Isaiah DeLaCerda and Miguel Baltazar of Ortega Middle School (Alamosa) should be two of the top contenders in tomorrow's Colorado Middle School State Championships. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Tomorrow. It's the day hundreds of middle school cross country runners have been waiting for, dreaming of, and training for. One course, one meet to determine a state champion.
It isn't easy predicting the outcome of the middle school races. Unlike high schoolers, the match-ups seen during the regular season of middle school cross country tend to be very local. So, lots of local favorites will be seeing one another for the first time, or at least the first time since last year, tomorrow.
We do know this, however. We know that both of last year's runners-up are registered for this year's race. That would be Isaiah DeLaCerda of Ortega Middle School in Alamosa and Lauren Gregory of Preston Middle School in Fort Collins. No matter how you start thinking of favorites, these two have to end up on your lists.
Cheyenne Mountain (girls) and TCA (boys) will both be back to defend titles, but both will be sorely pressed to successfully make that defense. There are several solid teams in the field.
Schools from the Loveland/Fort Collins/Greeley area will be coming down a little from their customary race distance of 4K, while most other schools in the state will be moving up from 2.5 or 3K distances. That fact probably tends to favor the northern Front Range programs, but--if it does--it wasn't enough to turn the tide in their favor last year. This year, however, could be a different story.
Racing starts at 10 AM with the open races. Championship races begin at 11 AM. Parking was very nicely managed last fall, but try not to take that as an invitation to arrive late. There will likely be more cars than last year and it's always nice to get settled in a little before the racing begins.
By noon tomorrow, two new individuals, and possibly two new teams as well, will be crowned as state champions on the D'Evelyn Jr./Sr. High School grounds (10359 West Nassau Avenue, Denver, immediately west of Kipling Avenue). As it did, last year, the weather is shaping up to be gloriously cooperative.
Soak in the spectacle!