Palmer's Andrew Goodman turns up the heat in the final stages of the Widefield Invitational, overhauling Pueblo West's Mike Cernoia. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Here is a quick look at the highlights of the last week of cross country in Colorado.
Last Week in Review
Aurora City XC Championships
The story here centers around the fact that Regis Jesuit held out their top guns at this meet. Smoky Hill also held out Matt Caldwell and the meet promptly lost a lot of its lustre. For a meet already taken down a notch or two in prestige, it didn't help to have Alex Dillenbeck go down with an apparent calf injury at about two miles. Even without Dillenback, however, Cherokee Trail went on to a relatively easy victory, despite ceding the top two places to Smoky Hill.
Rikki Gonzales of Rangeview was an easy winner of the girls race, with only Grandview's Jamie Anderson in sight at the end. The Smoky Hill girls prevailed in the team standings.
Bayfield Cross Country Invitational
Small school kids rock. The top individual finishers in this meet, Ty Williams of Telluride and Kelsey Corbin of Mancos, should be two of the star attractions at the 2A State Meet in October. Team titles went to New Mexico schools, though word Durango was not exactly running a fully loaded lineup.
Canon City Cross Country Invitational
Bears exacted a 10% tax on this meet, leaving the teams with only a 4.5K where they came expecting a 5K. Call it the "Bear Tithe" or "Decimated by Yogi." As of this moment, Tabor Stevens (Canon City) and Stephanie Davidson (Pueblo South) are the state's top-ranked 4.5K runners. Pueblo South looks strong on both the boys and girls side of the ledger.
Centaurus Cross Country Invitational
If you haven't been thinking of Pomona as a top-tier 5A program, you need to have some thoughts starting to wander in that direction. Adam Sinda and crew and lighting things up and it's a nice resurgence of Arvada-area cross country which hasn't had much to cheer about since Steven Weeks.
On the girls side, Evergreen is continuing it's tear through the season. Bryn Haebe won a few races last season, but she's doing it with more authority this year, this time taking down Fairview's highly-regarded Kristin Narum. This is a team worth watching. And, the Loveland girls don't look too bad, either.
National Elite Performances
Cherry Creek Cross Country Invitational
The big news out of this meet is Scott Fauble of Wheat Ridge upsetting Cherry Creek's Walter Scafer at the latter's home invitational. Fauble has been the person to beat in 4A up to this point. Another performance like this and he gets promoted to person to beat, period. Creek still wins the team title, however.
Fort Collins makes another major statement on the girls side, this time winning (easily) without either Rachel Viger or Kirstin Follett in the lineup. Chris Suppes has a couple of very talented freshmen who are making life miserable for other schools.
National Elite Performances
Grand Junction Central XC Invitational
Moffat County looks more or more like a juggernaut every week, this time sweeping both team titles over the western slope's large-school programs, sans Durango. Maddy Jourgensen, Brandi Krieg, and Kelsey Slauson run away from the rest of the girls field.
Hawk Classic Cross Country Invite
Poudre girls? Why not? Fort Collins is but one corner of the Bermuda Triangle of girls cross country in Colorado. No place in the state has the same density of strong programs as the Ft. Collins/Loveland/Greeley area. Poudre might as well be in on the act.
On the boys' side, Ridgeview Academy turns in a very impressive performance. If they can hold this together, they just might figure in the 4A boys title race.
Ryan Poland is a certified contender for the 3A boys title, but he has company (see the St. Vrain Invitational).
Lake County Invitational
Green Mountain hears the echoes of many years and great cross country teams gone by. Though the field at this meet is much diminished from its former glory, it never feels bad to win a meet and Green Mountain posted wins in both the boys and girls races.
Salida individuals make strong statements in the small school races. Frank Mencin, former Lake County cross country coach, serves as the race starter.
Longhorn Cross Country Invitational
Some of the news here lies in who doesn't appear in the results. Conspicuously absent from the Basalt lineup was Chiara Del Piccolo. We wish here well and trust that the absence is merely temporary (something like spending the morning taking the ACT?). In Del Piccolo's absence, Johanna Reed of Hotchkiss cruises to an easy win.
Pueblo East Coach's Tribute
At this point, the only information I can provide on this meet is a report of the top 20 girls, dominated as they are by the top three runners from Discovery Canyon.
National Elite Performances
Renaissance Run
The Highlands Ranch girls take another 1-2-3 sweep. If they can do it again at Liberty Bell this week, they should be the toast of south Denver. Ian Penn of Liberty takes the boys title on this challenging course.
National Elite Performances
Silver Moon Relays
Four or five hours of pouring rain does little to dampen the spirits of the participants. Cheyenne Mountain, the host school, takes home the honors. Everyone is still drying out.
Coverage
St. Vrain Cross Country Invitational
See Coverage, below.
National Elite Performances
Coverage
Sylvan Dale Invitational
Greeley West (boys) and Thompson Valley (girls) try to get respective their seasons on track after frustrating opening weekend performances. Rocky Mountain blocks both teams from taking titles. The Vista Ridge girls keep edging closer to being on everyone's 4A radar screen.
Widefield Cross Country Invitational
Palmer's boys make as serious of a statement as you can make at a mid-level invitational. Battling long hills and extensive sections of grass, the Terrors beat second-place Pueblo West (a legitimate 4A contender) by 52 points. Andrew Goodman adds an exclamation point by beating Mike Cernoia at the end of the race (see cover photo). Times were unspectacular due to the challenging terrain of the course.
Pine Creek's girls continue to make the case for legitimacy, this time without Ruth-Ann Hadjis in the lineup. It's going to be a tough year to reach the top in 5A girls, but Pine Creek is fielding their best team ever, led by freshman Heater Bates.
Coverage
Photo Album
Palmer's Andrew Goodman turns up the heat in the final stages of the Widefield Invitational, overhauling Pueblo West's Mike Cernoia. Photo by Alan Versaw.