Those Stacked Open Races
Normally, Open races don't come in for a lot of coverage, but it's tough to ignore them this time around. You see, Coronado, Fort Morgan, and Pueblo West all brought teams to the meet but ended up racing entirely in the open division races.
Whether it was pacing, a home football game to get to, or whatever the reason they didn't care to be part of the varsity races late in the afternoon. A handful of local small schools joined them, keeping all their athletes in the open races as well.
This, of course, had the net effect of making the open races a good bit more competitive than they would normally be.
Pueblo West built a wall (though it's unclear who paid for the wall) at the front of the girls JV race early and rode that early momentum to a 1-2-3-11-17 finish for the team title. Fort Morgan, despite spotting Pueblo West a big early lead in the scoring, nearly came back to nip the Cyclones, finishing with 38 points to 34 for Pueblo West.
Coronado, though running a loaded roster, never became a factor in the team battle. The Cougars were content to fall in behind, some well behind, Alison Ambuul at 18:14. I'm really not sure what it all means for Coronado, but perhaps we'll know soon enough.
Meanwhile, after pacing early with her teammates, Pueblo West's MaLeigha Menegatti--she of 300 hurdle fame in the spring--took a remarkably easy 15:48 win.
Pueblo West also overwhelmed the field in the open boys race. Bryce Shirley started things off right with a win in 13:26, nearly a half-minute ahead of second.
Team-wise, Rampart's B team came closest to upsetting the Pueblo West applecart with 42 points to PW's 22. And it certainly didn't feel any closer than that. Fort Morgan ran a distant third. Meanwhile, the small schools mostly struggled to field complete teams--even if they were running everyone in the open race.