Faith Christian's Evan Fortney held off the late charges of TCA's Joshua George and Conner Wilburn to claim the 3A individual title. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
On this day, Evan Fortney had two sets of friends--those who were close to him early in the race and those for whom the closeness developed later in the race. In between, Fortney had about a mile of solitude.
Anthony Rios of Brush, Nick Taylor of Colorado Academy, and an assortment of Holy Family, Estes Park, and Jefferson Academy acquaintaces kept Fortney company early in the race, but Fortney's pace thinned that crowd (eventually to zero) and then opened a seemingly insurmountable gap on the field.
It was at about that time, however, that two guys from The Classical Academy, both of whom had stayed well back of the lead group through the opening mile, began their charge. By the base of Powerline Climb, Joshua George had closed to within a few seconds of Fortney. All the way up the hill, George pressed, clos...
