Two miles into the race and Land Lambert wasn't just racing the competition anymore - he was racing the clock.
The Durango senior had already separated from teammate Damian Frausto, but now his attention lay ahead of him.
On a course that had only seen four sub-17 clockings, Lambert became the fifth. And he wiped out Harrison Witt's 16:51 course record in the process.
Lambert sliced four seconds off, running 16:47 for the win.
Behind him, Frausto held off a late-charging Sam Kapner to finish second in 17:14. Kapner finished third in 17:19, which was just ahead of Porter Middaugh's 17:25. Mead's Nolan Hoffman finished fifth in 17:33
And then the pencils went into tally mode.
Battle Mountain put two in the top-seven with William Brunner finishing seventh.
Jorge Sinoloa and Trey Martin added to the tally, giving the host school four in front of everyone else's three. They finished 12-13.
Mead responded with Tyler Mayer, Ben Mayer, and Nathan Hoffman, who finished 14-15-17.
But Battle Mountain's Kaden Williams closed the door with a 19th-place finish.
Battle Mountain claimed the team title with 53 points. Mead too second with 69 points, and Durango finished third with 107.