Regional wrap-up

Colorado 2A Region 1 Cross Country

Lyons dominated both regional races, as expected. No great surprises among the qualifying teams out of the region. For more detail, see the article linked below.

Colorado 2A Region 2 Cross Country

Vanguard's boys stormed throught the region with a 3-4-5-6-7. Nobody came close. Seeing Ben Butler and Andy O'Dell go 1-2 as individuals was just about equally as surprising as Vanguard's team win. Heritage Christian Academy took a tough one, getting bumped out of the state qualifying positions by Vanguard, SkyView Academy, Peyton, and Denver Academy.

Heritage Christian Academy's girls had no such difficulties advancing to state. In fact, the 1-2 from Rachel and Rebekah Rairdon probably had the Coursers sweating a few bullets. But Vanguard easily beat HCA at #3 and went on to win the regional title. SkyView Academy and Denver Christian nailed down the remaining state qualifying slots.

Colorado 2A Region 3 Cross Country

Rocky Ford escaped with the boys team title by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins at this one. Sargent grabbed a girls regional crown with much less in the way of drama. More detail in the article linked below.

Colorado 2A Region 4 Cross Country Meet

The Lake City girls team qualification I had dared to hope for didn't materialize. On the other hand, they didn't miss by much. Crowding in ahead of Lake City were Hotchkiss, Paonia, Mancos, and Crested Butte. If you like domination, you loved this one--Hotchkiss had their top five all in the top nine.

For the boys, Crested Butte took down Telluride and Hotchkiss for the regional crown with a nice 2-4 from Forrest Smith and Aiden Truettner. Paonia claimed the final state qualifier, with Mancos and Ouray just missing.

Colorado 3A Region 1 Cross Country

It was a pair of individual titles for Eva-Lou Edwards and Trevor Gabbard, but the team qualifying was much more interesting than that. The top three girls teams qualified with a grand total of three points difference between them. Moffat County, Pagosa Springs, and Bayfield advance to state. Aspen and Gunnison nabbed the other slots. Aspen, Olathe, Bayfield, Gunnison, and Pagosa Springs qualify among the boys. 

Colorado 3A Region 2 Cross Country

Lamar and Salida roll on, but Lamar has to be casting a wary eye at some results out of a different region. Much more detail in Tim Hilt's article linked below.

Colorado 3A Region 3 Cross Country

This one may have hosted the biggest regional upset of them all. Holy Family's boys ran without Erich Hixson and Peak to Peak's boys ran without something--I'm not sure what--opening the door wide for Platte Canyon to seize the regional title. Platte Canyon made the most of that opportunity, and doubled their fun with Jacob Benson taking the individual title. Rather predictably, Peak to Peak, Faith Christian, Machebeuf, and Holy Family snared the remaining slots.

Holy Family's girls barely survived a Peak to Peak scare on the girls side. A tie-breaker won it for the Tigers. Tabor Scholl cruised to the regional individual title, while Dallas Frisbie and Lindsey Chavez battled nearly every step of the course for second before Frisbie took the place in the end. Kent Denver, Clear Creek, and Platte Canyon combined forces to keep Faith Christian out of the state berths. CC and PC, at least, should enjoy the change of scenery and racing conditions at the state course.

Colorado 3A Region 4 Cross Country

Wow, somebody lasso Frontier Academy before they leave everyone else behind! Of all the bombs dropped at regional races none carried a shock wave to compare with what Frontier Academy did here. I can't recall the last time any team had the top four boys places in any regional (but I do know the next time it was done--on Friday). Maybe someone out there can fill us all in. And all at 17:03 or faster as well. This team is coming together at just the right time--and apparently in just the right way as well. Fear the Wolverines. Brush, Estes, University, and Sterling also get to run at state, but they can't be coming out of regionals feeling like their chances are all that great at state.

The FA girls were very nearly as dominating. Estes Park kept it close, while Brush, University, and Eaton made it to state. At the beginning of the season, we may have thought Makayla Santos over Kelsi Lasota was surprising, but Santos has definitely made the most of her season. The stakes in 3A girls are definitely higher this fall than last.

Colorado 4A Region 1 Cross Country

Evergreen methodically takes everyone else apart for regional titles. Ponderosa, Green Mountain, and Golden advance among the boys, while D'Evelyn, Wheat Ridge, and Golden advance among the girls. Lexi Reed's world gets a lot bigger at state. She's had a remarkable first season of cross country and now we get to find out how she fares on a course with a monster hill and in a race with a couple of the nation's very best.

Colorado 4A Region 2 Cross Country

The region's big three of Air Academy, Palmer Ridge, and The Classical Academy dominated almost everything here--and Air Academy did the biggest share of the dominating. They'll be looking to reprise that at state this weekend, and they have some good reasons to think they can. More meet detail in the article linked below.

