Late in the race, Josh Simkins and Adam Avischious (partly hidden behind Simkins) made the surge that would overtake Alamosa in the team race. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Dyed hair. Black uniforms. Alamosa came to the state meet in full stealth mode. And, for the better part of three miles, the strategy had the Mean Moose in front.
As uniforms go, black goes undetected about as easily as any color in a race. So, even though the Mean Moose runners were well up in the pack throughout all of the early stages of the race, it was difficult to detect what was happening. Alamosa very nearly won the race before anyone noticed they were in the race.
The complexion of the race changed, however, over the final half mile. TCA's Josh Simkins, running on a gimpy ankle that was sprained in the finish chute at the regional race, and Adam Avischious had been working their way through the top 15 runners from Checkdam Bend onward. With a half-mile to go, Alamosa's Chad Palmer looked to have second nailed down. Josh Simkins had pulled into third but still had a lot of ground to make up to change that position. Adam Avischious was further back in ninth, barely ahead of Alamosa's #2, Jordan Wehe.
TCA's Simkins and Avischious surged. By the bottom of Powerline Climb, Simkins was still in third but had cut Palmer's gap in half. Avischious had moved into fith.
Alamosa, still unidentified by the TCA runners, held to a precarious lead. Simkins continued the surge. Avischious followed. And the order of the competitors took a dramatic turn.
Simkins overtook Palmer about half way up Powerline Climb. Avischious moved by near the point where the race turned toward the finish. Eventually, Bryce Johnston of Gunnison and Garrett Coles of University would go by as well.
Behind the front two of Alamosa and the front two of TCA, there were other serious battles for position going on. TCA's Joshua George closed up several positions on Wehe. Though he was never able to pass Alamosa's #2, every place gained along the way brought the team scores closer. Alamosa's Gavin Palmer and Drake Sisneros successfully held off TCA's Craig Miller and Jake Purvis but, once again, the places between the Alamosa pair and the TCA pair dwindled over the final half mile.
Those dwindling places and swapped positions up front ultimately decided the tilt of the final tally: TCA - 40, Alamosa - 51. Salida was third with 110, barely edging Gunnison with 112.
For Salida, however, there was some decidedly good news. Josh Noriega, after taking an uncharacteristically easy pace for the first mile, simply dominated thereafter. It was clear that nobody was catching Noriega. Nobody would even be close. Noriega's 16:03 gave him a margin of 41 seconds on Simkins in second.