The Best of Cross Country: 2010, Part II

Andrew Walton came on strong for Mountain Vista this fall, strong enough to be named the Colorado Track XC Male Freshman of the Year. Photo by Alan Versaw.

 

Freshman Boy of the Year

It's easy for freshman boys to fly under the radar. And this one did. But, when you start analyzing Andrew Walton's performances for Mountain Vista High School, you realize he has the potential to become a very special runner over the next three years. Walton ran 16:26 at NXN-SW, 16:57 at state to finish 24th in 5A, and 17:18 to finish 12th at the Continental League meet. A very auspicious beginning for young Mr. Walton's high school career. That's not to say he didn't have competition for the recognition, however. Down south in Pueblo, David Luna got his season off to an incredible start with second at Canon City, a fourth at Widefield, an 8th at Coronado, and a season-best time of 16:40 for the win at Pueblo Central. Unfortunately, though, Pueblo Central was the end of Luna's season. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of Mr. Luna's high school career plays out as well.


Freshman Girl of the Year

This one is too close for me to call, but at least they're both from the same county. The high schools are maybe just a little over ten miles apart. In case you haven't figured it out already, we're talking about Claire Green of Monarch and Elise Cranny of Niwot. Who had the better season? Well, that would depend a lot on which meets you look at. There was some trading back and forth of position for these two where you could stack results side-by-side. Both should be good for three more solid years for their respective high schools.


Co-Op Runner of the Year

A lot of people don't realize this, but a number of Colorado's cross country teams rely heavily on the contributions of athletes from nearby schools without cross country programs. Basalt brought in a few imports from Roaring Fork this fall. Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos have both benefitted from transfusions from nearby Dolores High School. Rocky Ford's top two girls runners both attend Fowler High School but make the trip a few miles down US-50 to run for the Meloneers. Sargent dips into the pool of talent at Sangre de Cristo. South Baca isn't even a high school, but rather a conglomerate program of Walsh, Vilas, Pritchett, and Campo. Hotchkiss has a long tradition of pulling in runners from Cedaredge and Paonia, two nearby schools without cross country programs. Moffat County typically has a runner or two from Hayden wearing Bulldog blue. Undoubtedly, I'm missing a few, but you get the idea.

Is it good for high school cross country in Colorado that this happens? Absolutely! Talented young runners who would either have to do without high school cross country or run as part of one or two-person teams get the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to a full-blown program. The level of competition is always improved by this kind of arrangement.

This year's co-op runner of the year title comes down to three: Chris Zirkle (runs for Moffat County), Ty Williams (runs for Norwood), and Sydney Scott (runs for Denver South). Between the three of them, they scored six points at the state meet. Any of the three is worthy of the honor, but my weighing of the evidence suggests that the best season of the three belongs to Sydney Scott, and so she wears the title of co-op runner of the year.


Freshman Classes of the Year

A fabulous freshman class one year doesn't necessarily mean a state championship two and three years down the road, but you don't see too many coaches turning away great freshman classes. By class and gender, here's who had the top freshman classes this past fall:

5A Boys - Mountain Vista. In addition to Andrew Walton, the Golden Eagles had portentious contributions from Carson Hart, Michael Walker, and Henry Chapple. Honorable mention to Dakota Ridge and Cherry Creek.

5A Girls - At the very top end, Cherry Creek can rival the freshman class from Fort Collins. Nobody, but nobody, however, rivals the depth of the Fort Collins freshman class. Seven girls who had at least one race under 20:50 this past season. Three of them under 19:20. Enough said.

4A Girls - Nobody had an especially deep freshman class this year, but Nell Crobsy and Greta Sloan give Cheyenne Mountain a lot to look forward to in coming years. Palmer Ridge and Eagle Valley both may have had a little more depth but not the 1-2 punch that Cheyenne Mountain had. You could sustain a dominant cross country program for a long time getting two like that every year.

4A Boys - This honor would belong the Pueblo South. We've already mentioned David Luna and hope that he is back running for the Colts next fall. Pueblo South also, however, had three more--led by Charles Lucero--who ran times under 18:50.

3A Boys - The Classical Academy had five under 19:40 with Conner Wilburn and Ben Hook both under 17:50. Alamosa, with two under 18:40, doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.

3A Girls - This would be The Classical Academy as well, with four at 20:40 or under. Lauren Hamilton took top honors with 19:23 at NXN-SW, but also dipped under 20:00 several times in Colorado. The Titans had two more under 22:00. Hotchkiss was the only school close with three under 20:50, including two under 20:00 at least one race in the season.

2A Girls - The list of 2A freshman girls who broke 22:00 at some point in the season numbers exactly four. Of those, two belong to Nederland--Bailey Kuechenmeister and Jenna Mahon. And that leads me to think there just may be a serious run of titles up in Nederland before it's all said and done.

2A Boys - Only seven freshman boys in the classification broke 20:00 this fall and two of those attend Crested Butte Community School. Crested Butte's Ian Boucher is, far and away, the leader of this 2A class and just may help position the Titans for a state title run in the near future if the rest of the crew sticks with the program.