If we could teleport ourselves back to summer, we would find Telluride's Soleil Gaylord owning the cover photo of the 2A Girls Preseason All-State article. Fresh off of state titles in the 1600 and 3200, and with a berth in the World Mountain Running Championships in Bulgaria, Gaylord seemed the obvious choice to add the 2A cross country individual title to her lengthy list of accomplishments.
But, there were also hints coming that it wouldn't all be as easy as that.
The first hint came at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede in August. It seems that Buena Vista got a new move-in from Wisconsin who was prepared to shake up the world of Colorado 2A Girls cross country.
After spotting Gaylord an early lead at the Stampede, Hughes found her passing gear about midway through the race, then took over for a dominating win.
As dominating as Hughes' win was, however, even she could not close the deal on her advantage over the field.
Toward the end of the season, Hughes was finding plenty of competition even on her own new team. Teammate Whitney White was pushing the pace at the front of the pack as well. Lyons' CeAnn Udovich was looking more and more like the CeAnn Udovich of old.
But, the biggest threat of all seemed to be emerging from the isolated little community of Oak Creek, home of Soroco (short for South Routt County) high school.
Veilleux had enjoyed a more-than-passable freshman year in 2015-16, finishing sixth at state cross country, making finals and finishing eighth in the state 300 hurdles, finishing fourth in the state 800 and fifth in the state 1600.
Still, Veilleux's trajectory never really showed revealed a steeper angle of ascent until the Chris Severy Invitational in early October. There on the grinding climbs of Aspen, Veilleux summarily turned aside the threats posed by Gaylord and Kent Denver's Sam Schaffer to win what was to that point the top individual meet title of her career. Veilleux opened a gap of 25 seconds on Schaffer, and nearly a minute of gap on Gaylord.
Suddenly, the 2A world began to take notice.
But, it's also widely known around the state that Chris Severy is a niche course. Just because you win, and even decisively so, at Chris Severy doesn't automatically make you the favorite everywhere you go. Chris Severy is all about keeping the legs turning over up relentless climbs, then keeping your feet underneath you on a dizzying descent over rough terrain.
Frankly, most Colorado cross country courses aren't much like that.
Veilleux's 7th-place finish at Rifle the next week seemed to support suspicions that she just might be that niche kind of runner especially suited for courses like Chris Severy.
Then the bomb dropped. In Delta, of all places.
Veilleux showed for the regional meet on the Delta Speedway--universally known as one of the flattest and fastest courses anywhere in the state--and blistered the field with an 18:43. And the gap was growing at the end of the race. Gaylord ended up a distant second at 19:07.
Over in Colorado Springs, Whitney White won her regional contest in decisive fashion, better than 20 seconds ahead of Hughes. Out in Yuma, Shining Mountain's Emma Schaefer nipped CeAnn Udovich at the finish line for that regional crown. The interpretation of that outcome, however, was tempered by the fact that Lyons coach Mark Roberts enjoys a long-standing reputation for taking things down a gear or two at regionals and leaving the state meet to speak for itself.
In a state preview article, I singled out White, Udovich, Gaylord, and Veilleux as my projections for the top four finishers. Though fairly confident the winner would come from those four, it seemed to me at the time a wide open question which of the four would ultimately prevail.
An early lead by Buena Vista's Whitney White evaporated into the dry October air. Then, in something of a surprise given the tale told by more recent results, Annie Hughes took over the lead almost exactly as she had done at the Stampede nine weeks earlier. By the two mile point, Hughes seemed completely in control and was increasing her advantage with every stride. Whatever the circumstances that had plagued her previous October results, all seemed resolved now. All signs pointed toward a triumph of no small proportion.
Meanwhile, White trailed Hughes in second, with Gaylord and Veilleux running third and fourth, respectively. Udovich was wholly out of the picture by this point.
Over the final half-mile, though, the race became the Chloe Veilleux story. One by one, Veilleux challenged and passed each of the notables in front of her. She kept pressing, pushing the pace ever higher. By the creek crossing, Veilleux had overhauled both Gaylord and White, but Hughes still held a commanding lead--one that didn't seem immediately in danger.
Nevertheless, that, too, changed in the 200+ meters between the creek crossing and the stadium as Veilleux shoved her Ferrari into passing gear. By the time Veilleux entered the stadium at the Norris Penrose Event Center, the outcome was a fait accompli. Her nine-second margin over Hughes barely began to tell the story of how decisive her finish was.
Meanwhile, the bewildered look on Hughes' face screamed, "What just happened here? Where did she come from?"
Oak Creek. And evidently she came on a mission.