No, he didn't shorten the course. But, he did Shorten the course. As did his sister.
It was actually quite a day for the brother-sister tandem from Mountain View. Freshman Kiera Shorten was the setup act. After holding second for much of the race, she eventually gave way to Kennedy McDonald of The Classical Academy and "settled" for a third-place finish of 19:06.
And, you know, that's not bad for a first-ever high school race. It was a shame, though, that she had no teammates to function as a supporting cast. Mountain View was four solid runners away from a very good girls team today.
But, the job that Kiera started, Jackson finished.
Jackson Shorten brooked no rivals from the beginning. He seemingly increased his lead with every stride. In fact, forget the "seemingly" part of that. By the end of the race, he had clocked a nifty 15:32 to take a win of nearly a full minute over TCA's Chandler Wilburn. Wilburn's 16:31 was scarcely a poor effort. It just didn't keep pace with Shorten.
This time, there was a supporting cast for Mountain View. It just wasn't nearly enough to hang onto the lead Shorten gave them.
Lukas Schneider finished eighth, but he was the lone other Mountain Lion in the top 10.
Of the six places behind Shorten, five belonged to The Classical Academy. After Wilburn, in close succession, it was Matthew Edwards, then Nathaniel Brim, then Gerasimos Kavvadas of Thompson Valley, then Ryan Flaherty, and then Will Moore. TCA's 22 points dominated the team scoring.
TCA's domination of the girls race was nearly as complete. Sawyer Wilson led essentially wire to wire. Her finishing time of 18:44 was 16 seconds up on McDonald. The Titans completed their team scoring with Cassidy McDonald in seventh, Sophia Valentine in eighth, and Kyra Shaner in ninth. Their 24 team points were well in front of Thompson Valley's 57.
Conditions throughout the afternoon into early evening were as ideal as August ever gets for racing. A light rain fell through much of the the two races--coming and going as it pleased, but never creating an issue for racing. Overcast conditions prevailed, and the wind remained minimal.