A St. Vrain start is always a marvelous thing to behold. You get that opportunity come Saturday. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
There are more meets in Colorado this week than there were in the preceding two weeks combined. And, for the first time all season, just about every team in the state figures to be in action at least once this week.
We'll start with the out-of-state meets.
At this point, there are two on the radar screen. Just outside of Monticello, Utah, we have the Loyd's Lake Classic on Friday. In years gone by, this meet has drawn teams from the southwestern corner of Colorado, most especially Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos. Already on this year's list of entries are Grand Junction Central, Montezuma-Cortez, and Dolores. It's a scenic little location and a pleasant place to run a meet despite the lofty altitude.
Also pulling teams across the border from Colorado on Saturday is the UNM Lobo Invitational. It's possible another Colorado team or two may yet join the party, but Peyton, Mountain Vista, and The Classical Academy are already registered and pointed toward Albuquerque for what is annually one of the largest and most competitive meets in the Southwest.
If anyone else is slipping across the border, news of that has escaped my attention.
For those staying inside the state, action begins on Wednesday with the DPS schools converging near Denver South High School for the Wash(ington) Park Invitational. Washington Park is a fabulous place to run, as many long miles of my college years will attest. Assuming the assembled schools run their varsity teams, this amounts to a kind of pre league meet.
Action picks up on Thursday with three meets, the Joe Davis Invitational at Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs, the St. Mary's Academy Invitational in Bible Park in Denver, and the Aurora City Championships which, at least last year, was held at Aurora Sports Park. All three meets qualify as mid-size meets. The St. Mary's Academy course at Bible Park produced some exceptional times last fall. It would appear that those portions of Vista Nation not making the trip to Albuquerque will be taking a shorter trip in the same direction to run at the Joe Davis meet on Thursday. The Aurora City Championships is, as the name would suggest, limited to schools with an Aurora domicile.
And then things get really serious on Friday afternoon. We have Widefield hosting at the Widefield Community Center Park. We have Cherry Creek hosting at Cherry Creek State Park. We have Horizon hosting their annual 4K and popsicle giveaway at the Adams County Fairgrounds. And, maybe most of all (at least in terms of team count), we have Colorado State University and Frontier Academy joining hands to host a combined college and high school meet at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins. The collegiate field looks to be on the side of substantial as several of the state's DI and DII programs are pointed toward Fort Collins for some very early season action. Expect a few open runners with familiar names to be populating the collegiate field as well.
By the way, if you were hoping that the Hughes Stadium course will be slightly less rocky than the South Buffalo Ranch course, you're likely to be disappointed.
Conspicuously absent thus far from any of the meets listed is the entire Western Slope. Saturday takes care of that vacuum with the Basalt Longhorn Invitational at Crown Mountain Park in El Jebel and the Battle Mountain Invitational at Beaver Creek Ski Area in Avon. The latter has earned its reputation as one of the most challenging courses in the state. Some would peg it at the top of the list and consider the matter settled.
But, it's a short trip over Tennessee Pass to Leadville and another of Colorado's most challenging courses at the Colorado Mountain College campus course. Lake County, of course, does the hosting here, having long since forsaken their meet home on the Leadville golf course. There are, no doubt, coaches who would run both meets if they could, but Rob Parrish and Amy Peters aren't making that a possibility for this year. Now that the idea been suggested, however...
Two teams that seem to make the trip to Leadville with regularity are Pueblo West and Coronado. They'll likely be there again this year. The rest of the field tends to be comprised of more local programs that routinely take a beating at the hands of Pueblo West and Coronado but still enjoy the meet.
Though not on the Western Slope per se, the Joe Vigil Invitational figures to pull teams like Durango, Bayfield, and Pagosa Springs over Wolf Creek Pass for the experience. Joe Vigil also pulls well out of New Mexico and at least three New Mexico schools will be making the trek northward this year. And, in the best tradition of pulling, Joe Vigil is also yanking schools out of the Lower Arkansas Valley and over La Veta Pass. The high school field promises to be large and highly competitive. This meet also combines collegiate action with the high school (and middle school) action, but the college field is looking a little thin this year--at least thus far.
If you're on the Front Range, there's still plenty to look forward to, and all the more so if you live in Boulder County. The only two Front Range area meets on Saturday are both held in Boulder County.
St. Vrain hosts its massive collection of teams on the open space surrounding Lyons High School. Please bring $5 for parking, and please do not bring your dog. Canines are specifically prohibited at St. Vrain Valley School District activities. We could list the teams coming to the meet, but at some point it becomes easier to list the teams not coming to this meet--among them are Coronado, Frontier Academy, Mountain Vista, Grand Junction Central, Lake County, and a couple more. Nowhere do you get more cross country action for your travel buck than at this one.
Only a few miles away is another meet trending upward on the Colorado scale of things--the Centaurus Invitational at Waneka Lake Park in Lafayette. Upwards of 20 teams figure to be coming to this one. It tends to run fast. And, if you get overheated, you can just go jump in the lake to cool off.
Colorado Track XC will be on-hand for coverage at the Cherry Creek, Joe Vigil, St. Vrain, and UNM Lobo Invitationals this weekend.
A St. Vrain start is always a marvelous thing to behold. You get that opportunity come Saturday. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
There are more meets in Colorado this week than there were in the preceding two weeks combined. And, for the first time all season, just about every team in the state figures to be in action at least once this week.