This Week's Featured Meet: The 4A/5A St. Vrain Invitational


After a huge win at Centaurus last weekend, Catherine Liggett gets to take on Katie Rainsberger this weekend. Photo by Ashley Green.

Last night, we talked about the 2A/3A side of Saturday's St. Vrain Invitational. This morning, we turn our attention to the 4A/5A side.

We'll start with the girls, since they run first. A quick scan of attending teams reveals that we'll be seeing Air Academy, Mountain Vista, Niwot (possibly running at Liberty Bell only), Palmer Ridge, The Classical Academy, and several more teams that can keep things interesting. Monarch is also on the list of attending teams, but the Coyotes expect to be running their varsity squad at Liberty Bell on Friday.

To be honest, Liberty Bell has something of an upper hand on St. Vrain in the large school division girls, but the St. Vrain is scarcely left destitute with the teams headed their direction.

Some of the individuals who figure to be strong possibilities for finishing in the single digits would include Lily Tomasula-Martin (Estes Park's girls are running up in the 4A/5A division), Allie Chipman, Emily Cranny (possibly running at St. Vrain), Hannah Capek, Chantae Steele, Cayli Hume, Savanna Dalton, Catherine Liggett, Luna Slater, and maybe about half of the Air Academy varsity roster.

Based on season performances to date, we could witness a very interesting showdown between Katie Rainsberger and Catherine Liggett. Liggett's race took a clear step forward over the summer, and it may be time to reckon her among the state's elite. We'll find out more about that on Saturday.

The boys race figures to be a little stronger relative to the Liberty Bell than the girls. Top boys teams pitching their tents in Lyons Saturday include Palmer Ridge, Widefield, Air Academy, Rampart, Mountain Vista, Legend, and The Classical Academy. Mountain Vista checks in as the meet favorite, but it should be very interesting to see how Rampart stacks up against Vista Nation. Be sure that the significance of this pairing is not lost on either program.

Individually, some of those who will have a lot on the line Saturday include Luc Hagen, Tanner Norman, Joshua Romine, Paxton Smith, Ben Dingman, Connor McCabe, Max Martinez, Jared Leblow, Drew Lester, and Harrison Scudamore. And, there are several more looking to crash that little party. The competition should be outstanding! Plus, we should get a Front Range look at David Cardenas, currently the young man holding the top freshman time in the state.

As you pack for the trip to Lyons, bring your water, your sunscreen, your sunglasses, your cowbells, your camera, your $5 (or more, if you'd like to donate more to the cause of Lyons rebuilding) for parking, but please don't bring your dog. Lots of folks enjoy dogs, but not everyone enjoys your dog like you do--and the St. Vrain Valley Schools have a district-wide policy prohibiting dogs on school grounds.

For those wondering, I'll be busy shoving data into the MileSplit computer after the racing is done to:

1. Score the 4A teams only

2. Score the 5A teams only

3. Do a complete scoring (run 7/score 5) of all classifications combined.

4. I also hoping, not yet promising, to do a credible "time equity adjustment" on Liberty Bell and St. Vrain and score combined results for each classification from the two big races of the weekend.

Those analyses will appear as premium content in the days following the meet. They should start appearing on Sunday and perhaps continue appearing as far out as into Tuesday.

Colorado Track XC will be running two video cameras at the meet, so race highlights should be more extensive than normal. If I can wedge a couple in without compromising coaching responsibilities, there might be an athlete interview or two to post as well. But, I can't promise the latter.

Look for start lists to come out later this week!

St. Vrain Invitational Meet Page

(all the information you ever wanted about this meet)