This spring, Kelley Robinson of Nederland added a 2A state 1600 title to her cross country title last fall. Photo by Alan Versaw.
To the casual observer, 2A Girls appears to be a gender and classification with a clear favorite.
Nederland, who dominated the state meet in 2008, returns all three scoring runners. Kelley Robinson, the individual state champion in 2A, is back, along with sister Kat Robinson (third), and teammate Rebecca Hermann (fifth). It's not hard to see why the Panthers are marked as the team to beat.
Anyone figuring that the 2A girls state title is already a done deal, however, is advised to think again.
Crested Butte was the main competition last year, although #2 runner Madison Garcia has graduated. Erin Kelly had a fine track season for the Titans, including winning the state 3200 by over half a minute, but she will need some help from her teammates if Crested Butte is to be in a position to make a run at Nederland.
Behind Nederland and Crested Butte is a tightly-packed group of teams, each one of which could be just a single top runner away from making a serious bid for the title.
Rocky Ford returns Brooke Grissom and Jessika Kienitz for a powerful 1-2 punch in the lineup. The specter of Jessika Kienitz splitting time with softball remains, but the Meloneers should be competitive.
Mancos returns its entire scoring lineup, led by junior Kelsey Corbin. The Blue Jays were a vastly improved team in '08 and another year of similar improvement could shake the world of 2A cross country.
Shining Mountain Waldorf may have been the biggest surprise of '08, however. Assuming that sophomore Birdie Hutton runs for SWM, they figure to be an improved team again this fall and very possibly a serious contender for the title.
Both Limon and Vanguard return their entire state lineups. Both teams will be heavily senior-laden, marking this as the year to get it done before the rebuilding process sets in.
The individual race should look much the same as last year. Of last year's state medalists, only Madison Garcia does not return. That doesn't leave a whole lot of room for new faces on the awards podium.
Based on track season performances, Birdie Hutton figures to be the most improved among last year's medalists, maybe even enough so to give Kelley Robinson a run for the title.
Leading contenders for medalist positions not already mentioned in the team summaries include Nicole O'Dwyer and Meg Bontrager of Limon, Valerie Stark of Custer County, Josephine Bush of Telluride, Kelly Lamb of Creede, Chelsea Kilgore of Vanguard, and Monica Kinsella of Crested Butte.
The most telling meet of the invitational season should once again be the Limon Invitational, to be held on October 3rd this year. Expect to see Nederland, Limon, Rocky Ford, and Vanguard on the starting line if trends from previous years stay true. Based on the meet's reputation for drawing the top small-school programs, one or two more of the contending teams just might put in an appearance there as well. Should any western slope meet bring Crested Butte and Mancos together for a showdown, that one will be worth a little extra attention.