10 questions for state cross country 2013 to answer

The top two questions this year focus on the top two runners for the season so far--Elise Cranny and Cerake Geberkidane. Photos by Alan Versaw.

10. Juggernauts: The Mountain Vista boys, Salida girls, and the Lyons boys come in as teams that have completely dominated their classification rankings all season. Which one posts the largest margin of victory on Saturday? More puzzling yet, how do you measure the "largest margin of victory," since one team scores five, one scores four, and the other scores three? I'll figure a way to measure it and will have an answer for you on Sunday. For now, though, let's just note that none of these are done deals yet.

9. Easing Gridlock: The first half-mile of the 4A races looked like the LA freeway at 5 PM last year. CHSAA took a closer look at the situation and decided to reduce the 4A fields from 30 teams to 24 teams. Will the difference be evident past the barns, through the creek crossing, and into the wooded portion of the course?

8. Is there a broom in the house: Is there any team that can sweep titles this year? Lyons? Air Academy? There don't seem to be a lot of possibilities on the table.

7. Colter v. Gregory: Who wins between Jordyn Colter and Lauren Gregory? Colter dominated at the Cherry Creek Invitational, but two weeks later at Fort Collins, Gregory was perilously close to Colter at the finish. Gregory has been dominating everything in her sights ever since.

6. The Sudden Interest in 3A Boys: Lamar's boys looked to be dominating everything 3A until Frontier Academy lowered the boom on the their regional. Who takes the big prize on Saturday?

5. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie: Monarch has been very measured and very quiet since Pat Patten. The Coyotes came into state a little lot beat up last year and still won. Does Monarch blow the lid off the thing this year? Or... do Cherry Creek and Fort Collins have something up their sleeves that they are waiting to spring at the big race?

4. The Lottery: Who survives the 10-team showdown in 4A girls? You can make a good case for a lot of teams in this one, but only one team can win.

3. The Big Mo: We saw stunning regional races from the Broomfield, Durango, and Air Academy boys last weekend. Can any of the three teams carry the momentum forward for a big win in 4A boys on Saturday?

2. Cerake: I'm not sure whether or not this is Cerake Geberkidane's kind of course, but he certainly has the potential to hit one out of the ball park on Saturday. Can the dominating one go under 16:00 for the win? He ran 16:38 last year. 

1. Elise: Can Elise Cranny run under 18 minutes on this course? It's the consensus of opinion that Cranny wins with the best time of the day, but she won 4A in 18:41 last year. Nobody doubts Cranny is faster this year, but how much faster?

Last year's 10 questions--and answers!