Anna Banana Memorial Wildcat Invitational

Times were scorching at the Connected Lakes Park complex in Grand Junction. Woody Seagren and his Fruita-Monument teammates are looking better with each passing week. #10 ranked (4A) Vista Ridge makes the long trip over to Grand Junction and comes back with a team title.

Chicken Creek Challenge

Derek Laue of Bayfield continues his tour de force of southwestern Colorado. Although the times don't necessarily show it because they run on some pretty wicked courses in the San Juan Basin, pencil Mr. Laue in as someone to be considered when you start weighing favorites for the 3A boys title. Bayfield's boys (currently ranked #5) and the Mancos girls continue to impress.

Dave Sanders Invitational

As usual, this meet turned in a slew of fast times. Some of it is the competition. Some of it is the amount of hard surface. In any case, the Evergreen girls continue to make statements wherever they're seen. They are rapidly becoming prohibitive favorites for the 4A girls title. Coronado's boys put together their second straight team title and must be gaining confidence. It doesn't hurt that Dusty Solis is running well enough to give Scott Fauble a serious run for the individual title at this meet. The ThunderRidge girls deliver another convincing victory, this time with Dominique Gerard back in the lineup. While 5A girls is a seriously crowded field, expect ThunderRidge to be among the top teams at state.

Dave Sanders meet photos by Cliff Jurgens.

Horizon-Prairie View Runners Roost Invitational

Some runners will go to great lengths to try to avoid getting wet. Few succeed.

Photo by Cliff Jurgens.

The 16:30 Amos Bowen produced off of this course is a pretty remarkable achievement.

Limon Cross Country Invitational

The 2A boys race is shaping up to be eerily similar to last year's, only with Alexander Dawson playing the role of Wiggins this year. Dawson has a solid three, but, like Wiggins of last year, is struggling to compete with the top two from Rocky Ford. Rocky Ford once again could use a little more strength at #3. As good as Erin Kelly is looking for Crested Butte right now, nobody has an answer for the top three of Nederland. Wherever Nederland goes, they seem to mop up on the 2A competition. Mancos (not at the Limon meet) and Crested Butte look to be in contention for second.

Pikes Peak Invitational

It's difficult to read much out of this meet. Holy Family sweeps the small-school titles against rather small fields. The Ponderosa girls and Woodland Park boys win the large school titles but, once again, the fields are small. It appears many schools treated this one as a JV meet.

Saucony/TCA Titan Thunder Invitational

Salida looks very good on the big state. With their boys' performance on the day, they go on record as an official contender for the 3A title. Chaparral wins the boys race, but not without a contest from Fort Collins. 4A #3 Moffat County finishes third behind the two 5A programs. Among the girls, TCA and Fort Collins duke it out in an epic battle decided by a single point. Both programs have to be a little thankful they don't live in the other's classification. The main blemish on the day is that sickness wipes out the Pine Creek girls team, leaving them with a sub-varsity squad to run at this meet. The Discovery Canyon and Salida girls also look very good at a meet featuring several prominent 4A and 5A programs.

Chaparral's Keegan Vargo holds off David Garcia of Fort Collins with 500 meters to go. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Sweetheart XC Invitational

Loveland hosts a great one. Danny Nicolls collects his first meet title of the year--and maybe ever--in CHSAA competition. Teammate Brian Sokas finishes second to help lead Regis to a convincing win in Division 1 Boys. Loveland and Boulder go 2-3 in the team standings. Cheyenne Central stuns a Kelsey Lakowske-less Boulder team for the girls team title, despite the fact that Sam Lewis dominated the individual contest. Amos Bowen collects his second meet title of the week in Division 2, beating the top Division 1 time by five seconds in the process. Green River (WY) obliterates everyone else in the Division 2 boys field. Estes Park has an impressive win the the Division 2 girls race.

Thornton Cross Country Invitational

In case you didn't notice, Legacy's girls went 1-2-3 in this one and easily won the team title. You begin to understand how loaded 5A girls is this year when a team like Legacy gets no attention and little respect. They'll get their respect eventually, however. They are legit. Paul Peterson runs a nice race to win the boys individual title, but Thornton grabs the team title.