Mountain Vista came, saw, and conquered.
Green singlets lined the front of the race through the early miles - and they weren't all Mountain Vista green.
Summit's Max Bonenberger took the early pacing duties and was flanked by the Mountain Mountain Vista trio of Seth Rouse, Jack O'Sullivan, and Harrison Witt, Monarch's Luke Johnson, and Summit teammate Jeremiah Vaille.
The rolling hills and altitude clearly took their toll on the pack, which rapidly thinned out during the second mile.
When the leaders cruised through the field to head into Lap 2, the race had dwindled down to four: Rouse, O'Sullivan, Witt, and Johnson nipping at their heels.
Heading into the final mile the odds looked ever in the favor of someone from Vista Nation claiming the title - but who?
When a green singlet came storming out from the trees, it was Witt, who went on to lead Vista Nation for the second week in a row.
Witt's powerful stride took him off and away down the final straight with Rouse and O'Sullivan in chase. Witt cruised across the finish line in 16:51 for the win, which was just three seconds ahead of Rouse's 16:54, and six ahead of O'Sullivan's 16:57.
Johnson stopped the green-singlet-only finishing with a fourth-place finish in 17:00. Mountain Vista made it four in the top five with Davis Helmerich's 17:12, and closed out their scoring with Jayden Nats' 10th-place finish.
Vista Nation tallied a jaw-dropping 21 points to take the team title. Monarch took the runner-up spot with 71 points, just ahead of Summit, who finished third with 78 points. Battle Mountain was a close fourth with 84 points.
Of additional note, 3A No. 3 Frontier Academy went stride-for-stride with the big schools, finishing fifth. Leading them was Jaden Davis, who finished 20th in the stacked field.
