Katie Rainsberger and Lauren Gregory ran shoulder-to-shoulder most of the 3.5K of the middle school state championships, but Rainsberger eventually pulled away for the win. Photo by Alan Versaw.
With all of the high school regional action in the books, this one glorious Saturday morning belonged to the middle school set. And, they made the best of their moment in the spotlight.
The parking lots at D'Evelyn Jr./Sr. High School were soon filled to capacity and the field between the school and Kipling was enlisted to service the overflow. The inaugural middle school state cross country championship was an unqualified success--and especially a success for a few southern Colorado cross country programs.
The girls championship race reduced very quickly to a contest between two--Katie Rainsberger of Cheyenne Mountain, who dominated everything in the Tri-County (Fremont, Teller, El Paso) League this fall, and Lauren Gregory of Preston Middle School, who has been terrorizing the competition in the Loveland/Windsor/Ft. Collins area for years. It was a titanic struggle way out of proportion to the dimensions of the two contenders. For the better part of 3000 meters, neither Rainsberger nor Gregory ceded anything. But, just as the pair approaced the water crossing, Rainsberger pressed the pace and began to open a gap on Gregory.
The water crossing itself gave Rainsberger a bit more of a gap, and there was no looking back. Rainsberger would go on to open a 15-second gap, mostly in the last 500 meters. Third place was 58 seconds back of Rainsberger's 12:51.
Behind Rainsberger, her teammates were picking their way through the field, much as they had done in league competition all season long. Veronica Brtek, Brooke Miller, and Anna Hortek closed out the scoring for Cheyenne Mountain with a total of 33 points.
Salida, led by Sydney Fesenmeyer (10th, 14:38) made a contest of it with 37 team points. Summit Ridge finished third with 42, and The Classical Academy was a distant fourth with 80 points. The team scoring format removed runners from incomplete teams and scored only each team's top four finishers.
Through the first half of the boys' race, Isaiah DeLaCerda (Ortega Middle School, Alamosa) pretty much had things his own way. DeLaCerda picked his own pace and appeared to have a comfortable leadl. But the one guy he couldn't completely shake eventually came back on him. Taylor Stack wore down DeLaCerda's resistance and then built a substantial lead of his own over the latter portion of the race to win in 12:38, 13 seconds ahead of DeLaCerda. Stack's Salida teammates would hang on for fifth in a field of 21 complete teams.
Isaiah DeLaCerda loses precious ground to Taylor Stack with a near fall in the water crossing. Photo by Alan Versaw
Taylor Stack takes the final strides to the finish with nobody else in sight. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Behind the two front runners, an epic battle was shaping up between three powerhouses of middle school cross country--The Classical Academy of Colorado Springs, Walt Clark of Loveland, and Summit Ridge of Littleton.
TCA's Tanner Norman drew first blood, finishing fourth in 13:07. Walt Clark responded with Jarrett Thollot and Jordan Simington in fifth and sixth. Then it was Michael Oldach of TCA in seventh. Soon the Summit Ridge runners began pouring it, and it became impossible to keep track of the scoring by sight.
When the computer stopped tabulating, it was TCA in first with 32 points, followed by Walt Clark with 36, and Summit Ridge with 51.
This year's state titles go to two programs from Colorado Springs. Defending next year, however, might be a little tougher. With this event now enjoying a bit of success and history, many more programs are likely to be joining the fray next fall.
Will we need a qualification process as early as next year?