Broomfield Cross Country Invitational

Back at Smoky Hill, Greg Weich's teams were known for being fast... well, okay, very fast. He might revive that tradition a little sooner in Broomfield with a faster track for the home meet. But, hey, this is the year of the true cross country course! So, as we've observed before--hard and hilly is in, flat and fast is so 2008.

Coach Weich was good enough to serve up a team and individual title for his former school. Smoky Hill extinguished the boys compeition behind the lead of Marty Andrie at 16:54. I could be mistaken, but is this a first meet title for Andrie?

Boulder won the girls' title, but not without raising some questions. Where was Sam Lewis? Was Boulder getting after this race or do the times indicate some kind of controlled effort for this one? Regardless, we've not heard the last word from this Boulder team--I'm pretty sure of that.

Melissa Roberts of Lyons doubles the length of her meet winning streak.

Chatfield Challenge

I'm not sure if the meet directorship will take this as an honor or not, but this meet definitely qualifies as the premiere Tuesday event in the Colorado cross country season--at least from a competitive standpoint. The Horizon extravaganza at Addenbrooke Park may end up with more competitors, but it can't match the competitive intensity of this one.

A Connor Winter-less Arapahoe team beat Castle View by 16 for the team title. That's good enough, for now, to keep Arapahoe's state title hopes off of life support.

Among the girls, Highlands Ranch managed to find a way to claim three of the top five places and still finish third overall. If this is beginning to sound like a broken record, please forgive me. Like a bug repeatedly flying onto the hot surface of a porch light, I can't help but observe how frustrating that must be to be so close and yet so far.

Arapahoe edged Evergreen by a single point for the team title (yes, that would make it a sweep for Araphahoe). But in case you missed what the tea leaves were saying, Evergreen is a very serious 4A state title contender. And that 8-9-10-11 finish by Evergreen's top four strongly suggests at least one or two of those girls has more in the tank.

Coronado Cougar Classic

Flat and fast may be so 2008, but just like tie-dye refuses to die, so also flat and fast will refuse to die. In Colorado Springs, at least, Coronado is pumping the bellows that keep the flame burning.

And so they might. Every week that passes seems to bring Coronado closer to the rear bumper of the Cheyenne Mountain hot rod. This week, Coronado fell to CM by a single point. Throw Pueblo South into that equation and you have a serious contest on hand for the 4A boys state title. Nobody should be taking anything for granted in this one.

Spencer Wenck's 15:38 for the individual title, however, has a few people thinking that perhaps Mr. Wenck could take a few things for granted. Wenck wins on hard and hilly. Wenck dominates on flat and fast. That doesn't leave a lot of holes in his presentation.

Oh, and that freight train you heard in the girls' race would be Liberty. As if 5A girls needed more competition at the top... Hannah Everson wins in a very nice 18:33.

Folks in 3A should be paying attention to Sydney Harris. Looks to me like somebody was busy training this summer. Too bad for those who didn't.

Folks in 2A should be paying attention to Valerie Stark. Looks to me like....

Fountain-Fort Carson Cross Country Invitational

For those accustomed to this one being a large meet, things have changed a little. Maybe just one or two too many competing meets in the area for this one to thrive on this weekend.

Discovery Canyon is about to get a serious boost in their girls lineup when Emily Husted comes off the transfer rule probation (and that would be soon--real soon). Start thinking of DCC as a 4A girls contender or be surprised when they are.

2A teams made most of the noise in this meet with the Vanguard girls and Fountain Valley boys both looking suprisingly strong in this field. Reeling in either Nederland or Telluride looks like a tall agenda for anyone in 2A, but these teams should acquit themselves nicely in the final month of the season.

Glenwood Springs Cross Country Invitational

The Heritage boys and the Durango girls made this one look fairly easy. So, why do teams travel so far to come to the Glenwood Springs Invitational? Must be that swimming hole just as you enter town from the east.

Hats off to Karli Foreman and Garret Lee on very nice winning efforts.

Hotchkiss Cross Country Invitational

In another case of maybe too many meets in too small of an area, Hotchkiss got dealt the short hand with only six teams showing up. Four had enough to score as teams among the boys, and two among the girls.

Regardless, if I told you who came, you could tell me who won. Hotchkiss girls and Telluride boys (this time with Ty Williams back in the lineup) win big.

John Martin Invitational

Participation in this one seemed a little down this year. Maybe schools got word that Natrona County (Wyoming) was coming down. Apparently, young men in Casper don't have enough cultural diversions and are spending inordinate amounts of time training for cross country. Blowing out Fort Collins at their home meet is no small accomplishment. Okay, maybe it wasn't a blowout, but it was decisive.

