Skyview's Jack Lee craned his neck one last time as he rounded the corner just before the three-mile mark and surely he knew the race was his. The junior traversed the course at Fehringer Ranch in 17:15 and built a 23 second lead in the process to claim the 3A Region 5 title.
Lee made his move just after the one mile mark when he finally was free of the three-wide trail. While the trail hindered him in the beginning, it certainly gave him enough energy to work a bit harder in the latter parts of the race.
Lee was the lone Skyhawk on the course this afternoon and with the win, punched his ticket to the CHSAA State Championships next weekend.
Now back to the action.
Benedict Siegel (Machebuf) was in second place in 17:38 with Joshua Judson (Fatih Christian) in third just two seconds back of him in 17:40. Then it was Bradley Troyer (Colorado Academy), the other individual qualifier, edging Paul Sri (Machebuf), 5th, for 4th place in 17:51.2 to 17:51.9.
The battle for 6-7-8 ultimately shaped the team race as Zach Morris (Faith Christian) took home the photo finish for 6th over Kent Denver's Alex Barker (7th, 17.56.1) and Jonathan Bennett (8th, 17.56.2). Sebastian Buelter (9th, 18:02) was Faith Christian's third scorer with teammate Alex Bepristis (18:35) two spots back in 11th with Colorado Academy's Toren Knepper (18:04) sandwiched between the two in 10th.
More importantly, Faith Christian had four runners in before Kent Denver had three.
Kent Denver's Connor Capoot (12th, 18:42), Bailey Thomas (14th, 18:55), and Charlie Halverson (17th, 19:10) all finished inside the top-20 but they weren't fully rewarded for their efforts as they came up short with 53 points. Faith Christian took home the team title with 51 points, giving them a win in their first season in a new region.
Not to be forgotten, Machebeuf edged out Colorado Academy by just two points as well, 64 to 66, giving them the nod to head to the CHSAA State Championships next weekend along with Faith Christian and Kent Denver.
It was more of the same on the girl's side of things as Audrey Orstead paced the way in a time of 19:15. A full minute and some change ahead of her teammate Katherine Heekin (20:16). Those two set the tone to a really strong team performance as they placed their five in the first 12 runners. Kaylie Bookout (20:35) was sixth, Madi Eggers (21:12) was ninth and Anna MacPhee (21:14) capped the scoring in 12th.
They finished with 30 points and took home the team title with relative ease as Kent Denver finished in 2nd in a tight race with D'Evelyn, 62 points to 65. Kent Denver had girls finish in the 8-10-11-15-18 spots while D'Evelyn went 4-7-13-17-24.
Hana Husmann of St. Mary's academy was the first individual qualifier as she finished third in 20:22. Emma Kjellsen (D'Evelyn) ran 20:33 and was the fourth-place finisher with Gema Hernandez (Machebuf), the second individual qualifier, in fifth-place just two seconds back in 20:35.
Rounding out the top-10 was Bookout (sixth), Sonja Morin (D'Evelyn), Bricin Mahoney (Kent Denver), Eggers (9th), and Claire Murphy (Kent Denver).