Colorado 2A Region 1 Cross Country

Meet director Jason Hubbard altered his course at the last minute to avoid some serious mud situations at the Salisbury Equestrain Park in Parker. It's hard to say what impact that may have had on the overall results, but Nederland's boys did pull off one of the bigger surprises of the weekend, beating Alexander Dawson by six points. Both teams qualify for state.

Nederland perfect-scored the girls race with six points. While it seems unlikely they can repeat the perfect score at state, they have marked themselves as the team to beat.

Colorado 2A Region 2 Cross Country

This regional also had a last-minute course change, only this time is was more a matter of snow than mud. Rocky Ford's boys advance to state easily, with Fountain Valley taking the other team slot. Plainview, however, will have a scoring team at state as three individuals finished in the top 15.

It was very close on the girls side, with Fountain Valley edging Vanguard by a single point.

Colorado 2A Region 3 Cross Country

Sargent's girls advance easily in the smallest Colorado region (by team participation) for girls. But, Center will also get a team score at state as three of their individuals qualify.

Center has their best race in a while to claim the boys title, with Del Norte and Centennial earning the other two team entries to state.

Colorado 2A Region 4 Cross Country

We've been looking forward to the Mancos vs. Crested Butte showdown for some time, and this one did not disappoint. Mancos edges Crested Butte by a single point, but Erin Kelly takes the individual title for Crested Butte.

For the boys, Ouray's team depth was the undoing of everyone else. Both Telluride and Mancos, however advance teams of three to state, however. Telluride's Ty Williams leaves every impression that he is in the running for the 2A individual title at state, but Eric Lewis of Mancos means to be heard from as well. Both ran solid times on the Aspen course.

Colorado 3A Region 1 Cross Country

Gunnison and Pagosa Springs take the team titles. Gunnison's margin of victory over Bayfield in the boys race was a bit of a surprise, but both teams advance to state along with Pagosa Springs and Basalt. Gunnison and Bayfield round out the team entries on the girls side.

One of the more interesting stories yet to play out this week concerns the girls champion of this region. Grand Valley's Brandi Krieg (#10 at state last fall) must decide between setting for her volleyball team in district volleyball action or running at the state cross country meet. The dilemmas of dual-sport athletes! As anticipated, this region had a glut of individual qualifiers among girls. In addition to Krieg, Diana Miller and Alisha Sorenson (Centauri), Johanna Reed (Hotchkiss), Brianna Morse and Ellie Parker (Aspen), Chiara Del Piccolo and Annette Stenstadvold (Basalt), and Chelyn McCain (Coal Ridge) each qualify for state as individuals.

Colorado 3A Region 2 Cross Country Meet

The same four teams qualify on both sides--The Classical Academy, Salida, Discovery Canyon, and Colorado Springs Christian. The boys' team title comes down to a tie-breaker and then a single point at fifth place between Salida and eventual winner The Classical Academy. The teams will meet again for the fourth time in five weeks this weekend at state.

The girls' race showcased three of the top four ranked teams in girls 3A. Salida's girls gave TCA all the fight they could have wanted early in the race prior to the leaders from TCA breaking away a little later in the race.

Kaitlin Hanenburg, Emily LaValley, Lauren Policky, and Kaiti Davis at 600 meters into the race. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Kaitlin Hanenburg keeps the regional title in the family for the seventh consecutive year. Josh Noriega posts a convincing win of his own on the boys' side of the ledger.

Colorado 3A Region 3 Cross Country Meet

Faith Christian has finished tuning up. By rankings and times posted over the season, they are the team to beat in 3A boys and they looked the part at their regional race, taking the title by 28 points over Colorado Academy. Platte Canyon beats Middle Park by six for the girls title.

Expect to hear more--a lot more, in fact--from the winners of the individual races, Ryan Poland of Denver and Sam Berggren of Middle Park, at state.

Colorado 3A Region 4 Cross Country

Estes Park is simply dominant on the girls side. Brush is a distant, but strong, second. Melissa Roberts of Lyons takes the individual title on her home course.

Among the boys, the day belongs to Amos Bowen and his Brush teammates. Jefferson Academy finishes six points back.

Colorado 4A Region 1 Cross Country

With Bryn Haebe feeling less than 100%, Maura O'Brien steps up and takes the individual title for Evergreen. Once again, Evergreen finds a way to get it done in convincing style as a team. Mullen, a strong team in its own right, finishes second.

While Wheat Ridge's Scott Fauble extends his unbeaten season one more week, Evergreen pulls out the stops and comes away with the team title. D`Evelyn puts together a nice race to come home with the silver plaque.

The Evergreen teams enjoy their regional sweep--looks like they're enjoying the socks, too. Photo by Tom Warren.

Colorado 4A Region 2 Cross Country

To casual observers of high school cross country, the girls race may have the appearance of a mild upset. To people who've watched Thompson Valley over the years, however, there wasn't all that much surprising about Thursday's result. What may have been surprising, though, was seeing Becky Schmitt back in colors for TV to take second to Allie Parks of Greeley Central. Becky Schmitt..., remember her? As in the promising young runner from two years ago who opted not to run last fall... An injury delayed her return this fall, but she is definitely back.

