Lori Fitzgerald was a two-time state runner-up in cross country for Smoky Hill before being tragically struck and killed by an auto on a training run in her first week at the University of Texas-El Paso. This year's pre-state meet is named in her honor. Photo contributed by Jeff Bliven.
If you've refused to shake off the summer doldrums up until now, refuse no longer. The cross country season is upon us.
And that season begins with a full slate of action starting on Thursday.
Several of the first meets are short-course events. The University Invitational and the Horizon Popsicle race on Thursday and Friday, respectively, are 4K events (at least I think the University meet is a 4K--someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that). Thursday's Vista Ridge Invitational has both a 5K and a two-mile event to accommodate those just breaking into the rigors of cross country. Rocky Ford hosts a full-fledged 5K event on Thursday and Standley Lake a full-fledged 5K on Saturday.
There are, however, two big events coming up this weekend. The Arapahoe Invitational, the one meet that resolutely goes almost head-to-head with the annual pre-state meet, runs at DeKoevend Park in Littleton on Friday. There's never a shortage of high-end talent at this one.
And then, on Saturday, we all get our first feel of the new state meet course at the Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Pre-State Invitational. Races begin at 9:30 AM with the 1A-2A-3A boys and continue through the JV races taking off at 12:30 and 12:35.
Although I don't yet have official word from the folks in Delta, usually reliable rumor sources on the western slope are telling me that the Delta Invitational also runs on Saturday. If a team is from western Colorado, hasn't shown up at Arapahoe, and hasn't shown up at pre-state, look for them in Delta where things are flat and fast (totally unlike either the Arapahoe or the pre-state courses).
Within the next week, a whole lot of questions will look a lot more like they have answers. Among them:
1. Who will be the new king of the hill in 5A boys? Will it be Dakota Ridge, Monarch, Fort Collins, or somebody else who quietly paid their dues all summer long?
2. Will Connor Winter be allowed to run away with things as he did at the state track meet in May?
3. Does anyone have the firepower to knock off Fort Collins in 5A girls?
4. Cheyenne Mountain comes in as most people's favorite in 4A boys. Who is going to step up and make it interesting?
5. Will we see a clear early leader emerge this coming weekend in the 4A girls race?
6. After sending three of their top five from last year to college programs, can The Classical Academy reload and repeat the kind of success they've enjoyed over the last seven years?
7. Can Salida, last year's outta-nowhere state champion, make it happen again this fall?
8. Rocky Ford has won three straight boys titles. Last year seemed like an improbable proposition. Can the Meloneers defy the prognostications again? How might the teams coming down from 3A reshuffle the order in 2A?
9. Can anybody step up and run with Nederland in 2A girls?
And, then, there's the question on just about everyone's mind--is the heat going to break any time soon? Specifically, will it break in time for the weekend's racing? If not, the larger school competitors at the pre-state meet can figure they're battling the elements as much as the competition. Right now, the National Weather Service is saying the heat will not break before Saturday. A forecast high of 87F for Aurora on Saturday looms on the horizon.