University's Jenna Ptaschek closes out her home career on Tuesday with the University Break Your Pace Invitational. Photo by Ron Eberhard.
Although many teams already have their league meets in and are resting regular varsity squads this week in anticipation of regionals next week, just about every team in the state is in action, in some form or fashion this week. It's mostly league meets, but you can find the occasional invitational sprinkled into the schedule. Here's what the week ahead looks like:
Tuesday
League meet action gets rolling with the PPAC Conference meet at NPEC/Bear Creek Park. I'm having a hard time deciding in my own head if that's an advantage or disadvantage for the PPAC schools. It is certainly one more opportunity to look at and feel the state meet course, but it's also a course that can take some time to recover from if you run it hard. Cheyenne Mountain has a history of backing off on the gas a little at this stage in the season. After running everyone hard at either Desert Twilight or the TCA Titan Thunder this weekend, Air Academy is probably laying a little low for this meet. Palmer Ridge might be fresh and willing to go after it. Discovery Canyon hasn't raced since Wednesday, and so the Thunder might be inclined to strike as well. Really, though, I'm just speculating here. It will be interesting to see what we get. I'd do on-site coverage of this one except that we're scheduled for a practice on Tuesday afternoon.
The Denver Public Schools invade Harvard Gulch Golf Course, not far at all from some of my running circuits while I was in college, for their league meet on Tuesday. And, most of the DPS schools have been off since early in the week last week, leaving them lots of recovery to contest this one with all the vigor it deserves. Start lists for this meet will be posted soon.
And Holy Family High School barely misses a beat. After hosting the 3A Metro Championships the last several years at their home course, the Tigers take a quick turn hosting the Tri Valley League Championships on Tuesday. A lot of these teams were in action this last weekend, so we may see some of the Tri Valley teams backing off a little this week. It will be interesting to see who shows up and in what modes. Start lists for this meet will be posted soon.
And, not a league meet, but the University Break Your Pace Invitational also falls on Tuesday. This race isn't so much about breaking your pace as it is about breaking your distance. It's a two-mile cross country race. Expect somewhere around 10 teams for this event. Some will be running regular varsities; some will be resting regular varsities. You get what shows up.
Wednesday
The Pueblo city schools, likely also to include county schools Rye, Pueblo County, and Pueblo West, converge on the Elmwood Short Nine for local bragging rights. It is the South-Central League meet, but this meet typically has separate scoring for the league meet so as not to exclude Rye which would otherwise have to travel a long distance for a meet during this week. Wednesday is probably among the slower days for golf courses, so this meet fits right in with minimal impact on golf course revenue. In general, it's been a tough year for the Pueblo schools in cross country, and this meet represents a large opportunity for somebody to right the ship on their season in a big way.
A much bigger meet will be held at Broomfield County Commons Park on Wednesday, a course that's been seeing lots of cross country action the last couple of years. There, the Front Range Conference teams will be deciding their conference title. If a meet with Fort Collins, Rocky Mountain, Poudre, Fairview, Monarch, Boulder, Broomfield, etc. doesn't appeal to you, you need to turn in your cross country fan card. Given how hard Monarch and Broomfield were running at Pat Amato on Friday, though, there could be some lingering question aover how those two schools are treating this meet. I'll let them settle that question, though, rather than try to make a determination for them.
One of the season's smallest meets will be held at Kent Denver on Wednesday when 3A Metro rivals St. Mary's Academy, Kent Denver, Colorado Academy, and Denver Academy converge on the south Denver campus.
Thursday
As busy as the front end of the week is this week, things get even busier on Thursday. There are league meets all over the place on Thursday, and just in time for a little turn in the weather forecast, too.
The Centennial League goes at it at DeKoevend Park, almost next door to Arapahoe High School. It's always good when the Centennial League gets together. Colorado Track XC is sending Jeff Bliven, who knows the Centennial League about as well as anyone ever did, to do on-site coverage at this meet. Can Cherry Creek sweep the team titles here? Show up and find out--there are lots of reasons to think they can, and several reasons to think they won't. And that makes for an event worth attending!
The Continental League goes to the sweet little property where Castle View hosted their meet on the 27th to settle all their league issues. I'm guessing Mountain Vista will be running the big dogs this week, and that ups the ante quite a bit. But don't expect the other schools in the league to be rolling over and playing dead for the Golden Eagles. There's an extensive list of athletes for this one who figure to be answering questions about health and fitness at this meet, so be sure to check the results closely for this one. I need to check with the meet director, but I believe I will be able to publish start lists for this meet later in the week.
