When Brooke Wilson turned left into Penrose the crowd erupted.
Then - all eyes darted back and forth between Wilson, and the clock that ticked on.
Because the Valor Christian senior wasn't just racing the field in the 5A Colorado State Championships, she was racing history.
She was racing against the shadow of Brie Oakley's 17:07 course record.
But with each stride closer to the finish line, it became evident that Wilson was in front of Oakley's shadow.
As the Valor senior neared the line and the clocking still ticking within 16-minutes she raised her arms and head upwards to the sky in victory.
Wilson stopped the clock before it ticked over into a new minute.
16:59.20.
History was made.
Wilson became the first runner ever to break 17 minutes on the (new) Penrose course. And as impressive as her performance was alone, she wasn't the only one making history - a historic five girls broke 18 minutes on a course that had only seen it done five times ever prior to 2022.
And when I write "a historic five girls broke 18 minutes" - that's just the girl's 5A race from Saturday...
Add that Wilson's win seemingly was a rebound after getting out-kicked at last week's 5A Region 5 Championships.
Wilson's performance capped a stellar career that seemed to always hint of this ending - she finished third as a freshman, seventh as a sophomore, and second as a senior.
And if we rewind back to her freshman year when she finished third - she was three-seconds in front of Pomona's Emma Stutzman.
As history would have it, these two made up for a battle of the titans Saturday morning as seniors.
While Wilson did have Penrose all to herself in the final strides of the race, it was quite the battle through the early stages of the race, where Wilson, Stutzman and Bethany Michalak went stride-for-stride.
This trio of titans blew the race open early, insuring that it'd be a real burner - just as the clock later solidified.
By two miles it was down to two - Wilson and Stutzman.
It was last year's top returner - Wilson - verses Stutzman, who had been undefeated this season, and the fastest runner in Colorado.
In the end, there would be no out-kicking Wilson this time. The Valor senior capped her senior season with perfection - the 5A state title, and the course record.
That hot pace set up the field for a laundry list of stellar times, as Stutzman hung on to a runner-up finish, crossing the line in an impressive 17:24 - that's the fifth-fastest time on the course.
Behind her Valor's Keeghan Edwards paced her way to a third-place finish, running 17:31. Arapahoe's Ava Mitchell finished fourth in 17:40, while Air Academy's Tessa Walter finished fifth in 17:50, and Michalak finished sixth in 18:02, giving.
With Valor and Air Academy already putting two runners inside the top-six, the team race was on.
Valor took the lean by getting their third-runner in - Taylor Rorick - before anyone else, but Air Academy was about to fly...
Jordan Banta and Emily Beers finished 15th and 17th, and Lauren Myers closed the door before any team could get their fourth runner in, finishing 26th.
In the end it wasn't even close.
Air Academy soared over the field, tallying an impressive 63 points - a 64-point victory.
Add that they had a 1-5 split of 1:22, and a average of 18:31.
While Air Academy quite literally stormed into 5A and claimed the state title in their first year in Colorado's largest classification, a lot was going on behind them as well.
Mountain Vista's pack proved to be vital in such a tight team battle that saw everyone - except Air Academy - score triple digits. Vista tallied 126 points to take a tight runner-up finish over Valor and Cherry Creek, who who both tallied 133 points. With third place going down to the sixth runner, it went to Valor. And five points back with 138 was Arapahoe.
In other words - the 2-5 team finishers were all within 12 points of each other... Add that these are some of the best squads in the country...
RESULTS | VIDEOS | PHOTOS
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