Last Friday, nearly a third of all Colorado high school cross country programs converged at Heritage High School in Littleton for the 34th running of the Liberty Bell Invitational. Long known for its big meet atmosphere and blazing fast course, this year’s Liberty Bell certainly didn’t disappoint. Nearly ideal temperatures and quality competition highlighted the meet.
Of the 1273 varsity participants at the Liberty Bell Invitational two set themselves apart as the Boulder Running Company Athletes of the Week, Claire Green of Monarch and Danny Carney of Dakota Ridge.
Monarch’s Claire Greene broke away from the masses with an 18:06 victory in the Division 2 race. Claire paced her teammates to a commanding win for Monarch with a score of 34 points over 2nd place Thompson Valley (113 points). For Claire and the Monarch team, the Liberty Bell Invitational serves as a benchmark to evaluate their progress for the season. According to Claire “Winning this meet is very exciting because it shows that all the hard work and practice we've been putting in is paying off.”
Throughout the race Claire stuck with the leaders and steadily picked up the pace until she broke the race open on mile three. “By the last mile, I knew I was going to win. I felt strong and confident and I knew it was up to me to take all my training, and show what I could do with it,” reported Claire. With this victory, Claire Green has positioned herself up as a contender for the 5A state crown.
Much of Claire’s motivation this season comes from the support and companionship that she receives from her coaches and teammates. From singing and applying tattoos before the race to the final reminder that “pain is temporary, pride lasts forever” the Monarch girls race as one. Their common goal is that this camaraderie will place them on top of the victory podium on October 29th.
At the start of the Liberty Bell Invitational Danny Carney and his Dakota Ridge teammates toed the line with tired legs due to an intense week of practices. The heavy workload that week didn’t seem to bother Danny as he raced to a victory in the division 2 race.
Throughout the race Danny kept the pressure on his competition and threw in a few surges to break the race open. According to Danny, “At the end of the race I felt good and I wanted to just surge into the finish. The final turn came pretty quickly and I love the slight uphill finish.” Danny’s time of 15:29 was the quickest of the day amongst all participants and is the top time currently in the state of Colorado.
Danny’s finished helped the Dakota Ridge Eagles to a 3rd place finish at the meet, close behind runner up Thompson Valley. When asked if winning Liberty Bell puts more pressure him Danny replied, “I would say if anything it just gets me more excited for the rest of the season. I just want to take advantage of the opportunity that I have been given.”
Danny’s goals for the season are to finish as many races as possible under 16:00 and to finish in the top 15 at either Foot Locker or Nike Cross Nationals.
Not a superstitious person, Danny has been known to eat a bowl of oatmeal the morning of race days and enjoys the team rides to and from meets on the bus. He is also very proud of the fact that he lives and runs in the State of Colorado.
Liberty Bell weekend generally marks the point of the season where teams and individuals begin to distinguish themselves for the final six week push before state. Based upon their performances Claire Green and Danny Carney have shown that they will be at the front of the pack come October 29th at Arapahoe County Fairgrounds.
Congratulations to two of the fastest and, more importantly, two of the most polite athletes that I have ever had the pleasure to interview. Good job and good luck Claire and Danny!