Greeley West looks smooth taking the boys team title while individual honors go to David Perry, perhaps the classification's best hope to end Scott Fauble's unbeated season this weekend. Niwot and Thompson Valley both keep their team scores below 100 in a large and strong region.

Colorado 4A Region 3 Cross Country

A sweep, and one of sizeable proportions, for Cheyenne Mountain! Moreover, the times posted give every indication that the Indians were holding back a little in this one. Be prepared for what Cheyenne Mountain brings to state. The boys have been highly ranked since early in the season, but the girls are suddenly turning some heads with recent performances.

Individual titles go to Ali Will of Rock Canyon and Chris Ganem of Castle View, both of whom will join their teammates at the state meet this weekend.

Colorado 4A Region 4 Cross Country Meet

Jordan Montera of Pueblo West battles Chad Palmer of Alamosa for position in the final quarter mile. Photo by Eric Flores.

The regional titles go to two teams enjoying solid seasons--Pueblo West's boys and Alamosa's girls. The Alamosa girls show zero indication of giving up their stranglehold on this region, taking first and second, plus three of the top four overall. Only Anna Marshall of Pueblo West crashes the party at the finish line.

In a continuation of a great season-long rivalry, Michael Cernoia of Pueblo West beats Canon City's Tabor Stevens for the individual title. The tandem beats the field by more than 40 seconds! Two more reasons for Scott Fauble to give complacency no corner in the week ahead.

Colorado 4A Region 5 Cross Country

Moffat County misses a sweep of the titles by the narrowest of margins--one point to Montrose in the girls' race. Moffat County doesn't miss the individual titles, however. Chris Zirkle wins for the boys, while Maddy Jourgensen does the same for the girls. The Bulldogs wait for the trip over the mountains to prove they belong in the 4A race.

Colorado 5A Region 1 Cross Country

Chaparral came in as the favorite, but somebody forgot to tell the Smoky Hill boys. Smoky Hill posts their best performance of the season to grab the regional title. Connor Winter's individual title helps the cause for Arapahoe, who extends their season another week by qualifying for state.

Smoky's girls didn't do too badly, either, taking second to Arapahoe. Chaparral, Ponderosa, and Columbine gobble up the remaining state slots.

Colorado 5A Region 2 Cross Country

The much ballyhooed boys race for this region lived up to expectations. Regis Jesuit comes away the winner, but Dakota Ridge posts a stronger race than most were allowing. Cherokee Trail takes second, but well back of Regis.

Although a bit underpublicized in the wake of the storm over the boys' race, the girls put on a nice show of their own. Cherry Creek has officially erased all doubt that they are back. The Bruins will be a factor at state.

Colorado 5A Region 3 Cross Country

Ralston Valley's Colin Brewster runs to a regional title. Photo by Cliff Jurgens.

Even in 5A, you can only run under the radar so long. Colin Brewster's time is about up. He continues to post solid performances wherever he goes and could be the person on the leader board at state who nobody expected to be there when the season started.

Boulder's victory over the Highlands Ranch girls comes as a moderate surprise to some. Others suspected Boulder had the stronger team going in. In either case, it was an exciting regional battle, and one of the best of the entire weekend. The girls field was so good that Jeffco 5A champion Green Mountain did not advance to state.

As good as the girls' race was, it may have been eclipsed by the boys where Boulder edged cross-town rival Fairview by a single point.

Colorado 5A Region 4 Cross Country

Like 5A Region 3, this one was also a scorcher on the Adams County Fairgrounds course. And Fort Collins joins the short list of schools sweeping their regional contests over the weekend.

Everyone more or less expected the Fort Collins girls to claim the regional title. The boys, however, have been on a mission of late to convince the state of their legitimacy. This time, they did it with an exclamation point, taking down Monarch and Loveland in the process.

Even the individual titles fell the way of the Lambkins. Rachel Viger (18:10) won for the girls and David Garcia (15:51) won in equally convincing fashion for the boys.

In another bit of a surprise, Legacy's Melanie Nunn beat teammate Ivie Gonsalves. Legacy advances to state with a very strong girls entry.

Colorado 5A Region 5 Cross Country

For all the 5A programs south of the Palmer Divide, there was an exciting regional meet of their own. Coronado continues to make the case to be taken seriously in 5A Boys. If anyone is not taking them seriously, pull his driver's license--he doesn't know how to read signs!

Dusty Solis beats Andrew Goodman by two seconds for the individual title. Their teams leave the meet as the regions top two entries to state.

Among the girls, Pine Creek takes their fine season one step closer to completion with a convincing rout of the field. Heather Bates leads the way with an impressive 18:21. With the closest competition 47 points in arrears, the Pine Creek girls can look themselves in the mirror on Satuday morning and know they belong on the start line.