The opening miles of the boy's 4A/5A race saw Evan Kraus setting a hot pace with Zane Bergen hovering just over his shoulder.
The defending 4A state champ wouldn't be denied, however.
Bergen telescoped away over the final half of the race and cruised to victory, running the fastest time of the time of the day - a 15:59 clocking.
Kraus held on for a runner-up finish, crossing the finish line in 16:18.
Behind him was a battle that went all the way through the line. Kyle Berg and Joey Hendershot shared the same second, as they were separated by three-tenths. Berg had the third-place finish in 16:22.6, just ahead of Hendershot's 16:22.9.
The team race was a hotly contested event, with US No. 3 Mountain Vista battling US No. 6 Niwot. While it's debatable on what sort of effort each team was running at, and if they even ran full squads, it was still a great battle nonetheless.
And on this day Niwot came out on top 48-51 over Mountain Vista.
Niwot went 1+4+10+15+18 (19+24), while Mountain Vista's strong pack nearly stole the show - they put seven in front of Niwot's five, going 7+8+11+12+13 (16+17).