Katie Rainsberger's 17:39 becomes the standard for the new configuration of the NPEC/BCRP state meet course. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Just over four years ago, Katie Rainsberger won the inaugural Colorado Middle School State Cross Country Championship.
Her cross country career has been more or less an unbroken line of success ever since. Among other things, there have been three NXN appearances to date and nothing worse than a 13th-place finish. Sure, there were a couple of state meet defeats at the hands of Elise Cranny along the way, but second-place finishes were far more the exception that the rule. Over the entire span of CHSAA-sanctioned meets for Rainsberger there were but four non first-place finishes--three seconds and a third.
So, it was no surprise that Rainsberger closed our her brilliant high school cross country career here in Colorado with yet another dominating win. What may have come as something of a surprise, though, was the magnitude of her win. In cross country terms, 35...
