For the second time in as many years, Broomfield is making the trip to Portland. And, just like last year, they did it the hard way. Broomfield's seven of Ivy Gonzales, Madison Mooney, Katelyn Mitchem and Emily Mitchem, Laura Thompson, Vanessa Kort, and Sydney Swanker got to sit around for a week, still practicing, but only hoping that their name would be called to join the top teams in the nation for one more cross country meet.
On Saturday night, the call came. Broomfield was in.
Broomfield joins Battle Mountain and Mountain Vista as a Colorado delegation of three teams. They join Claremont of California, Blacksburg of Virginia, and Saratoga Springs of New York as the at-large bundle of four for this year's running of Nike Cross Nationals.
Last year as an at-large team, Broomfield battled to a seventh-place finish in Portland. That's a tall order to replicate this year, but nobody makes the trip to Portland to bring up the rear.