In this week's edition of Colorado Future Stars we'll take a look at recent standout freshmen performances.
Colorado, meet Delaney Johns!
You might recognize the last name, and you should - but we'll come back to that.
The Fort Collins freshman recently finished 30th in the Sweepstakes race at the Desert Twilight XC Festival in 18:58.
She's already tallied four top-10 finishes in her first high school cross country season, and currently owns a personal best of 18:38 from the Liberty Bell Cross Country Invitational.
What's additionally impressive is how she's progressed each time she's toed the line.
Her season opener was a 20:24, ninth-place finish at the Rocky Mountain Lobo Invitational. She chopped about 22-seconds off that, running 20:02 at the John Martin XC Invitational, before skipping 19-minutes entirely with her Liberty Bell performance - which was her third 5k.
Going back in time to her days in middle school...
Last spring she ran personal bests of 2:31 in the 800, and 5:39 in the 1,600 - to put a spotlight on her rapid improvements, consider that her 18:38 5k PR from Liberty Bell is right around six-minute per-mile pace.
Last fall she finished fourth at the Colorado Middle School State Cross Country Championship, which mirrored her finish at this race as a seventh grader.
She's consistently been running as Fort Collins' No. 2 runner - who were ranked No. 7 in the latest Coaches Poll- and this is where we'll come back to that third line... Johns is the younger sister of Ella Johns.
Looking across the board at recent freshmen performances, it's clear that Niwot rolled out their next batch of stars!
Quick Takes
Anna Prok - Niwot - Niwot has two of the best freshmen in the state. Prok led the freshmen class at the Desert Twilight XC Festival with a 18:04 14th-place finish.
Addison Ritzenhein - Niwot - re-read the line from above. Ritzenhein finished 15th - right behind Prok - running 18:10 at the Desert Twilight XC Festival.
Brenna Jorde - Castle View - She recently won the Rampart Rams XC invite in 19:42.
Madeline Clark - Mountain View - She recently finished third at the Loveland Sweetheart Invitational, running a massive personal best of 19:18.
Payton Meineke - Riverdale Ridge - She recently finished fourth at the Mead Stampede in 19:50.
Dylan Smith - Cherokee Trail - He was the second-fastest freshmen in the Sweepstakes Race field at the Desert Twilight XC Festival, where he ran 16:06.
Rocco Culpepper - Niwot - He was the fastest freshman in the Sweepstakes Race field at the Desert Twilight XC Festival, where he ran a massive personal best of 15:30 to finish seventh overall.
Miles Snow - Durango - He recently finished 11th at the Courser Lightning Invitational in a PR of 17:00.