All wrapped up in the finish banner, Paul Roberts claims what could be but the first in a long list of state titles. Photo by Karen McCoy.
There was a lot of trail-blazing at Bear Creek Park in Colorado Springs yesterday--mostly of the bootleg variety--but you may want to pay closer attention to the trail blazed by Lyons High School.
When the last Lyons parents slipped into their cars and left the premises of the Norris Penrose Event Center, they had to know it was a red-letter day in the school's history.
The girls had kicked it off with a pair of seconds--a team second and an individual second for Miriam Roberts. But the best was yet to come.
The boys race was an exercise in domination. Paul Roberts was never threatened, seriously or otherwise. There's been a state champion in the family before, but older brother Andrew earned his state title in a much more blue-collar fashion. Lanky younger brother Paul simply run away from people.
And, it's no accident of being in 2A that produced Roberts' victory. Only Denver East's Ashi Geberkidane ran a faster time all day. The footnote, of course, on Roberts' run is that he appears to become the first freshman boy ever to win a Colorado state cross country title.
But, Roberts barely had time for the perspiration to start forming on his face before the question of the team title was settled. Brothers Marcel and Joel Such closed out the scoring for Lyons in places four and eight. Team scoring went 1-3-7, as the place for Rangely's William Scoggins was discarded for purposes of team scoring. Lyons was pretty well covered in fourth as well as Matt Dillon's 14 points beat the third scoring runner beat the third scoring runner from every other school in the race, plus all but two of the second scoring runners.
Not lost on anyone in the Lyons camp was the fact that this was a first cross country team title for a school that has been oh-so-close too many times to count. At long last, a gold cross country trophy will join the collection of trophies from other sports in the school trophy case. And it was a fitting way to break in those new uniforms shipped to the school by the Greek goddess of victory.
While it's a little too soon to start predicting next year's outcome, the future looks bright for the Lions. Their top four was composed of two freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior. It may be some consolation to the assembled 2A masses that Lyons doesn't appear to be bringing up any new ringers from the junior high program next year.
You can't help but notice, however, the youth movement among 2A boys. There were only two seniors among the top ten finishers, Scoggins and Dylan Newell of Telluride. Of the remaining eight, there were three freshmen, three sophomores, and two juniors. Only two more seniors dotted the list of the top 20. If you're looking for motivation to get your summer training in next year, it starts right there.
While Lyons ran away with the team title, Hotchkiss's hopes headed a different direction. Cody Bartlett joined a long list of folks who races gave no indication of the level they had competed at all season. Hotchkiss would slip to fourth in the team tally. The western slope was, however, very nicely represented by a strong run from the Telluride Miners. Freshman Jack Plantz, finishing fifth overall, led the Miners to a strong second-place finish, one portended by last week's regional result.
Individually, Peyton's Jake Erickson absorbed his first defeat of the season at the hands of 2A competition since the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede. But the sophomore sensation will be back next year and, undoubtedly, with an extra measure of motivation. And, with Simla moving back to 2A track and field this spring, we could see more of the Roberts/Erickson matching in track and field this spring.