Masks. Space. Staggered starts. 100 (total) runners. 

Yeah. 

Cross country sure looks a little different, but hey - we're back!

It became evident pretty early on when scanning the (many) results from the weekend that everyone is excited to be back on the course, because there were a ridiculous amount of incredible performances across the state. I'll try to highlight as best as I can, but just a heads up - you might need more than one cup of coffee to get through this recap...

Where to start?

We'll head west...

On the Western Slope the meet of the weekend had to be the Warrior Matchett Invitational in Grand Junction. The two-day meet provided the state with some of the fastest times of the weekend. 

Leading the way for the boys was McGinley Zastrow, who clearly made The Jump. Zastrow not only broke 16 for the first time, but he ran a 36-second personal best for a state-leading time of 15:40. The Fruita-Monument senior also won Saturday's race by 37-seconds. 

To add some context to this already impressive result - Zastrow hasn't ever qualified for the state cross country meet. Currently he's the fastest runner in 5A (and all-classifications.)

A day earlier Sullivan Middaugh ran 16:27 on the same course.

It should be noted that Friday's races were run in the heat of the evening, however, and Saturday's races were run early in the morning. When scanning all the races, it's clear that Saturday morning was fast.

In Friday's heat Battle Mountain's Elliot Pribramsky led Battle Mountain to a 1-2-3-4 finish, running 19:04 - a 41-second victory. 

The next morning Eagle Valley's Samantha Blair brought the fire to her season-opener, running the second-fastest time in the state. Blair torched the course in 17:20 - and she brought a few more under 18 with her.

Zastrow isn't the only runner from Fruita-Monument who made The Jump over the summer - Jadyn Heil dropped over a minute off her PR to finish second here in 17:39. A year ago she was 22nd at the 5A state championships. Today she's the third-fastest in 5A, and fourth in all-classifications.

And insert that Opra meme here, because PRs were plentiful Saturday morning - Ella Johnson dropped 10 seconds from her PR. The Glenwood Springs junior ran 17:48 to finish third.

Sticking with the theme of PRs, cue Ryan Montera.

The Legacy senior came out swinging on his senior year, running a 14-second Colorado PR of 15:41 to win the Northfield-Legacy Dual. The time is currently the second-fastest time in all-classifications. Ian Kleinschmidt took the runner-up position there, running 16:07 - that's currently the fastest time in 4A.

There looks to be a new star in 2A...

Kidus Begashaw has one race on his MileSplit resume, and that's his 15:59 season-opener from the Adams City Varsity Race #1 this past weekend - that's currently the third-fastest time in all-classifications. The Lotus School for Excellence senior torched the field with a 26-second victory. 

Emma Stutzman won the girl's side of the race by running away from the field. The Pomona sophomore opened her 2020 season with an 18:41 clocking for a 33-second victory over Peak to Peak's Allison Beasley. Beasley's 19:14 is currently the fastest time in 3A.

There was another real burner of a race this weekend, and that was at the Centennial League Mullen Invite. 

Grandview's Peter Fox made The Jump, running away with a dominating 16:02 victory. The time was nearly a half-minute Colorado PR. 

On the girl's side of the race it could sort of be considered Pre-State for 5A - four of last tear's top-eight finishers from the state meet toed the the line, and the top three teams from the state meet. 

Riley Stewart picked up where she left off, dropping a state-leading 17:18 runaway victory. Adding the - cherry - on top for the day was the fact that Cherry Creek turned the tables on last year's state champs - Arapahoe - beating them by six points, 30-36. 

You know what, if you want to read more into how all that fun played out, just read the recap: HERE.

As mentioned way, way up in this article, there was a ton of action, and all the words between then and now were just the highlights of the highlights.

Happy Monday!