TOP MOMENTS OF THE MEET
It didn't take long at all for a top-moment-of-the-meet to occur in the 2016 edition of the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede. In fact, it took all of 20 minutes and eight seconds for Buena Vista senior Annie Hughes to put a lock on the 2A girls race and throw away the key. Hughes is a new student at Buena Vista High School, but not terribly new to running ast. In any case, she dominated the 2A Girls race. And, probably nobody was more surprised by that than eventual second-place finisher Soleil Gaylord out of Telluride.
A couple hours later, Faith Christian freshman Cole Sprout put a serious scare into Alamosa's Isaiah DeLaCerda before the perseverance, patience, and stamina of the veteran prevailed. Sprout took a strong early lead, perhaps a bit to the dismay of Coach Steve Urban, and looked to be running away with the thing beyond the first mile marker. Gradually, though, DeLaCerda ate into that lead, and the two ran side-by-side, or very nearly so, through most of the latter half of the race. Coming out of the woods, DeLaCerda made the decisive move that sent the Alamosa senior to a decided advantage. DeLaCerda would finish in 16:15, building a lead of five seconds over the final stretch.
For those hoping to get a little reprieve from last year's Air Academy magic, meet freshman Kadet Tatum Miller. No, Miller didn't win the race, but she definitely put a dagger through the heart of a few hopes when she finished second to teammate Maria Mettler in 19-flat. Interestingly, it turned out to be a sort of freshman party in places 2, 3, and 4. Miller was followed by fellow freshmen Joslin Blair of Eagle Valley, and Kenadi Krueger of Thompson Valley. It's looking like a banner year for freshmen in 4A Girls.
Perhaps the best finish of the entire day was saved for last. The 4A Boys race pitted state 1600 and 3200 champion Ian Meek against Widefield senior Max Martinez, and the new kid on the block of the 4A elite--Air Academy senior Ethan Powell. The trio were good enough to let a few others hang around for a while, but by the midpoint of the race, it was becoming abundantly clear that the win would go to one of the three. Meek was the first to fall off the pace at about 2.5 miles. Martinez and Powell ran the rest of the race in near lock-step. Only at the very end was Powell able to develop any measure of a lead, taking the win by less than a second at 15:55. Nothing will be easy this fall in 4A Boys. Widefield Coach Erik Nelson goes back home shaking his head, trying to figure out what his star senior has to do to get the win.