds, but this matchup will likely repeat itself a couple more times this season.
Speaking of the western slope, Fruita-Monument dominated the team competition at Friday's Grand Junction Central Invitational. Steamboat Springs hosted the smallest meet of the weekend, winning their own invitational over Rangely and Meeker. Down in Bayfield, the Durango Demons managed to win the boys team title, but Bayfield made it surprisingly interesting. Bayfield apears to be a better team than many estimated them to be before the start of the season.
Cheyenne Mountain hosted an under-the-lights relay meet on Friday, but I have received no word about the results to pass along to you.
Thompson Valley hosted a meet at Sylvan Dale Ranch in Loveland but proved to be not very charitable hosts. They took both trophies home with them, although the top three Greeley West girls showed they are ready to stick together regardless of what the competition serves up.
On the list of early-season surprises, Colorado Academy sits at the top of the pile. After running in the 5A division at Fossil Ridge without the services of one of their top four, they showed up in Lyons on Saturday to beat up on the 3A competition. Four runners at 17:40 or under has a way of getting our attention. Durango made their statement last weekend and now has a long season of hiding from Front Range competition before we all know what to make of their early success. Green Mountain's girls won the Legend Cross Fest. This starts them off on a road similar to last year's where they trashed the competition at several mid-level meets before sputtering a little at state. Keep an eye on the Rams, though, as their experiences from last year have certainly hardened them a little for this year. Boulder's girls are another team on the rise. This appears to be the best team in years for the Panthers--and that's saying something for a team that has rather consistently been a mid-level finisher at the 5A state meet.