Peyton's Nick Baca and Telluride's Ty Williams hammer on each other a little early in the 2A boys' race. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
Note: In the theme of "new" uniforms suddenly appearing in the state meet, this would be a new singlet for Peyton, a team that typically wears a bright red singlet.
The state meet examination had lots of questions. Telluride had lots of answers.
Nick Baca questioned Ty Williams's readiness to win. Williams answered. 16:48 to 17:07, advantage Williams.
Lyons challenged Telluride's depth. Telluride responded with a 1-6-8 team score. An off day for Zach Pfeifer (illness?) meant Lyons was never really in the running, though they did manage to hang onto second place. Colten Rogers and Nathan Loomis were the additional medalists for Telluride.
The Arapahoe County Fairgrounds hills challenged Telluride's mettle. No contest. Have you ever tried to hike any direction but west out of Telluride? Now try to imagine training there.
A six-hour trip to the state meet tested the Miners' patience and travel-readiness. Telluride had answers for that, too. It helps that Telluride rarely travels less than two hours for any meet.
It wasn't a perfect meet for Telluride. The #4 and #5 runners have seen better meets this season. But it was plenty strong enough to deliver a convincing state title. And so Rocky Ford's splendid little run of three consecutive state titles comes to a halt.
Lyons coach Mark Roberts observed after the race that, given the size and depth of the 2A field, it's tough to win the 2A boys state title if you can't put three runners in the top ten. While we could quibble about that number (Rocky Ford won the two previous years with their third finisher at 15th and 13th places), that would certainly seem to be the standard if you want to go in with the reasonable expectation of winning it. If you can't stick all three of your scorers, in the top 10, you still might win, but you'd better not be wagering the mortgage on it.
I'm a purist without a vested interest in 2A cross country, but my hunch is we keep working toward a larger scoring format. Right now, there are probably still too many teams barely hanging on to the count for a complete team, but if Utah can run their smallest classification in a 7/5 format and Wyoming can run theirs in a 7/4 format, chances are we can make it work--somehow--in Colorado as well.