Austin Appel looked positively refreshed in winning the individual title in 16:20 after a week off.

For the Fort Collins girls, it wasn't the same magnitude of showing as they enjoyed last week at Liberty Bell, but it was enough for the win. Fort Collins marches on. And, if they're at all frustrated about their performances last week, guess who gets them this week?

Middle Park Cross Country Invitational

Snow Mountain Ranch is done. Quad-burning climbs into partial atmosphere have given way to a quaint little circuit of Granby (I'm probably wrong about the "quaint" part, feel welcome to inform me that it was a challenging course even if it wasn't at Snow Mountain Ranch.). Apparently, Middle Park didn't get the hard-and-hilly memo.

This meet has to have the closest team scoring in a decade in Colorado. Among the boys, Holy Family wins with 41, exactly one point ahead of Horizon, Ridgeview Academy, and Clear Creek. You can bet they checked the places a few times on this one! Prairie View's Alex Pawlak takes the individual title in 17:34. And, since I've never before mentioned Alex Pawlak on this site, I'm not missing this opportunity. Congratulations, Alex!

The girls? Well, Holy Family won that one, too, but not before Sam Berggren beat Holy Family's freshman phenom (Lindsay Chavez) by 19:45 to 20:52.

Moffat County Cross Country Invitational

If the schools from Utah and Wyoming hadn't shown up, this might have been the smallest meet in the state this weekend. Moffat County deserves better than that, but it doesn't exactly have the drawing card that Glenwood Springs does. And, it's farther for almost everybody in the state than Glenwood is.

Still, Moffat County hosts a meet and, for that one weekend, the Bulldogs don't spend half their weekend in a sawed-off bus. The reward? Two solid team titles. And, somebody needs to figure a way to bust up that Chris Zirkle-Alfredo Lebron thing. These guys have a serious collection of 1-2 finishes accumulating at MCHS.

Be glad you don't have Gunnison's or Moffat County's travel schedule--unless, of course, you do! Maybe Rangely is worse from a travel standpoint.

Nederland Cross Country Invitational

It's too bad Birdie Hutton didn't run for Shining Mountain Waldorf. She may have broken up that 1-2-3-4-5 finish for Nederland.

Nederland's boys and girls both won. Dan Fogelberg would have been proud. He may even have reprised Run for the Roses for the occasion.

OSU Cowboy Jamboree

A college meet that found its way onto the Colorado calendar, but I don't think any Colorado teams ran there. Not even Oklahoma, which almost counts as a Colorado team these days.

Late flash, there was a Colorado high school runner in this meet. Brandon Williams of Bear Creek HS, this is your moment in the sun. Your 17:22 tops all Colorado times in this meet. Wear the honor well!

Pueblo Central Cross Country Invitational

This venerable old meet is a shadow of its former self.

But Alamosa showed up to show a few former 4A rivals that they've lost nothing by dropping down to 3A. At least that much is true for the boys. For the girls, they seem to have lost half their lineup--at least for this meet. Here's hoping the whole crew is healthy again soon.

Note also that Valerie Stark took home another meet title at this one--they were good enough to let her run up to Division I. Stark was good enough to reward the gesture with a win.

Rock Canyon Cross Country Invitational

A sweep for Mountain Vista! Kind of nice for the Eagles, since this one is about as close to a home meet as Mountain Vista ever gets.

Will Kincaid wins for the second year in a row, but it's rumored this year's course wasn't quite the grinder that last year's course proved to be.

And, it looks like we'd all better figure out what manner of beast Devan Foster of Chaparral is. That was a nice winning time for her on this course. And I say that knowing that Rock Canyon did receive the hard-and-hilly memo.

Roy Griak Invitational

Another college meet but, like so many big college meets, this one has a high school division.

And, in the high school gold girls race (I think that more or less means the girls seeded teams), Cherry Creek took a very close second to Dowling Catholic--yes, that Dowling Catholic that finished in the top half of teams at NXN last year. Olivia Anderson goes second in 18:34. Yes, that should be a national elite performance, but we have to get the results in a format to post those results--and that has not happened yet.

Do you recall reading something above about a wealth of outstanding 5A girls teams in Colorado this year? Add Cherry Creek to your list if they're not there already.

Salida Cross Country Invitational

This one was almost a home meet for Gunnison. They only had to travel something like 60 miles.

They really only needed to run one race here. The boys order of finished matched the girls--TCA, Salida, Gunnison, Buena Vista. Shelby Stableford and Josh Noriega each put another notch on their sticks of meet titles. TCA, Salida, and Buena Vista clash again this weekend at the TCA Invitational.