Christian Groendyk raised his finger towards that sky in the universal Victory salute.
The Fort Collins senior had just torched the final kilometer of the boy's Sweepstakes race, and he had shed nearly everyone except for Cherokee Trail's Hunter Strand, who was just a stride back and quickly running out of real estate.
But this day belonged to Groendyk.
The Fort Collins senior made a massive statement, running 14:48 - that's the third-fastest ever on the course behind arguably two of Colorado's greatest distance runners, Parker Wolfe, and Cole Sprout - both of whom have had insanely impressive collegiate careers so far.
As of this writing Groendyk's time is a US No. 7, and a PR PR. In other words: an any-elevation PR. Additionally, it's his second consecutive victory of the season, and take a look at his progression so far this season:
16:31 runner-up finish at the Rocky Mountain Lobo Invitational. 15:31 win at the John Martin XC Invitational. And now a 14:48 win at Liberty Bell.
And he wasn't the only one making a statement.
If you don't know who Hunter Strand is, you should by now.
The Cherokee Trail senior proved his Vista Nation XC 2-Mile Invitational victory was just the tip of the iceberg. Strand was the only runner in the field who nearly went stride-for-stride with Groendyk over that final 1k. He finished a second back in 14:50.
Valor's Dane Eike and Erie's Evan Kraus also dipped under the coveted 15-minute marker, running 14:54 and 14:58 - both are big PRs.
Meanwhile Mountain Vista's Benjamin Anderson ran 15-minutes on the nose, running 15:00.3. But the silver lining is that it's a Colorado sophomore class record.
Brennan Draper finished sixth in this insanely competitive race despite taking a fall earlier in the race. The Chaparral senior junior finished in 15:06 with quite a few battle wounds and a muddy singlet.
Before Saturday morning five runners had broken 15 minutes on this course over the years. By noon Saturday that number jumped to nine, as Groendyk, Strand, Eike, and Kraus had joined the club.
And on the topic of making statements...
Cherokee Trail is the real deal.
Led by Strand's runner-up finish, they tallied 88 points to claim the team title over Valor Christian, who tallied 110. Fort Collins was third with 182 points, which was just ahead of Cheyenne Mountain's 188, and Heritage's 190.