Brooke Wilson surged hard over the final mile to claim the Vista Nation XC 2 Mile.
It was six minutes into the Vista Nation 2-Mile Invitational girls varsity race.
Brooke Wilson was flanked by Emma Stutzman and Keeghan Edwards as the trio pumped up the first of two hills that would lead them to the highest point of the course. Then it would be, quite literally, all down hill from there.
The sight of Stutzman and Wilson in the front of the pack was familiar, though Edwards was making her high school debut in impressive fashion -- by running with the best.
A year ago Stutzman and Wilson were top 10 finishers at the Colorado State Cross Country Championships -- Stutzman was third, and Wilson was eighth.
Meanwhile, Edwards' last result on file was a 12th-place finish at the Colorado Middle School State Cross Country Championship from 2019.
But six minutes into the race, it still looked like it could go to any of the three.
As they climbed up and away and onwards toward the final 1,000 meters, Wilson made her move and never looked back.
The Valor Christian junior stretched her lead with each stride and entered the final straightaway without a competing shadow.
Wilson crossed the finish line in 11:28, which was just one second off Taylor Whitfield's 11:27 course record.
Pomona's Stutzman cruised home in the runner-up spot, finishing in 11:40, while Edwards capped her debut with a third-place finish in 11:46.
Behind them, Mountain Vista's Keira Gamily kicked in for fourth in 12:09, which was just ahead of Valor's Taylor Rorick, who finished fifth in 12:12.
With Valor already going 1-3-5, Jordan Blankenship and Caroline Dennis closed the door, finishing 12th, and 17th.
Valor Christian took the team-race in dominating fashion, tallying 34 points. Mountain Vista took second with 84, while Boulder was third with 93.
Of additional note, several schools split their squads to let their freshman/sophomores shine outside the varsity race. Niwot's Sarah Perkins ran away with the Freshman/Sophomore race, running 12:07 - that would've finished fourth in the Varsity race.
RESULTS | PHOTOS
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