Arvada West conquers
Dominic Danborn's fourth would be the first step in an Arvada West team triumph.
Todd and Della Moore have smooth-running machine in place at Arvada West. Their teams have an established history of running well--and running just as well late in the season as early.
So, it didn't came as an enormous surprise when the purple-clad Wildcats started showing up toward the front of the field. Dominic Danborn was the first Wildcat to finish in 16:06. He was fourth. Behind him came Gabe Schultz and David Rhoades, both under 17 minutes. Next in were Max Link and Logan Deison, and the Wildcats were done scoring.
The Wildcats beat everyone in the field by at least four of five scoring places. That usually leads to a decisive margin of victory, and this time was no exception. A West's 73 points beat the second-place team by 38 points. The 5A #10 ranked Wildcats held their ground well.
One of the points of interest of the meet, however, was the collision of ranked 3A boys programs converging on the meet. #2-ranked SkyView Academy, #5-ranked The Classical Academy, and #6-ranked Colorado Academy (a bit of a newcomer on the 3A rankings scene) were each in attendance. Better still, they occupied consecutive spots on the starting line. There would be no avoiding one another at this meet.
TCA took the top individual spot in the scoring as Mason Norman scooted out into the lead before even the field took the hard right turn a couple hundred meters into the race. Norman led wire-to-wire and would never be seriously threatened at 15:41. It's not necessarily easy maintaining a steady gap when running by yourself, but Norman managed it well enough to claim the win.
So far as the 3A battle was concerned, SkyView Academy sophomore Owen Nolan was the next person of concern. Nolan managed a steady race throughout and finished seventh at 16:33.
A strong presence for Colorado Academy toward the front of the race early faded later in the race. Walt Jones would end up leading the Mustangs at 29th in 17:42.
So the battle would come down between SVA and TCA. SkyView Academy moved to the fore when Will Scavuzzo crossed in 17:06. Nathaniel Brim brought TCA back into the picture at 17:23, but the Hawks were not long in answering with Ibrohim Nosirov at 17:36. The Titans, however, closed the door with a quick flurry of Adam Ambuul at 17:42, Chandler Wilburn at 17:43, and Ryan Flaherty at 17:44.
The final tally had TCA with 111 and SkyView Academy with 136. Sneaking between them in the team scoring was Ralston Valley with 134. Cole Nash of Chatfield took second individually at 15:46 and Will Daley third at 15:48.
Next Page: A clash of Titans and Angels