The EMAC hosts their league showdown at Aurora Sports Park. In case you hadn't noticed, EMAC cross country futures are up sharply this season. You don't want to be caught sleeping on the results from this meet.
Traveling east a little, Fort Morgan hosts the Colorado 7 Leage meet in their own Riverfront Park. Fort Morgan would like to keep those league trophies in town, but we'll see what comes of that.
Over in Grand Junction, I have the meet listed as an invitational, but this meet tends to function more as an informal D51 Championships meet. That would mean Grand Junction, Central, Fruita Monument, and Palisade. I'm honestly not sure if anyone else is coming or not, but there's probably a person or two out there who knows who could bring me up to speed on this event. Cross country has been going along nicely at these four schools this fall, so the meet should be trending upward in terms of competition.
In Colorado Springs (well, actually at Fountain-Fort Carson High School south of Colorado Springs) the 4A and 5A divisions of the CSML get together, run together, and score separately. It works out well for all concerned and in timely fashion, too. I have a hunch I can name a couple of schools that just might have league title on their minds, but I will defer from naming names since TCA has an involvement in this meet as well. It is true, though, that several league schools were seen going hard this weekend, so it would not be wholly unexpected to see a few of those backing off a little at the league meet. Colorado Track XC will most definitely be at this one for on-site coverage.
And, finally, Rifle hosts what would appear to be the one true and pure invitational on Friday. League alignments on the Western Slope are essentially non-existent for cross country, so you fill the gaps as you can at this point in the season. Rifle has some history of filling a gap with their invitational in this week, and the meet should draw well from the I-70 corridor and points north.
Friday
League meet action slows a little on Friday, but not exactly to a snail's pace.
The 4A and 5A divisions of the Jeffco League square off at Clement Park on Friday afternoon. The 4A girls title contest figures to be especially interesting, but there will be good cross country to be found in each of the league title races. Unlike the CSML, the Jeffco does not run the 4A and 5A races together and score separately. In this case, it's run separately and score separately, which makes it a little easier for your typical fan to get a clear picture of how things are developing during the race itself. It also makes for a longer afternoon, but Colorado Track XC will be there to enjoy the afternoon's activities with you. That might, however, involve dodging a few raindrops.
In the San Luis Valley, the Eric Wolff Invitational looks to be functioning once again as a multi-league meet that welcomes anyone else who wants to come and compete. Typically, we can count on Rocky Ford being one of those come-and-compete schools. Rocky Ford should be joined by Mancos and Dolores as this year's come-and-compete schools. It looks as if the Southern Peaks and Intermountain League crowns are on the line at this one. You'll find all the action, and probably a little bit of creative work to separate all the scoring, at the golf course in Monte Vista. Not to worry, there is only one golf course in Monte Vista. I expect to be posting start lists for this one later in the week.
And, Pathfinder Park outside of Florence hosts its third high school cross country meet of the season when the Tri-Peaks League schools converge on the park to decide their league title. Lamar probably rates as the boys favorite and Salida the girls favorite, but things are a long way from settled. This one promises to be a little cooler than the last two cross country meets at Pathfinder.
Saturday
If you're wanting to take in some high school cross country here in Colorado on Saturday, your options are at one. Wiggins is the place to be. It's a status Wiggins enjoys exactly once a year. One of the many nice things about this meet is that you don't need a course map. If you can follow the road around the school and out of town, then back in again along the same cornstalk-lined hunk of asphalt, you pretty much have the route mastered. Truthfully, the course scores about a 1.5 on the 1-10 scale of rat mazes. All that aside, the meet has evolved into a small-school invitational comingled with an end-of-season JV meet for larger schools from miles and miles around. Like Liberty Bell, everyone comes here for a 5K PR. Like Liberty Bell, most people leave satisfied on that score. It's not quite as big as Liberty Bell, but it's difficult to miss some of the similarities. And, Mario Garcia gets to time and score his own meet! I'm pretty sure that means we'll also have start lists to publish for this meet. Denver North is one team you can absolutely count on seeing at this meet, which raises the question: Will Kayla Young go for sub-18 here? Show up and find out!
*****
Before signing off on this article, I should note there are one or two league meets yet unaccounted for. If anyone is willing to fill me in on the details, I'll go back into the article on the designated date and fill in some details for you. Thanks!
And, if you want to have start lists published for your meet, please send those ahead with enough time for me to get those up before the starting pistol fires. For some meets, I have my sources. For other meets, not so much so, and I need help from those holding the lists.