Special to Colorado Track XC by Karen Birch
Colorado fared well as Boulder HS’s freshman, Sam Lewis (representing Fairchild Flyers), paced the youth girls in the 4k race, winning by 20 seconds in 16:03.8 over runner-up Liberty High School freshman Hannah Everson (Landsharks). Both have qualified for the USATF Junior Olympic Championships in Virginia on December 13 by placing in the top 20 in their age division. Discovery Canyon’s Allie Morgan (running unattached) also qualified by placing 10th. On the team side, Everson paced her Landshark’s team to a first place finish, likewise securing a spot at the Nationals (top 3 teams qualify in each division). The Youth Division is comprised of participants that were born in 94 & 95.
In the Youth Boys race, Regis’s Joshua Jenkins took 3rd overall in the 13/14 year old division by running 14:58.6 over the 4k course. Classical Academy’s Adam Avischious (Fr) aided his Landsharks to a team 3rd place by placing 18th overall. Zachary Motes (Highlands Ranch) also qualified for Nationals as a Landshark team participant, placing 37th.
The Intermediate boys' and girls' races were contested over a 5k course by participants that were born in 92 & 93. Colorado was well-represented in the girls’ race as Boulder’s Kelsey Lakowske (running for Fairchild Flyers) finished runner-up in 19:07.4, fully 38 seconds faster than the next finisher. Thunderridge’s Dominique Gerard (Zoom TC) finished fourth in 19:58.4. Rounding out the Colorado contingent qualifying for the national meet were: 7th place Anna Marshall (Pueblo West) and Discovery Canyon’s Janae Johnson finishing 17th.
Likewise in the Intermediate Boy’s race, Colorado runners comprised 3 of the top ten individual runners and Team USA Colorado finished 1st by placing it’s 5 scoring runners in the top 23 places. Silver Creek’s Nick Kadlec (running for Ric Rojas Running) finished 3rd in 17:03.0 with Pueblo West’s Michael Cernoia only 5 seconds back in 4th place. Arvada West’s Drew Ryther (Team Fartlek) finished 6th by outsprinting his nearest competitor. First Place Team USA had to compete without its top runner, Gabe Toepel (Brighton Academy), in good form. Toepel was almost sidelined by food poisoning from the night before and, though sick before, during and after the race, pushed himself to finish 23rd overall in the race. To Team USA Colorado’s credit, they still overtook the second place team by 10 points without their leading scorer. Qualifying for Nationals for Team USA are: Greeley West’s Evert Finger (14th) & Cameron McQueen (15th), Chatfield’s Andrew Ormsby (17th), GW’s Dillon Phillips (19th) & GW’s Tyler Nichols (28th).
Greeley West’s Kody Leach had a very solid performance representing Team USA Colorado by taking 4th overall in 16:32. Running for Kryptonite Speed, Highland Ranch’s Garrett Wilson placed 6th in 16:42. Rounding out Colorado’s National qualifiers is Chatfiield’s Alex Grover, placing 12th overall. The JO Young Men’s Division consists of youth that are born in 90 & 91.
Enviably, the course was located on the property of the Albuquerque Academy. It was extremely well marked, very spectator friendly and had only two minor hills. The challenge, however, was the amount of loose sand along the course which did not appear to slow down our very talented Colorado runners. Nice Bonus: Runner’s were greeted with a map-giving volunteer at Friday evening’s course walk.
Of the race, Cernoia commented that his race was going great until he felt his legs begin to tighten up, which he attributed to the many sand traps along the course. Likewise, Wilson liked the course, except for the sand. Toepel, though unavailable for comment, probably appreciated the absorption quality of the course, as did the runners that followed him. Ryther mainly commented on the "amazing race" that Toepel had despite being sick and vowed to bring a sand shovel next time.
My sincere apologies if I happened to miss any of our Colorado High School runners. It’s amazing how difficult it its to recognize runners in their civilian and club garb. Please respond if I missed out, especially on any National qualifiers. Also, we have precious few pix from this race and would like to open a photo album. If available, send them to Coach Versaw for posting.
Lastly, NXN this upcoming weekend will most likely impact whether or not participants go to the National JO Championships in December. At this point Ryther and Toepel have given verbals that they will attend as well as members of the Intermediate Boys Team USA Colorado, whereas Wilson is undecided pending the outcome of NXN. If you are intending to compete in Virginia, drop us a line so we can look out for you there.