Heather Bates

Andrew Walton led Colorado's male contingent of finishers at Foot Locker Midwest. Photo by John Walton.

In the highly-decorated class of 2013 5A girls, Melanie Nun, Erin Hooker, and Heather Bates are among the most decorated. Photos by Jeff McCoy.

Midway through the girls championship race, Elise Cranny, Heather Bates, and Katie Rainsberger were firmly entrenched among the top four. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Led by a 6-7 finish (3-4 in team scoring) from Shea Martinez and Ellie Child, Davis took away top honors in the Nike-Southwest regional. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Bernie Montoya, Elise Cranny take NXNSW wins! Domanic, Jochen take NXNS wins! Southlake Carroll dominated team titles at NXNS! (Photo of Montoya winning by Margot Kelly)

Did I hear you say you live for great individual match-ups? Your ship has come in!

  MileSplit’s National Cross Country Rankings

Our panel of coaches picks the top seven female cross country runners in Colorado for 2012.

  MileSplit’s National Cross Country Rankings

Isabelle Kennedy and Emma Gee made huge strides forward in the ranks of 5A girls distance runners this fall. Photos by Jeff McCoy/Paul Jaeger.

Things get a little intense on the state meet starting line. Photo by Jeff McCoy.

  MileSplit’s National Cross Country Rankings

Pine Creek's Heather Bates breaks the tape all alone, but it took some late rewriting of the script to get us to this point. Photo by Karen McCoy.

Bismarck gets 8 straight state titles, Leingang wins individually. Burcham and Drazba set records in WV.  Alli Cash takes KS 6A state title! US#1 Edward Cheserek blasts 14:18 5k! (Photo courtesy of Bismarck HS)

Luke Sheesley and Ben Ervin are two stalwarts on a Fort Collins team that has become much better this fall than anyone outside the program expected. Colorado Track XC file photo.

There's more than one reason to like Lyons as a race venue. Photo by Renee Haip.

You rarely see the Mountain Vista guys running alone, and certainly not on Thursday. Photo by Alan Vesaw.

Elissa Mann and Claire Green are two of Monarch's seven girls who've run below 19:00 at some point during this season. Photos by Alan Versaw.

It wasn't just that they won in their respective races this weekend, it was the kind of messages they sent. Photos by Alan Versaw/Ashley Green.

Several of the left. the race's top finishers can be identified at the front of the pack in this photo from the early stages of the Windjammer girls race, but eventual winner Erin Norton is biding her time on the left. Photo by Kelli Noto.

The new sheriff in town. His posse rides behind him. Photo by Kelli Noto.