Caleb Mann (Liberty)
Consistency is Caleb Mann's thing.
The Liberty senior raced a staggering 10 times in Colorado last fall, and of the 10 eight were sub-17 performances.
Mann opened his 2019 season with a PR - a 16:59, fourth-place finish in the 5A race at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede. Two weeks later he chopped nearly 45 seconds off that, running 16:13 at Liberty Bell.
He captured his best finish of the season a week later - a runner-up finish at the Air Academy Kadet Invitational, before finishing 11th at St. Vrain Invitational in 16:34. Connor Ohlson won that race in 15:40.
His performances over the coming weeks didn't really hint at what he'd do at State - though his consistency did shed light on someone destined for a breakthrough.
He finished seventh at the Colorado Springs Metro 4A/5A championships, then ninth at the 5A Region 5 championships.
And then he went beast-mode.
Mann ran himself into the top-10 on the right day - State - finishing eighth in 16:05 - 41seconds behind Ohlson.
James Thomas (Broomfield)
Broomfield's James Thomas was knocking on the door all fall last year - he placed in the top-four six out of eight races.
Thomas opened his 2019 season with a 16:40, third-place finish at the Wyoming Invitational. If we're taking out races at lower-elevations, that was a four-second PR for Thomas.
He backed that up with another PR - finishing second at the Centaurus Invitational in 16:26 a week later. A year before ran 18:11 here.
His first big test came in a loaded field in the 4A/5A race at St. Vrain, where he finished 13th in 16:40 - and then he got rolling.
Thomas dropped his PR in two consecutive weeks, running 16:10 at Thornton, finishing third, before cracking 16 for the first time at Pat Amato. He ran 15:49 to finish third there.
He tallied two more top-four finishes - a fourth place finish at the Front Range League Meet, and a third place finish at the 5A Region 3 championships.
Just over a week later Thomas toed the line in a senior-heavy state championship race, finishing 18th overall. He is the sixth-ranked returner this year.
Bonus: Henry Murphy (Fairview)
When scanning Henry Murphy's 2019 season, it's clear that his performance at state does not paint an accurate picture of his abilities.
Murphy opened his 2019 season with a solid 15:42, 14th-place finish at Liberty Bell. As impressive as the performance was at the time, he had bigger races ahead of him - that would come three weeks later.
The Fairview senior's most revealing performance came on his home course at the Pat Patten Invitational. In a race that saw Connor Ohlson drop a ridiculous 15:15 course record, Murphy's 15:29 runner-up finish was the third-fastest time on the course ever.
Additionally, he finished eight-seconds in front of Jacob White. (White would go on to finish sixth at State.)
Based on time, Murphy is the second-fastest returner in 5A.
Murphy backed that performance up with another runner-up finish - this time at the 5A Region 3 championships to Will Daley.
Just over a week later he endured a rare off-day, finishing 36th at State in 16:43. Ohlson finished second that day in 15:24.
Murphy did get redemption of sorts several weeks later at Team Regionals - he ran 15:17.