A Cherry On Top For Wolfe, Stewart: The 5A State Recap

Riley Stewart took confident strides as she passed the mile with Cameron McConnell, and Emma Stutzman clinging to her heels. The Cherry Creek junior ran patiently, poised, and in control of the race. 

The only question was when she'd make a run for it. 

The defending state champ would save the throwing down of the hammer for the second mile, where she ran off into a world of her own, just like she has all season long. 

While repeating as a state champ was on her mind, so was wrapping up one point - because there was also a hotly contested team race on hand, but we'll come back to that. 

By the final mile Stewart was blazing a trail alone, and the variables began to melt away as it became all the more clear that she would indeed defend her title. The question shifted to how fast she'd run this time around. 

Just over 17 minutes after starting the race the Cherry Creek junior turned right into an empty Penrose Stadium and took powerful strides towards her second state cross country title. 


As she neared the finish line she raised her right arm with the No. 1 pointed upwards. The 2020 5A Colorado State Cross Country title was hers. 

And her time?

The fastest among all classifications on the day - a 17:33 clocking, and No. 3 all-time on the "New" Penrose course. 

The most-coveted of team tallies was in play for Cherry Creek, who now had one point to add to their overall tally. 


The race behind Stewart resembled what it had most of her season - Cherokee Trail's McConnell a clear No. 2, 27-seconds back in 18:00. 

McConnell successfully defended her runner-up finish from 2019.


Pomona's Stutman took one more step up on the hypothetical podium, having finished fourth last year. This year she held on to finish third in 18:09. 

Four seconds behind her the team race once again took focus - Arapahoe's Ava Mitchell kicked in to finish fourth in 18:13. 

With five nationally-ranked squads in this race alone, the team race was bound to be exciting.

Before the clock hit 18:42 it appeared that Cherry Creek, Arapahoe, and Valor Christian would battle this one out through all five runners. 

Cherry Creek took the first lead in the team race with Shelby Balding, who was the first No. 2 runner to cross, finishing fifth in 18:20. 

Valor jumped on the board with Taylor Whitfield and Brooke Wilson, who finished sixth and seventh, while Arapahoe's No. 2, Emily Lamontagne, finished eighth. 

Addison Price's 10th-place finish leaned the team race back in favor of Cherry Creek, as she was their third runner. 

The defending state champions, Arapahoe, countered four finishers later with Ava Escorcia, who finished 14th, and then the Blue Wave came crashing in. 

Addison Laughlin and Claire Semerod finished 17th and 18th, sealing Cherry Creek's scoring before anyone could get their fourth runner in. They even had six runners in before anyone else's No. 5. 

A year ago Cherry Creek and Arapahoe had to wait for the final tally to get word of who would be crowned state champions. Arapahoe took the title 69-99 over Cherry Creek that day.

This year Cherry Creek knew before the official tally that they had defeated Arapahoe. 

Cherry Creek would not be denied this year. They claimed the 5A State title with an impressive 42 points - a 40-point victory. 

Additionally they had 1-5 average of 18:30. 

Arapahoe tallied 82 points, which was just eight ahead of Valor Christian's 90. Mountain Vista took fourth with 103, while Cherokee Trail was fifth with 130.