On the boys side, things were much different at the front. Although Fountain Valley's Steven Stoot (at left) led almost wire-to-wire, he was unable to ever decisively break from either Liberty's Neil Bishop or Horizon's Mike English. There was reasonable doubt about the race's outcome until the final turn into the football stadium at Air Academy HS. Stoot's kick brought him to the finish line at 16:58, seven seconds ahead of Bishop and ten ahead of English.
title with a time of 18:13, while Erie easily topped the Division 2 boys team scores. Victor Montoya could be in uniform for Rocky Ford again as early as next week.
Although Allie McLaughlin did look back a team or two, it was merely wasted motion. It was, however, just about her only wasted motion of the day. Racing with a turnover rate that can induce dizziness in observers unprepared for what they are seeing, the Air Academy senior tore up the course for an 18:18.8 finish. Former Liberty standout, and later a national elite runner, Sarah Schwald previously held the course record. Kara Slavoski of St. Mary's (19:41) and Shelby Stableford of The Classical Academy (19:52) were the only other runners to finish under 20:00 on the day.
McLaughlin's heroics were not quite enough, however, to propel the Kadets to the team title in their home invitational. That honor went to Doherty High School, who scored 5-9-12-15-19 for a total of 60. The Kadets followed with 83 teams points, followed by Summit with 107. The Classical Academy, despite sitting out several runners for this race, finished fourth after placing three runners in the top 11.