The backdrop is a little different from what you see at most high school cross country meets, but it's still the same sport. Photo contributed by Bruce Vining.
Last year, the weather (I believe it was lightning) got the best of what was supposed to be the inaugural La Junta Cross Country Invitational at Bent's Old Fort. The old course out back of La Junta HS had worn thin on the patience of a few folks and Bent's Fort promised a more attractive venue.
Not without disappointment, everyone waited 52 weeks to see what would happen the this time. And this year, the lightning declined to put in appearance, allowing the meet to go off as scheduled.
It wasn't a big meet, but it just might be the first high school cross country meet in Colorado to be contested on the grounds of a National Park Service property. The course makes a double loop of the trail system (sometimes sand, sometimes gravel, with short stretches of grass and asphalt) at the fort.
South Baca, Plainview, Lamar, La Junta, and Rocky Ford were attendance for the meet. That pretty much exhausts the list of cross country programs east of El Paso, Pueblo, and Huerfano Counties and south of I-70. A big patch of real estate, to be sure, but not one with many high schools supporting cross country. Not one with many high schools, period.
Although Lamar's Jared Smartt won the boys' title in 18:36 and teammate Josh Davis finished third, Rocky Ford had more than enough firepower to capture the team title. Rocky Ford also defeated La Junta and a shorthanded Lamar team for the girls' team title. Rocky Ford's Brooke Grissom (actually a coop athlete from Fowler High School) captured the individual title in 21:24.