Kaleb Crum is a stalwart veteran on an imposing Lamar roster. Photo by Alan Versaw.
You'll get a lot of bang for your travel buck by heading to this year's Joe Vigil Open. In addition to a solid small-school field, you get both collegiate/open and middle school fields as well.
We'll focus here on the high school races, but I did want to acknowledge that there's a lot more to this meet than just the high school part.
For many, perhaps most, the high school boys race will be the feature event of this meet.
Lamar brings over their boys, fresh off a headline-grabbing win at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede. Some other Colorado teams to watch include a rising Sargent program, Bayfield, and possibly Pagosa Springs as well.
Taos, Pecos, and Santa Fe bring competitive teams out of New Mexico. In fact, Pecos might just be the best small school of its size in the entire Southwest region this fall. Taos figures to be in something of a rebuilding year after finishing second in New Mexico 4A last fall, but it would be unwise to assume the Tiger has lost all its fight even so. Santa Fe had a rough go of it their first year in 6A last fall, but they promise to be a better team this fall. And, we won't too quickly dismiss Moriarty, either. Moriarty comes up not only to compete but to rub shoulders a little with alum and current Adams State standout Austin Anaya. Together, they all take aim at Alamosa, the defending Colorado 3A state champion.
Alamosa ran last week without presumptive front runner Isaiah DeLaCerda. I don't have any definite word about this, but a lot of folks have to be hoping we see Mr. DeLaCerda this weekend. Those same folks have been looking at last weekend's results and wondering if the outcome would have been any different had DeLaCerda been running. It's a fair question to ask.
We might get an answer this weekend, though the 7554 feet of elevation might play into Alamosa's favor more than the 6100 feet of Norris Penrose did. In any case, you can expect the Mean Moose to be just a little pumped up to run in front of their home crowd.
And that could be exactly what Lamar is hoping for.
In terms of an individual title, the prime suspects figure to be DeLaCerda (assuming he runs) and Lamar's Jake Rogers. Honestly, though, Alamosa's Caleb Palmer wasn't far behind Rogers last weekend. Pecos sophomore Joshua DeHerrera could be a wild card in the deck. DeHerrera's times from last year don't quite match up with DeLaCerda and Rogers, but DeHerrera was also a freshman last year. It's not at all unusual to see a big freshman-to-sophomore jump.
2015 Joe Vigil Invitational High School Boys Virtual Meet (only accessible to MileSplit Insiders)
2015 Joe Vigil Inviational Meet Page, Including High School Course Map
