TCA Wins the Battle; Eagle Valley Wins the War
With Soroco's Ben Kelley in civvies for this meet, it was an open question who the pre-race favorite might be.
Henry Barth and Gavin Harden of Glenwood Springs were both certainly a part of that conversation. Rangely's Patrick Scoggins is a perpetual nomination for those kind of honors at meets in western Colorado. Eagle Valley's own Jack Neifert has been developing some running prowess of his own when not pole vaulting. And TCA was bringing over a couple of contenders in Ryan Moen and Mason Norman.
It was a odd mix of contenders, one where most of the top individuals had little to no experience with most of the rest.
And so, the early stages of the race became something of a measuring out process. Who would take the lead, and how aggressively would he push the pace?
Barth was well back in the field and never became part of the story of the race. Neifert was content to let others push the pace early while he waited to make his move later in the race. Scoggins held true to his pattern of sitting just off the lead and dialing in his burn rate at just a tick lower than those setting the pace.
That left Harden, Moen, and Norman to set the early pace. And so they did. The first mile, which is arguably the toughest part of the course, clipped off in about 5:20.
At that point, though, Moen and Norman made a break. Over the next mile, and especially over the long, gradual uphill beginning at 1.5 miles, the pair fashioned a huge lead on the field, passing through two miles at just under 11 minutes, and picking up pace with the mostly downhill aspect of the last 1.1 miles still ahead of them.
As it turned out, Norman had a lot more gas left in the tank than Moen. Norman would pull away and take the win in 16:27. Moen would finish with a comfortable lead on the rest of the field in 16:51.
Harden and Scoggins would finish in third and fourth, respectively, while Palisade's Brody Bittner would produce what likely ranks as the top race of his high school career in fifth. It wasn't quite a PR for Bittner, but nobody is ever going to mistake this course for Delta's Confluence Park.
Neifert paved the way for the home team in sixth, followed by TCA's Nathan Bone in seventh.
At that point, the casual observer could be forgiven for imagining that TCA had things well in hand. But, if you came to that conclusion, you would have been wrong.
Shortly after Bone's finish, a wave of Devils came crashing to the shore: Aiden Branch in ninth, Bailey Beckum in 11th, Carter Baker in 13th, and John Papadapoulos in 18th. Like they owned the place, or something.
And still no fourth TCA Titan.
That would settle matters. Eagle Valley would win the team tally, 52 to 62, with Battle Mountain a more distant third.