Fountain-Ft. Carson Invitational: A close one on the boys' side

It appears as if the Douglas County 4A schools are hitting the midpoint of the season in a near dead heat. At today’s Fountain-Ft. Carson Invitational, Castle View’s Aaron Friedland captured the boys' individual title. His 16:26 finish time came despite the slowing effects of a course peppered with long stretches of deep grass. It was, however, the boys from Rock Canyon who prevailed in the team score, winning by a narrow margin of 73-76 over their in-district rivals. Joe Kappes, (above) logged the top finish for Rock Canyon with a time of 17:10, good enough for fourth place.

 

Talent of a more close-to-home variety captured second and third places. Sam Feldotto of The Classical Academy was second in 16:45 and Fountain-Ft. Carson’s own Frank Socha was third in 17:05.

 

This meet also marked the return to competition for Rocky Ford’s Victor Montoya. Appearing a little rusty at this point, Montoya went through the mile with the lead group but finished sixth in 17:27. Although Fountain Valley was present at the meet, Steven Stoot did not appear in this race.

 

On the girls’ side of things, Kaitlin Hanenburg of The Classical Academy ran away from everyone after the first 1000 meters. Sierra’s Samantha Thompson hung on to a sizeable margin in second throughout the remainder of the race, but was unable to press Hanenburg for the lead after the early portion of the race.

 

With three of her regular teammates taking a week off from racing, Hanenburg still had adequate support to lead the Titans to a large margin of victory in the team race, 43-78 over second-place Rock Canyon. Teammate Kassie Mazzocco, at right, finished third in 20:08, while host school Fountain-Ft. Carson was led by Whitney Maurer, at left, in sixth with a time of 20:38.

 

Among the smaller schools, Rocky Ford’s Brooke Grissom is looking more and more like the #3 the Meloneers will need to make a serious run at the 2A state title. Grissom finished twentieth today in 22:01. Once again, Jessika Kienitz was not in the lineup for Rocky Ford, but look for her to be there when it counts.

Complete Meet Results