Fitzsimmons Leads Mountain Vista to a Dominating Win
When the girls exploded off the starting line it was evident that Mountain Vista had every intention to taking the race. Not only did they have their names written in marker down their right legs, but they came out of the gates quick.
Mountain Vista sophomore Jenna Fitzsimmons reached the opening hill before settling into a more relaxed pace among her teammates.
As with Liberty Bell two weeks ago, Mountain Vista and Broomfield dominated the early conversation. The titans of girls cross country once again met on the course to battle it out, but, like Liberty Bell, it was Mountain Vista taking the first swing, and Broomfield attempted to rally.
A duo of Centaurus runners lead the pack through the first mile just under six minutes, but a sea of green followed them closely. Mountain Vista ran in a pack, taking up 2-6 spots while Broomfield trailed behind them.
"We went out pretty hard," Fitzsimmons admitted. "But once the race got going, we stayed together and worked off each other really well."
The Golden Eagles utilized their strong pack to press the pace through the middle mile. The surge opened up the race as Mountain Vista beckoned all comers to try to beat them. The trio of Fitzsimmons, sophomore Sarah O'Sullivan, and junior Caroline Eck ran 1-2-3, but behind them Broomfield began to move up through the field.
Broomfield's Ivy Gonzales charged hard into the final mile, making up significant ground on the trio of Golden Eagles, who were flying unchallenged up front.
With the race clearly in their hands, Fitzsimmons surged, dropping O'Sullivan and Eck in the final mile. Heading up the last hill the race was hers, but behind her O'Sullivan was being challenged by Gonzales, whose late charge appeared timely, but the race wasn't over just yet.
The two battled up the hill with O'Sullivan eventually breaking Gonzales before the top. 10 seconds ahead of them Fitzsimmons bounded off her toes, down into the finish, winning in 18:17. O'Sullivan gave Mountain Vista the 1-2 punch while Gonzales finished third in 18:32.
Behind them the team race seemed clear - the Mountain Vista girls would make it a sweep. Eck finished fourth, while Madison Reed was the fourth Golden Eagle runner to finish in the top six, finishing sixth, while Makenna Anderson capped off their scoring by finishing 21st.
"Today was a good day," Fitzsimmons opined. "But you never know how state will go, it all depends on what happens on that day."
While everyone was focused on the battle between Mountain Vista and Broomfield, Battle Mountain sneaked in for a late upset to finish second. Broomfield and Battle Mountain both finished with 65 points, but Battle Mountain took the tie-breaker with their sixth runner, who finished 30th, while Broomfield's finished 56th.
Of note, however, Broomfield did not run at full strength. Senior Broomfield runner Emily Mitchem ran - and won - the junior varsity race in 19:32. The time would've placed her 19th in the varsity division and would've taken a few points off Broomfield's score. Though, they still would've finished second to Mountain Vista. Madison Mooney was missing entirely from the Broomfield results on the day.