Anna Banana Memorial Wildcat Invitational

Anna B is always fast. When you see seven boys sub-17 and five girls sub-20 at a western slope invitational, stand up and take notice. That's what happened here.

The Hotchkiss girls continued their run of carnage through the western slope girls programs. Moffat County made it close but couldn't oust the Bulldogs from the throne. And, of all the assembled western slope boys teams, only Moffat County (4A) and Fruita-Monument (5A) had enough to displace Telluride, even with the Miners forced to score five runners.

Winning this race by more than 20 seconds would indicate that Brandi Krieg is back on top of her race.

Chicken Creek Challenge

Twelve teams gathered in the hills just outside of Mancos? Where do you park all the cars?!

Kelsey Corbin extends her winning streak by yet another week, repeating much the same result with some close competition from Farmington as she did last weekend in Pagosa.

Pagosa Springs wins the girls title, however, and looks to be a solid contender for a state slot. Here's hoping the western slope 3A regional has enough complete teams that at least four teams (Hotchkiss, Aspen, Gunnison, and Pagosa Springs) can advance to state. That's a little suspect at this point in time, though. If only eight or fewer complete teams show up, there's going to be at least one very good team staying at home for state.

Dave Sanders Invitational

Never mind what I said in the weekend preview about how Dave Sanders might be a little diminished with more competition from other meets this year. Dave Sanders is taking on all comers--and winning. The list of times and athletes below should indicate that this meet is alive and well.

I'm not sure how Pomona (5A, and a good 5A program at that) got into the Division II boys' race, but they kept Evergreen (a small 4A school) from sweeping the DII team titles. Evergreen has a recent history of not bringing its best performances to the state meet, but they are very much in the mix of things right now for both 4A boys and 4A girls.

Will Kincaid wins his home invitational, but the team title goes to Heritage. That's not to say, however, that Dakota Ridge didn't make it interesting. One more runner on board and DR becomes a viable title contender.

Highlands Ranch kept Mountain Vista, Cherry Creek, and Arapahoe at arm's length to win the Division I girls title. After taking second at Griak a week ago, Cherry Creek has to be wondering why they have to have the good fortune of competing in Colorado. Things would be a lot easier most other places.

Fountain Valley XC Invitational

This one shed a lot of light on how the 2A race stacks up behind Telluride (boys) and Nederland (girls). But, you have to do a little reading between the lines. The meet scored four runners and that obscures a 2A analysis just a little.

Fountain Valley's girls continue their upward trajectory. Sargent and Lutheran-Parker also looked solid at least to three deep and L-P was missing at least one top runner. Rocky Ford is struggling with times at the #3 position.

For the boys' Rocky Ford was the top entry and would come out on top again scoring three deep instead of four. Both Peyton and Fountain Valley continue to work on the #3 position. Nick Baca was a huge individual winner. The number of top tier 2A boys is fairly small this year, but Baca's name belongs on the list.

Horizon Runners Roost Invitational

Disclaimer: A lot of teams treat this as more of an opportunity to get wet and lose a shoe in the water hole than as an opportunity to sharpen for anything later in the season. That said, you may find just as much of interest in the citizens' race results as in the actual meet results. Find out whose coaches are in shape and whose coaches are, um, not so much so (but at least still willing to lace 'em up and run).

Jenn Lehr of Kent Denver was impressive in winning the girls' race. Look for her later this month. There's an emerging new guard of top 3A girls, and Lehr is very much a part of that new guard.

Legend Crossfest

Heritage ran their varsity at the smallest meet of the weekend and failed to come home with the meet title. They were, however, running in disguise. Apparently large sunglasses and fake moustaches create extra drag and slow you down a lot.

And you all think I'm kidding about this. Go check out the results...

Pat Patten Invitational

#2 of 3 high-stakes meets this weekend.

Boulder brings Kelsey Lakowske to the start line for this one. Sam Lewis is back in the line-up. Monarch is missing Rebecca Richmond. Looks like a set-up for a Boulder win, but Monarch has just enough to hold off Boulder 63-66. And so the plot thickens. For those out of the country over the weekend, Lakowske and Lewis did go 1-2 as individuals.

Cheyenne Mountain, a team that continues to look very solid, does away with the competition for the 4A girls sweepstakes. This one has to figure as a little bit of a blow for Greeley Central's girls as the Wildcats finish only third among the 4A girls teams assembled for the meet.

For the boys, someone needs to find a carriage and harness it to Spencer Wenck--this young man is breaking away from the field wherever he goes. Team-wise, Cheyenne Mountain puts up a spirited fight but falls to Monarch nevertheless. One gets the feeling, however, that things are not perfectly in sync for the Monarch boys at the moment.

Rocky Mountain Shootout

Yeah, it's a college race. There was a day when Mark Wetmore could trick low-elevation schools into coming to this meet. Funny thing, though, those coaches got tired of getting humiliated on a hard course at high altitude. As a result, it is now almost strictly local programs. But, check out how many former Colorado high school athletes are in the meet results--and doing very well!

Saucony/TCA Titan Thunder Invitational

And this would be #3 of 3.

If there's a team in Colorado better than Fort Collins (and that would apply to either boys or girls), I haven't seen them race this year. Not saying there isn't a better team, just saying that Chris Suppes must have given some kind of motivational pep talk on the two-and-a-half hour bus ride down. Erin Hooker and David Garcia demolished course records. Make sure any 5A state title plans you have include beating Fort Collins.

On an absolutely perfect morning, the racing was spectacular. For the record, TCA had five girls under 20:00, but not nearly enough. Fort Collins had eight girls under 20:00, five under 19:20. Incredible.

Pine Creek opted out of running their varsity girls team at this event. Something, perhaps, to do with the chance to square off against schools like Liberty and Highlands Ranch on Tuesday. It might be worth checking out meet results Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. As you know by now, 5A girls is loaded this year.

So far as races within the race go, TCA edged Alamosa for 3A honors but would have given way to Alamosa under a 3A format of scoring only four runners. Another plot thickens.

Sydney Harris served noticed that she will be figured into the 3A girls individual title.

Sweetheart Invitational

Don't let the times fool you--it's not a fast course (Kelsey Lakowske's performance of 2009 notwithstanding).

Thompson Valley (boys) and Loveland (girls) take the Division I team titles. Estes Park gets the best of Berthoud for the DII girls title. That should help to add a little clarity to the 3A girls rankings. University easily handles the DII boys field.

Thornton Cross Country Invitational

Thornton edges Arvada West for the boys' team title. Erie, perhaps a bit of a surprise, wins the girls' team title as their first season in 4A continues to impress.