Coming off the hill at 1.8 miles, Walter Schafer and Evan Appel hold a small lead over Bobby Nicolls in the 5A boys race.
It's difficult to imagine what an uninteresting state cross country meet would look like, and this one wasn't it.
The meet began with the inaugural 2A girls state championship race. Nederland didn't leave much mystery about the outcome. With the sisters Robinson (Kelley and Kat) going 1 and 3, and Rebecca Hermann coming in fifth, all finishing under 19:45, there was simply no other team that had the horses to make it close. And this one has "beginning of a dynasty" written all over it. Nederland is young and deep. Crested Butte was second, scoring three runners for a total of 23 points.
The 2A boys race proved to be a great deal more interesting. Victor Montoya of Rocky Ford nipped Fountain Valley's Steven Stoot at the finish for the individual title.
It would turn out that Montoya's finish burst was also critical in determining the team championship. By scoring 1-4-15, Rocky Ford edged Wiggins (5-7-9) by a single point for the team title. Had Stoot beaten Montoya, both Rocky Ford and Wiggins would have had 21 point scores, but the tie-breaker on the fourth runner would have gone to Wiggins. Fountain Valley finished in third.
In the 3A races, The Classical Academy had their best day of the season. The girls went 1-3-5-7 to win the team title by 95 points over a surprising Salida team. The Spartans had an amazing race to edge out powers Peak to Peak and Estes Park for the second-place trophy. Salida is a young and developing team. Look for the confidence developed today to spill over into next season.
By far, the most interesting aspect of the 3A girls race (and arguably the single best race of the day), however, was the duel the developed between TCA's Kaitlin Hanenburg and Middle Park's Sam Berggren for the individual championship. At about 1.25 miles, Hanenburg had opened a lead of about 20 meters and appeared to be on her way to putting this one away. In the next half-mile, however, Berggren closed the gap and the rest of the race was spent with the two running in very close company. Berggren stayed loose and rode right off of Hanenburg's shoulder, while Hanenburg seemed to struggle to maintain her usual rhythm. With 400 meters remaining, Berggren--the state's fastest quarter miler--put the hammer down and surged to a small lead. Hanenburg responded, and the two ran virtually side-by-side most of the remaining 300 meters to the finish. In the end, Hanenburg opened up a three-second margin to win her second consecutive state title. The two also finished with the second and third best times on the day in all classifications: 17:47 and 17:50.
The 3A boys race was the showdown at high noon. Five teams started the race with reasonable hopes of winning the title--Bayfield, Colorado Academy, Faith Christian, Lyons, and The Classical Academy.
Bayfield was the first to make a move. The purple-and-gold clad Wolverines went strong to the front early in the race. At one mile, it appeared to be their race to lose. Over the next mile, however, Andrew Roberts and Dylan Donohoe of Lyons worked their way toward the front. Melake Getabecha and Nick Taylor of Colorado Academy positioned themselves nicely. Sam Feldotto and John Metzger of The Classical Academy kept the Titans hopes alive. Faith Christian, meanwhile, struggled a little to develop a presence in the lead group. Still, these races are won by third and fourth runners (3A scores only four runners in Colorado), and nobody held a decisive advantage through the middle third of the race.
In the last mile, however, TCA's Jacob Mueller and Josh Simkins climbed several places in the standings and moved TCA ahead of Lyons, who was doing of little climbing of their own. TCA finished 4-11-18-20, to overhaul the Lions who finished 2-6-29-32. Colorado Academy, Faith Christian, and Bayfield all finished within five points of one another in third, fourth, and fifth places, respectively.
Buena Vista's Joseph DeMoor dominated the 3A boys individual race, winning in 15:28. Andrew Roberts finished in a very respectable 15:44 but was never able to pull within threatening distance of the speeding Demon.
4A girls promised an intriguing showdown between Thompson Valley, Mullen, Alamosa, and Cheyenne Mountain. For Mullen, however, things never came in sync today. Thompson Valley, Cheyenne Mountain, and Alamosa would be the major players on this day.
Thompson Valley won the title on long and time-honored theme in cross country--the fifth runner. Cheyenne Mountain held a slender lead over the Eagles through the first four finishers and things were looking bright for the Indians. At the fifth runner, however, Cheyenne Mountain took 87 points to Thompson Valley's 40. Alamosa, led by a very strong showing from Lindsey Sowards and the DeSouchet sisters, fell out of title contention by taking 134 points at the final two scoring positions.
Laura Tremblay led the Thompson Valley charge on the day with a second-place finish. First place went to Alicia Nelson of Moffat County, who concluded a brilliant high school career in 18:13.
Among 4A boys, there seemed little question who the top three teams would be. There was a great deal of question, however, about what order they would finish in. Once again, fourth and fifth runners played an enormous role in determing the outcome. While Falcon got their usual strong performances from Wes Rickman and Kevin Johnson, it was the finishes of Jordan Teeples (41st) and Dane Mahaffey (53rd) that sealed the Falcons' victory. Wheat Ridge and Niwot both finished well behind Falcon for the team title.
The 4A boys individual title went to Denver North's Joseph Manilafasha. In what could scarcely be classified as a surprise, Manilafasha also went home with the best time of the day, posting a 15:08. Manilafasha thus ended the CHSAA season undefeated.
Someone else wrapped up an undefeated season today and that would be Air Academy's Allie McLaughlin. With seemingly no end in sight to what she can accomplish, Allie McLaughlin finished in 17:04, beating the entire 5A girls field by a full minute. Cherry Creek's Clare Gallagher scored a mild upset to claim second place in 18:05.
In the team score, however, nobody had the strength to upend the team in purple, and Fort Collins exorcised a few demons to win the state title that has eluded them so often in recent years. Despite Rachel Viger having a finish well below her usual standards, Fort Collins was able to put a 93-point gap on second-place Highlands Ranch. Miranda Benzel paced the Fort Collins effort with a fourth-place finish in 18:23.
Finally, the 5A boys contest lived up to its pre-race hype. Through the first half of the race, the lead pack was comprised of the usual suspects--Evan Appel, Bobby Nicolls, Walter Schafer, Roblet Muhudin, and Matt Bell. Right around two miles, Nicolls made the first strong move to take over the lead. That move would prove costly in the end.
While Nicolls did manage to open a small lead, he did not succeed in breaking the rest of the field. In the final mile, Evan Appel simply took over, eventually winning by a margin of about 10 seconds over Walter Schafer (15:20 to 15:30). Roblet Muhudin would finish in third another 15 seconds back.
Schafer would take home some extra consolation, however. His Cherry Creek teammates ran exceptionally well on the day, well enough to win the team title by 20 points over second-place Regis (led by 4th and 5th-place finishes, respectively, by Bobby and Danny Nicolls). Following an all-too familiar theme, the entire margin of victory for Cherry Creek, plus a point, was earned on the fifth scorer. Third place in the 5A team race turned out to be a mild surprise as Coronado slipped by Dakota Ridge. The Cougars were led Dusty Solis in seventh.
Photo Album (several races missing because coaching comes before taking pictures for me--will try to get albums from other photographers posted in the next few days)