As the top 3A returner in both the 3200 and in cross country, Natalie Anderson has good reason to hope for a big season this fall. Photo by Alan Versaw.
We now turn our attention to the 3A girls. As with 4A girls, this article is written with the expectation that there will be freshmen entering the scene this fall who will make a full and immediate impact. We just don't know who they are yet.
Unlike the 4A girls article, I will not be including all teams in this preseason guess at a top 10 for the classification. As awkward as it is to write about your own team, it is still more awkward to write about individuals on your own team. So, while I have included TCA girls in the summaries of last year's state cross country finish and 3200 times, I will not include any of them in the top 10 list. You can insert them on the list where you think they belong.
With that as disclaimer, let's take a quick look at the classification's top returning 3200 times from this spring...
1. 11:03.83 Natalie Anderson CO Hotchkiss High School 2014
2. 11:04.55 Shelby Stableford CO Classical Academy, The 2012
3. 11:57.33 Kelsi Lasota CO Estes Park High School 2014
4. 11:57.68 Kaiti Davis CO Salida High School 2012
5. 11:58.05 Lindsey Chavez CO Holy Family High School 2014
6. 11:59.21 Jen Lehr CO Kent Denver School 2013
7. 12:01.71 Kathryn Pennington CO Classical Academy, The 2014
8. 12:09.64 Mercy Bowen CO Brush High School 2013
9. 12:11.21 Brittany Droogsma CO Classical Academy, The 2013
10. 12:11.76 Courtney Chacon CO Valley High School 2013
11. 12:15.10 Lauren Waltman CO Brush High School 2012
12. 12:15.44 Elena Slavoski CO St. Mary`s High School 2014
13. 12:18.03 Tiffany Confer CO Buena Vista High School 2012
14. 12:20.29 Katie Knapp CO Classical Academy, The 2014
15. 12:24.34 Diana Miller CO Centauri High School 2012
16. 12:26.35 Grace Knight CO Middle Park High School 2014
17. 12:28.09 Victoria Milano CO Brush High School 2012
and then at the list of the top several returning athletes from last fall's state cross country meet:
3 Natalie Anderson FR Hotchkiss 19:30.62
6 Kaiti Davis JR Salida 20:02.37
7 Brittany Droogsma SO The Classical Academy 20:05.92
8 Lindsay Chavez FR Holy Family 20:21.57
9 Lauren Hamilton FR The Classical Academy 20:23.52
10 Jen Lehr SO Kent Denver 20:24.32
11 Shelby Stableford JR The Classical Academy 20:25.77
12 Nicole Sassaman SO The Classical Academy 20:26.27
13 Megan Brunette SO The Classical Academy 20:28.07
14 Victoria Milano JR Brush 20:46.07
15 Diana Miller-Ter Kuile JR Centauri 20:48.32
16 Taylor Polson FR Hotchkiss 20:48.57
17 Kylie Davis FR Aspen 20:52.02
18 Ellie Parker JR Aspen 20:52.42
19 Molly Morrison SO Frontier Academy 20:55.57
21 Jennifer Celis FR Hotchkiss 21:00.77
22 Karlee Smith SO Alamosa 21:05.67
23 Dana Danielson FR Pagosa Springs 21:06.97
24 Jill Martin SO Eaton 21:08.62
25 Emma Otto JR Berthoud 21:08.87
26 Hannah Steadman JR Estes Park 21:12.17
27 Elena Slavoski FR St Mary's 21:13.52
28 Kelsi Lasota FR Estes Park 21:15.62
As much as the classification will feel the graduations of Sam Berggren, Jenny DeSouchet, Brandi Krieg, and Sydney Harris, 2011 was not a heavy year for graduation in the 3A ranks. Most of last year's top 25 are back and will be squaring off once again this fall.
1. Natalie Anderson - It's a pretty easy pick at the top. Anderson was the top 3200 runner all spring in track, and brings back what is easily the best finish from state cross country. The diminutive sophomore-to-be comes in as the girl to beat.
2. Kaiti Davis - The selection for #2 gets a little tougher--quite a bit tougher, in fact. Davis brings back the second best cross country finish, but only the third best returning 3200 time (allowing for my TCA exclusion) from track. But Davis's track season took a nasty turn with a boarding accident in March. The busted flipper and accompanying pink cast took something off her track season. Look for her to be back at full speed in cross country.
3. Kelsi Lasota - There has been a coaching change at Estes Park, but--at least thus far--there seems to be nothing detrimental about the change for Lasota. Lasota's track season saw her leapfrog a number of people in front of her during cross country season. Look for big things in the fall.
4. Lindsey Chavez - Chavez got a lot of worthwhile experience last fall and then again in the spring. On a few occasion she's struggled, while at times she has performed very well. The experience should help tilt the balance toward the latter as her high school career continues to progress.
5. Jen Lehr - It's been a while since Kent Denver had a distance runner as competitive as Lehr. Both in cross country and track, Lehr finished well, marking her as someone we'll want to pay attention to this fall.
6. Elena Slavoski - If this last name seems familiar to you, it should. Elena is the younger sister of Kara Slavoski, a top 3A distance runner who graduated in 2010. Slavoski only got better during track season and should be poised to take over leadership of the St. Mary's program.
7. Mercy Bowen - Bowen's track season ended a lot more favorably than her cross country season. Like Slavoski, she has some name recognition at least partly on account of an older sibling who was a to 3A distance runner.
8. Taylor Polson - Polson ran track this spring for Paonia and her best 3200 time would not have made the 3A list above. But, she certainly had a solid cross country season last fall with Kelly Cowan's Hotchkiss program. Figure she's back among the classification's best this fall.
9. Diana Miller-Ter Kuile - The Centauri star had a track season that was a little late developing this spring, but her finish at state suggests she'll be back among the best on the cross country course this fall.
10. Jennifer Celis - This one qualifies as playing a little bit of a hunch. To my recollection, Celis never ran anything longer than an 800 in track this spring, but she absolutely excelled at 400 and 800 meters. If the aerobic end of her game develops in anything resembling like measure, she should have a very good cross country season this fall. Keep an eye on this situation.
And a couple of additional notes: Courtney Chacon is the rare distance runner who plays volleyball in the fall. And Valley is a nice program to play for. Aspen's girls didn't have too much of a presence in track season this spring, but don't be too anxious to write them off. Up in Aspen, there are a lot of competing sports interests in the spring. Tiffany Confer, you will recall, is a wheelchair athlete and that scenario works a lot better for track than cross country (though I can personally attest that she has competed in cross country).
As the top 3A returner in both the 3200 and in cross country, Natalie Anderson has good reason to hope for a big season this fall. Photo by Alan Versaw.