Boulder Running Company/Colorado Track XC Athletes of the Week

 

Rachel Hampton and Kyle Ames stole a little thunder from the favored runners on opening weekend. Contributed photo/Photo by Alan Versaw.

 

Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. The transition from heat to cool, the changing of the leaves, the crispness in the air are all reasons to love the season. But the greatest reason of all is cross country.

Around the state young men and women have been diligently plugging away on roads, paths, and trails all summer in preparation for this season which started in spectacular fashion last week. Cross country is a sport where you get out what you put in, and last week’s results highlight the work accomplished by the athletes over the hot summer months.

Two efforts in particular were significant enough to garner our first Boulder Running Company/Colorado Track and Field Cross Country athletes of the week. Those efforts belong to Rachel Hampton of Telluride and Kyle Ames of Smoky Hill.

Rachel Hampton comes from one of the most remote and, arguably, most beautiful places in Colorado. Rachel spent a very busy summer running and cross training in preparation for cross country in the fall and Nordic skiing in the winter.  According to Rachel, “My mileage was definitely a lot higher than it has been in previous summers, and I added in good strength training too”.

All of this pre-season training helped Rachel to a first place finish at the Delta Cross Country Invitational at Confluence Park in Delta, Colorado. Rachel ran the five kilometer course in 19:20, a little over a minute ahead of runner-up Natalie Anderson of Hotchkiss.

The ruggedness of Telluride’s terrain and its altitude is a tremendous strength to Rachel and her fellow runners. The remoteness of the location, however, can make it difficult to face some of the competition they will see at state.  The lack of big meets means that Rachel and her teammates will need to make every opportunity count. They are looking toward facing Nederland in October. The MileSplit community will get an early preview of this battle at the St. Vrain Invitational on Saturday.

Across the state, and over a few ranges of mountains, the boys’ athlete of the week, Kyle Ames, was scorching the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds 5K course at the Lori Fitzgerald Pre-State Invitational. While most runners cringe when thinking of racing up Powerline Climb more than once or twice a season, it is home to the runners of Smoky Hill High School.  Referring to the course Kyle said, “Hosting the state meet takes away a lot of the anxiety of state, we know exactly what to expect when we toe the line."

Kyle used this experience to outduel Monarch’s Kirk Webb to finish first with a time of 16:05. The Smoky Hill team, led by Kyle’s win, raced to a second place finish at the meet. This finish validated what Smoky Hill’s coaches and athletes have known for months, that they are contenders. Kyle and the Smoky Hill runners hope that their performance last Saturday will move them up the rankings from their preseason slot at #8.

The team definitely has aspirations of winning state and qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals. If there is such a thing a home field advantage in cross country, Kyle Ames and the harriers of Smoky Hill have it, and all of the big schools in Colorado would be well advised to take heed.

Congratulations to Rachel Hampton and Kyle Ames for starting off the competitive cross country season with a pair of testimonials to what a summer’s worth of hard work can accomplish.