2020 may have been an odd year, but that didn't slow down any teams from the Centennial State.
In a year without Team Nationals, Colorado had three boy's teams ranked in the Top-25 nationally.
Or even better - those three teams were ranked in the Top-14, and two were in the Top-9.
Leading the way were the 4A state champions - Niwot - who ended the season ranked No. 3 nationally.
For a historical comparison - they had fastest team average (15:55) of any team from the state meet in recent years - including the 2018 Dakota Ridge squad that finished third at NXN (they averaged 16:15 at State in 2018), and the 2019 Dakota Ridge squad that seventh at NXN last year (they averaged 16:07 at State), and Mountain Vista's 2017 third-place NXN squad (they averaged 16:08 at State.)
Niwot was second at the RunningLane XC Championships, behind US No. 2 American Fork.
Right behind them were the Colorado 5A state champions - Mountain Vista, who finished third at RunningLane.
Mountain Vista capped their season ranked No. 9 nationally, which was just ahead of 4A runner-ups, Cheyenne Mountain, who were ranked No. 14 nationally.
Cheyenne Mountain had the second-fastest 1-5 average among all classifications from the state meet with a 16:13 - just ahead of the 2018 Dakota Ridge squad.
Most years having one boy's team ranked in the top-10, or even the top-15 is impressive. This year Colorado had three. For that, collectively, Niwot, Mountain Vista, and Cheyenne Mountain make for the No. 5 story of 2020.