3A Metro League Meet

In case anyone was doubting Ryan Poland or the Faith Christian Eagles, both answered a lot of questions this week. Ryan Poland dominates the boys individual race to set up a state showdown with Amos Bowen. Faith Christian, running strong through #4 for the first time all season, dominated Holy Family and Colorado Academy and looks prepared to take on all challengers at the state meet.

Holy Family posts a convincing win on the girls side.

Centennial League Cross Country Meet

While things aren't exactly spinning out of control for Cherry Creek, the absence of Mark Choate hurts. On the other hand, having Matt Caldwell back looks to be just the fix for a struggling Smoky Hill team. Despite the rising and falling of the two traditional powers in their district, Cherokee Trail won the league title and is sailing on smoother seas at the moment. One final note of interest to the boys race: Roblet Muhudin is back and running pretty much just like the last time we saw him.

Cherry Creek's fortunes are swinging in the opposite direction for the girls. Clare Gallagher is back and the Bruins are on the prowl. And so, now we have yet another 5A girls contender.

Colorado Springs Metro League XC Meet

I hope to have complete individual results up by early in the week, but 5A winners Dusty Solis (Coronado, 15:54) and Heather Bates (Pine Creek, 18:49) posted convincing victories.

Palmer, a boys team that has been flying just under the radar all season long, gave Coronado a considerable scare in the 5A boys race, falling by a single point to the Cougars in the team standings. Rampart, perhaps laying off a little, was 29 points in arrears.

Castle View, led by titleist Chris Ganem (16:04), was an easy winner in 4A boys, and Cheyenne Mountain, led by titleist Dani Grossman (19:15) was an equally easy winner in 4A girls. 5A girls was also a rout as Pine Creek, placing three in the top seven, bested second-place Palmer by a score of 40 - 76.

Continental League Cross Country Championships

The Highlands Ranch girls are back--and apparently in a competitive mood. It's tough to answer a 1-3-5-7, and nobody in the Continental League could do it.

Speaking of  messages with meaning, the 1-2-3 that the Regis boys posted at the same meet went unanswered as well.

Denver Prep League XC Championships

In one of the week's first meets, Denver South swept the DPL titles, even with one of their three key boys out of the lineup. The boys took the top two places and the girls four of the top five. Next week, they take the show to 5A Region 2.

Eric Wolff Invitational

We're still awaiting individual results on this meet, but this much is known: Bayfield's Derek Laue wins the boys race in 16:42 on a flat, fast course (if anything at 7550 feet of elevation can be considered fast). Kelsey Corbin of Mancos continued her breakout season with a win in 20:19, far out of sight of the rest of the field. Pagosa, Bayfield, and Gunnison provided no definitive clues as to which is the three holds the upper hand going into the regional girls contest next week. Expect that one to be tight once again.

Front Range Conference XC Meet

Boulder vs. Fort Collins, round II. The results were much the same as the first time these two powers met in Boulder on opening weekend. Rachel Viger (who did not run on opening weekend) split the 1-2 tandem of Lakowske and Lewis for Boulder this time and, once again, Fort Collins prevailed with better times at the 3, 4, and 5 positions.

For the boys, this one should be a wake-up call for a few people. Fort Collins boys are running better than their reputation all year has suggested. Maybe this is the week Fort Collins breaks into the 5A rankings? While Fort Collins emerged on top in the team race, Fairview had a very nice 1-2 finish from John Coats and Lewis Commons.  Loveland, Fairview, and Fort Collins each finished within five points of one another for the team title.

Jefferson County 4A/5A League XC Championships

Taylor Warren is back (though probably not quite yet at full speed) and the Evergreen girls juggernaut marches on. Maura O'Brien is proving herself a capable #2, at least for the time being. The Centaurus girls, however, looked the best they've looked all season and could be staging a serious run at a top-10 at state kind of finish.

In the 5A boys' race, Adam Sinda and Colin Brewster staged a sizzling duel over the final 200 meters.

 Sinda and Brewster, photo by Cliff Jurgens

The spoils in this round go to Sinda, but both have a lot to look forward to over the next two weeks.  Despite the drama up front, however, Dakota Ridge put together their best meet of the season to win the 5A boys title.

The 5A girls title went to Green Mountain and the 4A boys to Evergreen. Scott Fauble had yet another dominating race in winning the 4A boys individual title.

Patriot League Cross Country Meet

This was originally supposed to be a last week kind of meet, but ugly weather on Saturday pushed this one into Monday. With the meet moving from Longmont to Brush in the process, the Beetdiggers took advantage of an extra opportunity to run in front of the home crowd. It meant a win for the boys, led by Amos Bowen in 15:55, and a near-miss for the girls, who fell a mere five points short of topping Estes Park. This week's regional meet will pit almost all of the same teams together in another round.

Skyline League XC Championships

Running seven, Ridgeview Academy takes 7 of the top 10 places. Ridgeview has a history of struggling at the end of the season, but history does not seem to be repeating itself this year. This is one team that needs to be taken seriously at state.

South Central League Meet

If you were wondering about the Alamosa girls, wonder no more. Things seem to be very much back on track for the Mean Moose. And, while Pueblo West is a good team, they weren't even close in the team scores. Pueblo West's boys, on the other hand, were dominant in the boys' field, with Mike Cernoia edging Canon City's Tabor Stevens for the individual title.

Tri-Peaks League Cross Country Meet

The Salida boys prevail over TCA again. Josh Noriega and Lukas Garcia go 1-2, and Drew Johnson adds a fourth to bring home the school's first league title in a long, long time. TCA and Salida return to the site of the first round of this ongoing skirmish for this weekend's 3A Region 2 meet.

The girls results underwent a serious reshuffling of individual places when four of the top six finishers were disqualified for missing a short section of course. No team standings were impacted, however, as The Classical Academy posted a first and Salida a second. Kaitlin Hanenburg coasts to a meet title for the Titans.

Wiggins Cross Country Invitational

Most cross country programs in the state belong to a league. And most, but not all, leagues had a league meet this week. For everyone else, though, there is the Wiggins Invitational, and Wiggins coach Mario Garcia has seized the opportunity to make this into a fairly sizeable meet that draws from across the entire state.

This wasn't the first time this year that Amos Bowen of Brush has won two meets in a single week, but it's unusual to be see it done at this time of year. Nevertheless, he looked solid doing it. Second-place David Shearon of Battle Mountain was 59 seconds behind the blazing Beetdigger. Speaking of blazing, the 18:59 posted by Shearon's teammate Amelia Ortiz qualifies and was good enough for the girls title.

Team titles went to Brush (girls) and Fort Morgan (boys).