If you know your Colorado boys cross country, you can pick out a couple of your sub-16 boys from the Delta Invitational in this photo. Photo by Kristen Mehan.
Once again, the Delta Speedway at Confluence Park proved to be one of the fastest (cross country) tracks in all of Colorado. It has, of course, been done before.
But, even at the Delta Speedway, four sub-16 times in a single race--and all the more so at the beginning of the season--is a couple of steps over the line into unusual. Credit Ian Meek, Jack Plantz, Zach Walsh, and Brenden Wagler with the unusual. Although Meek's 15:47 took top honors, anything under 16 minutes ranks as a noteworthy time.
Team honors went to Battle Mountain, with second place going to Central High School of Grand Junction. And if your memory is restricted only to the last ten years of high school cross country in Colorado, you probably can't remember another time that Central finished second in a cross country meet--unless you count last week at their home meet. That is correct, folks, Central has put together back-to-back second place finishes at major Western Slope meets.
The days of Central checking in their uniforms after the regional meet may be soon forgotten.
Although Gino Giovagnoli led Eagle Valley with a sixth-place finish, a repeat meet title for Eagle Valley was nowhere in sight this weekend. Maybe these guys are mudders at heart; maybe they were laying off a little this weekend. Maybe the rest of the season will shed more light on that story.
Small school boys honors pointed squarely in Gunnison's direction. Just as we suspected in the preseason, Gunnison doesn't have a spectacular front runner, but the do have a very solid pack time that could take them places--like Colorado Springs--later this fall. Branden Huisman-Nevin was the point Cowboy this day with a 17:53.
Ouray High School is one elevated performance away from being a very good 2A boys team. Right now, we're at Nate Fedel, Joey Fedel, and yet-to-be-named.
On the girls side, it appears that Telluride is ready to take over Hotchkiss's role as the tormenter of larger school girls teams on the Western Slope. The Miners, with Anna Fake finishing a thin whisker ahead of Soleil Gaylord, took third--behind only Battle Mountain and Palisade, but ahead of such Western Slope notables as Grand Junction, Eagle Valley, and Hotchkiss.
Top honors went to Greta Van Calcar, whose 18:41 win reminded us a lot more of the Greta Van Calcar of last year than her performance at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede did. The old groove would seem to be coming back.
Montezuma-Cortez's Rachel Demby eased into second with a 19:32, while Carly Volkmer just barely slipped under 20 with a 19:58. Ouray's Sabine Lindler raised some eyebrows with a better-than-two-minute PR in fourth at 20:06.
The echoes from the walls that surround the little town of Ouray tell of summers apparently well spent.
Battle Mountain's win in the girls team scoring counts as nothing other than what should have been expected. Palisade's second place is only slightly more surprising. The news that Palisade is a rising team is old news to knowing ears, but the roles that Bailey McCall and Brier Youngfleish played in that second-place finish do count as new news. Keep a wary eye on the Bulldogs.
Complete meet results