Keira Wilkinson ran alongside her teammates and cheered them on as they rounded the final turns of the Broomfield Battle Friday evening.
She encouraged them through their final strides as they neared the finish line - the very finish line she herself had just crossed not much earlier.
Despite being slightly winded from her own efforts, the Legacy junior had every intention of helping out her team in anyway she could.
Even if that went beyond scoring one-point.
"For a lot of them it's their first year, I just want them to have a good first experience," Wilkinson explained. "A big part of cross country is team environment, without them I wouldn't be doing this."
And on the topic of first experiences, Friday's Broomfield Battle marked Wilkinson's first victory, ever.
The race was a massive breakthrough for Wilkinson, who didn't just win, or runaway - she dominated.
From the opening strides the Legacy junior was on a mission. She soloed the entire race, and only increased her lead with every stride.
Wilkinson's 18:36 was officially just under a three-minute personal best for the distance. And I write "officially" because she clearly destroyed last year's 21:26 5k PR in May, when she ran 38:27 at the Bolder Boulder 10k.
Beyond her Bolder Boulder performance, the only real hints of Wilkinson's potential came last Spring, where she ran 5:22 in the 1,600, and 11:29 in the 3,200.
Wilkinson's result Friday evening cued that she's someone to keep on eye on this fall.
Behind her, the Broomfield duo of Paisley Williamson and Olivia Olson went 2-3, running 21:03, and 21:12 to tilt the team race in their favor.
Broomfield put their entire top-five inside the top-10, with Norah Power and Vanessa Deeming finishing sixth and seventh, and Kacey Crispin finishing 10th.
Broomfield ran away with the team title, tallying 28 points. Legacy was second with 46, and Jefferson Academy was third with 59.
On the topic of running away, cue Logan Goodman.
The Prospect Ridge Academy senior had some company in the opening mile, but he went on to telescope away with the victory.
"I put in a really good summer," he explained. "I wanted to break 17 really bad."
And Goodman didn't just win, or just break 17 - he demolished his goal, running a PR of 16:41. The excitement of seeing the clock, and crossing the finish line was not lost to him (as the photo of his finish clearly shows...)
"Starting off the season with a win, I did everything I wanted to," he explained of the energy he brought to crossing the line.
Editor's Note: Once the race video (finally) loads, you can hear Goodman's excitement as he finished.
Behind Goodman, PRs were plentiful.
Legacy's Cian Nagle finished second in 17:18, which was just ahead of Broomfield's Ian Weich, and Jefferson Academy's Rylan Mills, who both were clocked at 17:26.
Meanwhile, the team race looked tight early on.
Prospect Ridge Academy's Avin Singh and Ezekiel Bote joined Goodman inside the top-10, finishing sixth and seventh. Broomfield responded by putting Andreas Manouselis, Calder Denham, and Andrew Heuton inside the top-10 at 8-9-10.
But Prospect Ridge Academy went on to close the door with Nicholas Shoemaker and Brody Bender, who finished 12th, and 13th.
Their final tally was 39 points. Broomfield finished second with 48, while Jefferson Academy was third with 69.