Miranda Benzel

The top girls performances delivered at the Liberty Bell Cross Country Invitational in meet history.

Beavercreek's Taylor Ewert (OH) ran the 13th all-time fastest girls 5K at the NXN National Championships en route to a 3rd place finish in 2018.

Colorado has a tradition of strong performances at Nike Southwest, though those performances have been heavily tilted toward the girls to date.

State qualification by performance was the biggest change in 4A and 5A track this spring. How is it working out so far?

Castle View's Chris Ganem muscled to wins in the 800 and 1600 meters at the Liberty Lancer Invitational on Saturday. Photo by Alan Versaw.  

Smoky Hill's Vanessa Samuel, above, returns to defend her state title in the 300 hurdles. (Photo by Alan Versaw)

Eleanor Fulton raised a few eyebrows with a 17:45 finish for third place. Photo by Alan Versaw  

 It doesn't get closer than this! Colorado senior Laura Tremblay (pictured left) edges out Arizona junior Jessica Tonn (pictured right) at the finish.  More photos and race video's coming soon!

Dart Schwaderer (Wheat Ridge, CO) passes Jon Nelson (Timpview, UT) on the final stretch to win the individual title of the boys championship race at NXN SW.

2008 Colorado Track XC Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year -- Allie McLaughlin

Kristen Kientz of Highlands Ranch, this year's freshman phenom in the 5A ranks, has helped transform Highlands Ranch from a mid-level state team to a top-five level team this year.

A good day to be in purple... Miranda Benzel, Sam Lewis, and Kelsey Lakowske work a small early lead at the Front Range Conference Championships on Friday (photo courtesy of Jim Lewis).  

The leaders of the pack. Left to right, Laura Tremblay, Alicia Nelson, Miranda Benzel, Camille Logan, and Dominique Gerard run in front in the Centerra Division 1 race (photo by Susan Carter).

Some things--like the domination of the New Mexico boys--played out according to expectations. Other things did not.

It's rare to see such a great early season match-up take place, but that's what happened Thursday evening in Colorado. The top two ranked Midwest boys, Bobby Nicolls (pictured far right by Ken Regan) and Evan Appel, squared off for the first of what could be a few battles this season, while many other top Colorado teams and individuals took to the 5k spread at the Poudre SD Pre-State Cross Country Invitational in Fort Collins.

Last year's 5A state meet produced perhaps the most stunning margin of victory ever in girls' cross country in Colorado. There had been a buzz of anticipation about what Dakota Ridge was putting together, but the decisiveness of their margin of victory caught everyone off guard. The element of surprise will be missing this year for Dakota Ridge, as will Alexa Rogers, but the Eagles figure to be among the contenders again this year.   Allie McLaughlin, at left, returns with hopes of staying healthy through the entire season and proving that the first month of last fall's cross country season was no fluke.

For some high school distance runners, the state track meet simply isn't enough. For these people there is the Bolder Boulder.