The mountains were on fire behind Porter Middaugh.
Not literally.
The sun was pulling its rays back to the west, leaving the mountains in an orange glow as the Battle Mountain senior pumped his arms in fury towards the finish line Thursday evening at the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic (SWL Championships).
The crowd was well-aware of the clock as it ticked on.
All eyes bounced back and forth between Middaugh and those moving digits.
The course record would soon be long gone, but the question now was where would Middaugh stand in history following this performance?
The Battle Mountain senior clawed his way over the final strides, only once glancing at the clock which stood high to his left.
14:35...14:36...14:37...
And then--
Middaugh stretched his arms wide in victory.
14:38.7.
The Battle Mountain senior torched the course record, which he shared with Battle Mountain teammate Will Brunner. The previous course record stood at 14:56, and it lasted just one year.
Last year Middaugh and Brunner kicked over the green grass side-by-side and were clocked within the same second.
This year Middaugh had the finish line all to himself.
The performance not only shattered the previous course record by 18-seconds. It was also a Colorado No. 1 by 10-seconds, and US No. 1.
Add that it was a 18-second personal best for Middaugh.
Not bad for a Thursday evening.
With the performance Middaugh ran himself into the short-list of favorites to claim this month's Colorado State Cross Country Championships.
Meanwhile, the race behind him was stacking up to another great battle.
Battle Mountain teammate Brunner ran just off his course-best, finishing in 14:57 for second.
Eagle Valley sophomore Dylan Blair turned heads with a third-place finish, running 15:10, which was just ahead of teammate Cooper Filmore, and brother Tyler Blair, who were both clocked at 15:13.
While Niwot ran an abbreviated squad and placed no-one inside the top-five, they went on to finish 6-7-8-9-13, led by Keegan Geldean.
The pencils were scribbling hot across the page as the team race came down to single digits.
The squad who traveled the furthest (and had to endure the five-hour trip back home in order to make to to Friday's classes) emerged victorious.
Niwot tallied 43-points to Eagle Valley's 46.
While Middaugh starred in the boys race, the Niwot girls did what they do best.
Win.
The duo of Sarah Perkins and Mia Prok teamed up and telescoped away for a Niwot 1-2.
Perkins took the W, running 17:35 - that's the fourth-fastest time run on the course, while Prok was second in 17:50.
Battle Mountain's Lindsey Whitton made sure there'd be no Niwot 15-point sweep here, as she finished third in 18:15, which was just ahead of Niwot's Kendall Madine, who finished fourth in 18:16.
And then a slew of freshmen came storming in...
Niwot freshmen Elise Hagen and Scarlett Parks finished 5-6 to seal Niwot's victory, while classmate Lacy Ruggiero from Durango finished seventh.
Niwot tallied 18 points FTW.