This week's athletes of the meet both dominated their large-school league competitions. Photos by Alan Versaw.
For Connor Lockwood, this has been nothing short of a breakthrough season. On Friday, the junior from Arvada West High School won the highly competitive 5A Jefferson Country League Meet in a time of 16:14, finishing ahead of his nearest competitor by 14 seconds.
Progressing steadily all season, this was Lockwood’s first meet title in a large meet filled with very fast competition. Lockwood, who has never competed in a state competition for cross country or track, only just recently began on this road to improvement. “I started training pretty hard over the summer,” Lockwood said, “I also began taking my racing more seriously while also having fun and relaxing while I compete.”
Lockwood’s success this season may be taking other athletes by surprise but for Lockwood, this spike in performance is something that was somewhat expected. “My coach has been telling me this would happen,” Lockwood said, “He’s had high hopes for me all season and it felt good to prove him right on Friday.”
Now, Lockwood looks toward competing in his first cross country state meet. “This race from Leagues definitely gives me more confidence for state,” Lockwood said. “I’ve raced all the top people in the state but I don’t think I was running to my full level in those races. Hopefully I’ll run my best at State and we’ll see what happens with the rest of the competition.”
For Erin Hooker, a senior out of Fort Collins High School, her win in Friday’s Front Range League Meet marks another successful result as part of another very impressive cross country season for the athlete. Hooker won the meet in 17:23 and set a new personal record for herself.
“I was more surprised by the result than anything,” Hooker said, “The night before my legs weren’t feeling very good so I was wondering if I would run the race at all. That day I woke up and my legs felt great so I decided I would just run it with no pressure and just see what happens.”
The result of that decision was another very impressive performance.
“The season has gone really well so far both with the individual aspect and the team aspect,” Hooker said, “My teammates have seen great results after a hard summer of training and our times have been consistently fast. Everything’s coming together and we are all motivated by that.”
That motivation now propels Hooker and her very talented team to the State meet.
“This state meet will be really fun because everyone is so good and there are so many good teams,” Hooker said, “We want to be the ones who come out on top but really anyone could win it. The talent in the state right now is crazy.”
As Hooker continues to stay focused on the competitions in front of her, as a senior she can’t help but reflect back on how far she has come since she started running competitively as a freshman. “I’m really thankful for my coach who has helped me continue to get better consistently each year,” Hooker said. “I think that’s what I’m most proud of - continuing to improve each year. It’s great to see how far I’ve come but I’m excited to continue to see where I’ll be in the future.”
Based off of their performances this weekend at their respective League competitions, the futures of both Lockwood and Hooker look extremely promising. As this week’s athletes of the week, Colorado Track XC congratulates both athletes and wishes them the best as they continue to finish out their seasons strong.