Colorado 4A Region 3 Cross Country

As if to remind pundits everywhere that they, too, have a nice shot at state titles, Niwot and Broomfield did some serious shredding of the regional competition on Friday. The details are there for you in the article linked below.

Colorado 4A Region 4 Cross Country

Mountain View sneaks out of Greeley with two regional titles. Have the Mountain Lions become the Clippers to Thompson Valley's Lakers in the town of Loveland? We shall see, but--please don't get me wrong--cross country is eminently more entertaining than NBA basketball and I mean to demean neither MV nor TV by the comparison.

Mountain View's girls look very strong up front with Riley Cooney and Lauren Offerman dishing out 1-2s.

The boys regional plays out precisely according to form as Berthoud and Fort Morgan also advance among the boys. Silver Creek and Windsor take the girls slots, following some late-season struggles for Berthoud.

Colorado 4A Region 5 Cross Country

Go ahead, try to convince me you didn't expect Cheyenne Mountain and Coronado, with a little help from Pueblo West on the boys side, to dominate this region. Just try.

The most unexpected thing out of this region is Pueblo South slipping by Widefield via the help of a recruit off the soccer squad who just happened to have a pretty good set of legs. 

The Till sisters do a nice job of helping Canon City girls have their strongest regional race in a good, long time.

But you can read plenty more in Tim Hilt's article below...

Colorado 4A Region 6 Cross Country

None of the boys here matched up with Durango very well, but Eagle Valley, Battle Mountain, and Montrose get another shot at it this weekend at state. Liam Meirow and Jake Erickson scorched the individual field, also as expected, though you have to concede that Gino Giovagnoli is doing remarkably well for a transplanted football (not futbol) player.

Battle Mountain was simply dominating among the girls. They look oh-so-ready to do battle with the Front Range 4A powerhouses. Durango, Summit, and Montrose also punch tickets to state.

As a final note on the Delta regionals, it seems a comment or two might be in order about the Delta Speedway. All three regionals seemed to run very, very fast. I'm not endeavoring to suggest the course was short, only remarking that the races ran extraordinarily fast. It was PR heaven in Delta on Friday.

Colorado 5A Region 1 Cross Country

Arapahoe over Dakota Ridge for the boys title, but both teams seeming just a hair on the side of flat. Dakota Ridge, however, did get their regional title on the girls side. Cerake Geberkidane comes up long on what appears to be his last opportunity to break Adam Goucher's high school record for 5K on a Colorado course. More on the regional outcomes in Michele Bisbee's article linked below...

Colorado 5A Region 2 Cross Country

Wham, bam, Creek once, Creek twice! I think Cherry Creek is ready for state's little showdowns--and especially so on the girls side of things. Check out what Michele Bisbee had to say about this in her article linked below.

Colorado 5A Region 3 Cross Country

Monarch got good and rested up last week. Don't get to thinking you've seen the whole show yet, but they ran pretty well at regionals. Actually, Boulder takes the boys team title, but Monarch is close enough to believe, with some reasonable basis, that Boulder is within reach. Nobody in this region is within reach of Monarch's girls. We'll find out on Saturday if anyone in the state is.

Girls regional qualifers after Monarch go to Fairview, Legacy, ThunderRidge, and Ralston Valley. You have to scratch your head just a little about TR. Three or four weeks ago, the engine was purring much more smoothly than they have the last two weeks. Either they are saving up big-time for state or the motor is missing on a cylinder or two. It's down to make or break time for the Grizzlies.

Boulder, Monarch, and Pomona are the three boys giants of the region and all three easily advance to state. Behind them, ThunderRidge and Fairview get in. And, the feel-good story of the week is that Russ Hall, who started running the season for tragedy-bound Estes Park, ends up qualifying for state in Lakewood Tiger orange.

Colorado 5A Region 4 Cross Country

If you're wondering about how fast Northglenn's Open Spaces Park runs, the cover photo of the album linked below might provide a useful clue. Right off-hand, I'd say that's a pretty wide slab of sidewalk.

Fort Collins and Fossil Ridge dominate the girls side of the region, with Loveland, Horizon, and Rocky Mountain working their respective ways into state. Lauren Gregory wins with the appearance of backing off the throttle just a little. If that's the case, it's a good sign that she's learning to do that when really not very much is at stake.

Keaton Schelir reverses the order of finish with Paul Miller from the week previous, but Fort Collins wraps up the regional title in a region that places the four Fort Collins schools in the top four places. Mountain Range snares the final state qualifier.

Colorado 5A Region 5 Cross Country

Pine Creek and Mountain Vista coast, more in the article linked below...