The dust is still settling - and will be for a few more days until the committee decides who gets an At-Large berth for nationals. 

But for now, we can take another look back at that Big Saturday in Arizona...

Who's got the Automatic qualifier to Nationals?

Already off the bat, Colorado has two teams who earned an automatic qualifier for Nike Cross Nationals - Mountain Vista finished second on the boy's side, while the Valor Christian girls stunned the Southwest region with runner-up finish on the girl's side. 

The Mountain Vista boys turned the tables with a big-time run to finish second. Harrison Witt had a great day to lead the team to a stellar 37-second 1-5 split, and an average of 15:33. 

They were on the radar heading into Arizona, but they clearly stepped up Saturday morning. 

On the other side of the spectrum, wow Valor... 

The Valor Christian girls were sort of on some peoples radar... Arapahoe stunned Colorado at State, but Valor achieved the same feat - but across the entire Southwest region. 

They were ranked 10th heading into the meet, but had the additions of Lanie Szuch and Isabella Prosceno for the first time this season. Even with the duo in the lineup, Valor ran great across the board to stun everyone - they had a 18:06 average, and a 1-5 split of 1:02. Szuch led the squad with an impressive 17:32 seventh place finish. 

Sixth at State, second at NXR-Southwest...

Individually, Riley Stewart did what she's done all season long - win. Stewart dominated the field over the final mile to run a new personal best of 17:03. Samantha Blair and Cameron McConnell will be joining Stewart in Portland, as they nabbed third and fifth place finishes, running 17:19 and 17:20, which earned automatic qualifiers as well. 

Cole Sprout successfully defended his title with a 14:41 clocking, and like last year, he's headed to Portland with a handful of Colorado runners. On that note... Colorado stacked six of the top seven places, proving that this is one insanely high-quality/quantity state. 

Had the states been scored, the Colorado boys would've set everyone's pencils down before the clock hit 15 minutes - really.

Cruz Culpepper, Connor Ohlson, and Dylan Schubert went 3-4-5 to nab automatic-qualifiers, running 14:54, 14:55, and 14:58, and they might, *might* be joined by one more individual...

Still Alive, But Waiting/Hoping For That At-Large Berth... 

Colorado will be represented at Nationals with two teams, and seven individuals, though that number could (should) go up...

Niwot and Cherry Creek took the third and fourth spots in the girl's team race, which keeps them alive, but with no guarantees. What helps Niwot is that a third-place finish gets the first "Look." Add that they dominated nearly every race they competed in this season without Lucca Fulkerson, which included a perfect 15-point victory at regionals, and a dominating 4A state title. 

Oh yeah, and last year they finished third at NXR-Southwest, got an At-Large berth, and went on to lead the Southwest region with a fifth-place finish at Nationals... 

Cherry Creek has a tougher road of the two, but they're still alive. Similar to Niwot, they had some impressive wins during the season (regional victory over Arapahoe and Cherokee Trail), and a runner-up finish at state to Arapahoe. 

Both squads were consistently ranked within the Top 25 nationally, so both squads do rationally have a shot of heading to Portland next week.

For the boy's, Dakota Ridge will be waiting in anticipation until the announcement as well, as they finished third this year. But like Niwot, they've got a lot of reason to be hopeful for an At-Large bid.

Their season-resume includes a one-point runner-up finish to NXN auto-qualifier Mountain Vista at Pat Patten, but they turned the tables on their friendly 470 rival when it mattered the most - region and state. Dakota Ridge trounced Mountain Vista by 41 points at regions, and then again at State - this time by over 50 points. These key victories, and their consistently high national ranking should earn them that At-Large Berth, but for the time being, we'll all have to wait and see.

Oh yeah, and they did finish third at Nationals last year - surpassing every previous ranking of their squad before the day. 

And if there's anyone who's got to be rooting hard for Dakota Ridge right now, it's Gateway's Yasin Sado. The Gateway senior finished sixth overall in 14:58.43 - less than a half-a-second behind Schubert's auto-qualifier of 14:58.01. 

If Dakota Ridge gets an At-Large berth, Ohlson gets taken out of the individual qualifiers, leaving a spot open for Sado. 

Win/Win.

And in the Oh-So-Close category, Parker Wolfe was just a few tenths of a second behind Sado, running 14:58.87 to finish seventh. In other words: seven boys broke 15, and it took 14:58.01 to qualify - automatically. 

On a brighter note - Wolfe is the top-returner for next year's race...

And likewise for the girls, but not just as teeth-clenchingly close - Sierra Bower. The Basalt junior was in the lead pack for much of the race before fading in the final mile to finish 10th. But even when taking out individuals on teams, Bower sits just outside that top-five looking in.

Though, talk about an honorable run...