For those in attendance, Elise Cranny put on a remarkable show. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Nothing about Friday's 4A Region 3 contests was close. The team scoring wasn't close. The individual races weren't close. It was a grand day for blowouts.
The boys regional championship race was barely 300 meters underway and Coach Greg Weich was urging Ethan Gonzales not to take the lead. The effect of thatadmonishment lasted another couple thousand meters--maybe--and then it became apparent to all that there was no other place for Gonzales to be. Jake Link of Centaurus tried to stay close, but nobody else had the legs Gonzales had.
Gonzales kept the rhythm over the little rises and falls of the course, stopping the clock at 15:49. And, apparently Jake Link spent a little too hard in the effort to stay with Gonzales. Link was overtaken late by Broomfield's Ricardo Ocampo. And that was just the start of the Broomfield rout.
Following Link in third were five places of mix-and-m...