More Pages In The Book
A state title over last year's third-place finisher at NXN turned heads across the Southwest region, and across the country. In the week's following their impressive state title Dakota Ridge climbed to the No. 8 spot in the MileSplit 50 National Rankings.
While they've run themselves onto the top of the podium in Colorado, now the Boys from the 'Ridge have reset their gaze on something much bigger: qualifying for Nationals.
"We had one day we didn't take things too seriously," Ohlson said. "Then we got back to what we've been doing."
Climbing to the top of the mountain only to find a few more ridges to traverse may seem daunting to some, but to Dakota Ridge, a squad who very literally trains along the ridges of Colorado's Front Range with mountainous views of the 14,000-foot peaks in the distance, they're just flowing with the tides of the season, knowing you can't come this far and not give it a go.
A top-two finish will give them an automatic berth to the NXN in Portland next month, though a third or fourth place finish will throw them into the hat for a potential All-Large berth.
Heading into Saturday's race Dakota Ridge sits No. 1 in the final Southwest Polls, just ahead of Mountain Vista and American Fork, though the squad from Utah (America Fork) sits No. 4 nationally, which means there will be a hotly contest battle for the top three spots.
"This weekend is going to be very competitive," Vancil admitted. "We know it's going to be an extremely hard race. We just have to keep doing what we've done all season."
Keeping to the script of not keeping to the script seems fitting. It's worked all season long, why not now?
"We're staying humble," Abrashoff said. "We're still the underdogs heading into NXR."
While Dakota Ridge entered the season as underdogs in the eyes of nearly everyone in Colorado, which is a state that's constantly churning out national-caliber athletes, they're maintaining their grip on their own talents and desires, which were the same ones that led them to their first state title in 12 years. And with keeping to that approach they hope to add a few more weeks to season, or hours to the day, by qualifying for Nationals.
The Hay Is In The Barn
The Boys from the 'Ridge came trickling in groups of twos and threes following a 15 minute cool down. A light banter filled the air while they cleared their mud-caked shoes from the day's effort.
The sun had pulled its warm rays back across the mountains to the west, leaving Colorado's Front Range in a soft blue hue. Denver's night life came alive in the distance, contrasting against the darkening sky with colorful bright lights.
Cold descended on the magical evening hour where the scent of dinner in the oven lingered in the air, while the squad made dinner plans of their own before heading home to pack for Thursday morning's flight. One by one they made their way to their cars in the vacant lot, students had gone home hours ago, but not the members of the Dakota Ridge cross country team.
There was still work to be done.
Vancil gripped his spike bag and called his mother. They spoke in fluent french. The words rolled off his tongue with ease, flowing like a river, like the team had all season long. Flow. His mastery of the language prompted the question of what his first language was.
"English," he chirped. "But my mother's French."
Fluent in both languages, Vancil could easily pass as a native to either the US, or France. The senior walked under the cover of darkness towards his car while his coach watched on. With everything behind them, the feeling was that they still have everything ahead of them.
The sun had set on this day, but not on Dakota Ridge's season, not yet.