Cheyenne Mountain's Mitch Kasyon barrels toward the finish line with an extra load of frost in his hair. Photos by Alan Versaw.
At the end of the morning, Falcon High School cross country coach Cam Magnall had the look of relief on his countenance.
He hadn't planned on the meet coming off like this--several miles of black ice leading to the venue, temperatures hovering in the 20s all morning long with intermittent freezing rain, winds picking up to between 10 and 20 miles per hour during the races, more than half of the schools that signed up for the meet backing out due to the difficult conditions, a 40-minute delay getting the first race underway, and a frozen timing device during the boys race.
Still, the folks at Falcon High School pulled it off. Despite the fact that it was the coldest I've been in 10 years of coaching cross country, I have to admit that the conditions made it a more interesting meet than most.
Conditions were almost tolerable for the boys varsity race, delayed 40 minutes by the travel difficulties Niwot High School experienced on their way to the meet. At race time, the precipitation had stopped and winds were calm. Taking advantage of the comparatively tropical conditions that would accompany none of the morning's other races, Cheyenne Mountain's boys went for the jugular.
A 1-2-6-7-16 finish was more than any other the other teams could match. Mitch Kasyon and Postyn Smith took the top two places with times of 17:32 and 17:44. Not spectacular times for either, but good enough given the cold conditions and gently rolling nature of the course. Apart from a couple of street crossings, the course was devoid of hard surfaces.
Ridgeview Academy cruised to an easy second place with 51 points. All of Niwot's boys entries ran in the JV race indicating, perhaps, that they felt they didn't have adequate time to warm up for the varsity race after a late arrival (Niwot was dominant in the boys JV race). David Perry was not in uniform for Niwot.
By the start of the girls varsity race, the southeast wind was picking up momentum, precipitation was resuming, and the thermometer was inching southward again. Spectators took whatever cover they could, which was mostly very minimal--the open prairie surrounding Falcon High School is not an especially hospitable place under these conditions.
Niwot's Kaiti Shepherd owned the early portion of the race but was eventually overtaken by Cheyenne Mountain's Dani Grossman. Once Grossman took over the lead, she opened a gap of nearly 20 seconds over the final mile, finishing in 20:37. Teammate Kali Maxwell was third in 21:03.
Niwot's Kaiti Shepherd maintained control of the race until about two miles...
But Dani Grossman was unchallenged at the finish.
Cheyenne Mountain's 26-point team total easily bettered second-place Niwot's score of 71.
The JV races were an exercise in endurance. "Spartan" barely begins to describe the conditions.
It could have been worse, however. At least the contestants in the JV cross country races weren't involved in a contest as lopsided as the JV football game also contested at Falcon HS this morning. Of course, football has a mercy rule in Colorado....
Results, Video, and More Photos
