GJ Central's Ivory Espinoza Dominates Girls Race
Ivory Espinoza continued to dominate the 2017 Grand Valley race circuit, adding an Anna Banana title to her Central Warrior and Grand Junction Tiger wins earlier in the season. Coming off a nice 4th-place finish last week in Durango, Espinoza was ready get back to lower elevation.
At the gun, the Crested Butte pair of Sydney Petersen and Maria O'Neal went to the front to lead the race as it headed towards the lake. Espinoza soon settled into her pace .By the time she passed the first mile marker, she established the lead with Glenwood freshman Sophia Vigil trying to maintain contact 10 yards off. Behind Vigil, a pack consisting of the Crested Butte pair, Grand Junction's Mandy Moran, Soroco's Chloe Veilleux and Summit's Noelle Resignolo gave chase.
Espinoza continued to build her lead through the race and finished in her second fastest time of the season, 19:18.80.
Crossing the line 26 seconds later Peterson finished in second with Veilleux third. From here photographic evidence diverges a bit from the posted results. The photographic order shows O'Neal finishing closely behind Veilleux, followed by Vigil, Resignolo, Montrose's Kelsey Rycenga, and then Moore. The posted results have Moore in the 4th position. A Palisade freshman pair of Alexis Chelle and Rebecca Hittle rounded out the top ten, marking four freshmen amongst the leaders.
Strong team running earned the top honors for Summit with Glenwood Springs second.