Jacob Benson celebrates a hard-earned victory over Salida's Taylor Stack. Photo by Logan McCoy.
If you were to visit the campus of Frontier Academy in Greeley, you wouldn't detect much frontierish about the digs. Frontier Academy is situated in very settled surroundings where nature is mostly tamed, aside from the occasional hailstorm and bout of flooding, on the west end of Greeley.
Thus, we conclude that the moniker "Frontier" must have more to do with the ground-breaking run of success of the cross country team and the race-day coiffure of Coach Brett Shanklin.
Frontier Academy is the new monarch of 3A boys cross country. It took until deep into the season for the pieces of this dominating team to come together. Team leader Chris Baker didn't even run a race this season until the Broomfield Invitational, and his 18:15 there certainly did not stand stand out in the crowd. But, bit by bit and piece by piece, this team did come together. And, when October 26 rolled around, the Wolverines were ready for whatever came their way.
Months of had training became evident as the progress of the race went from Boulevard to Little Willis to Big Willis and back around to The Bridges. Frontier Academy moved steadily where other teams and individuals faltered and fell, figuratively speaking, to the wayside.
At Spike Hill, nearly all is settled on this course, and it was clear at that point Frontier Academy had things under control. Chris Baker would ascend the hill in fifth, Teammates Drake Bytnar, Sean Tyrell, and Brody Lewis each made the quick, but draining, ascent in the top 20.
And it was the tightness of the 2-3-4 pack for Frontier Academy that undid an early advantage at the hill that had belonged to Lamar. Lamar's Josh Davis had been third up the hill and Jake Rogers followed in the top ten. Hopes seemed alive and well for the team out of the Lower Arkansas Valley that had invested so much into their hopes and dreams for this season. But, Lamar could not close the deal until places 24 and 28, leaving the Savages as runners-up in the best season in school history.
Alamosa--probably the youngest boys team in the entire state meet--left people with a great deal to think over for the next year by finishing a close third. Alamosa's 66 points compared nicely with Frontier's 44 and Lamar's 55. The Mean Moose figures to get meaner next year.
Peak to Peak with a distant fourth with 107 points.
Individually, this one was the sole and exclusive property of Jacob Benson. Jacob Benson isn't the first person wearing the colors of Platte Canyon high school to win a state title, just the first since Kristen McGlynn dominated things about a decade ago. Curiously, neither McGlynn nor Benson actually attended Platte Canyon, though both made the absolute most of the opportunities afforded them to run in Platte Canyon colors. Benson attends South Park High School and runs track for the Burros in the spring.
To win, however, Benson had to hold off a spirited charge from another denizen of thinner air. Salida sophomore Taylor Stack made Benson earn every centimeter of his roughly 15 meter margin of victory.
