Jenna McCaffrey is one of a relatively few of this year's top seniors who was on the radar screen in a big way as an 8th grader.
Isaiah DeLaCerda is one of a small handful of top senior boys this year you might have projected from the 2012 middle school state meet and the USATF-CO 13-14 championship race of that year.
Race leaders both collapse to the ground in this stunning video
State meet merges from all the completed 2016 state championship cross country meets so far this season. All classification/division races in each state combined into mega results merge!
Monarch had the second-best overall program score in 5A, falling behind only Mountain Vista. Photo by Karen McCoy.
What does the team scoring look like when we take only the top 20 boys teams from all divisions of the state meet and score them against one another? Photo by Jeff McCoy.
What does the team scoring look like when we take only the top 21 girls teams from all divisions of the state meet and score them against one another? Photo by Jeff McCoy.
The answer to one of our ten questions. Photo by Karen McCoy.
Among the stellar seniors we bid farewell to on Saturday were 5A standouts Lauren Gregory and Brie Oakley. Photo by Karen McCoy.
Brie Oakley embarks on a 17-minute journey. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
Mountain Vista's Jenna Fitzsimmons had the top freshman girl time at state this year, but running right up her back was Brynn Siles of Legacy. Photo by Alan Versaw.
If you had a hunch that 3A Region 2 was a stacked region this year, it turns out you were right about that. Photo by Alan Versaw.
By midway through the race, Tanner Norman was running unaccompanied after an unusually competitive first mile. Photo by Alan Versaw.
As the race descends into the creek crossing, Isaac Green holds a slim lead over Joshua Romine. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
When others were wilting, Chloe Veilleux had more than enough left at the end. Photo by Alan Versaw.
In complete command of the race with 200 meters to go, Maria Mettler heads toward home. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Peak to Peak's girls celebrate a team title that came in extraordinary fashion. Photo by Alan Versaw.
The white of Palmer Ridge was in evidence early, but not as a flag of surrender. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
Cole Sprout led the parade of freshman boys at State with a 16:10.9. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Jerald Taylor closes out his high school cross country career with a convincing win. Photo by Karen McCoy.
Ivy Gonzales powers her way home on what would prove to be the first step toward a second-consecutive Broomfield girls team title. Photo by Alan Versaw.
The 5A leaders early bore only a faint resemblance to the 5A leaders at the end. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Battle Mountain started out strong, and stayed strong through the race. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Colton Stice and his Gunnison teammates moved up nicely through the course of the 3A Boys race. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Early in the race, Whitney White had the lead, but there was trouble brewing behind her. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Jenna Fitzsimmons and Mountain Vista held the team lead early, but could not quite manage to keep it. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Brandon Swenson and Henry Barth were out strong early, but the eventual leaders weren't too far behind. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Kayla Young and Quinn McConnell would end up 1-2, but there would be a lot of shuffling of places behind them. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Vanguard, Peyton, and Lyons started conservatively. It paid off big for two of the three. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Battle Mountain had the hunting party out early in the 4A Girls race. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Five battles we're excited to see at this weekend's slate of state championships
Your top ten may not match my top ten point for point, much less in my ordering of things, but I'm guessing these questions are on a lot of folks' minds as we approach tomorrow's state meet.
Virtual meet rankings by classification/division heading into all the major state championship meets for this upcoming weekend across the nation. On tap this weekend, there will be state championships in Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Beware of unharnessed blobs of blue on the course on Saturday. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Alamosa has a habit of making this the last view most teams ever see of them at a meet. Photo by Alan Versaw.
The current Widefield team has been four years developing. It all comes together for one final effort in these uniforms on Saturday. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Rocky Ford brings back-to-back meet titles into the state meet on Saturday. Photo by Alan Versaw.
It is possible to get out in front of Salida, it's just much more difficult to stay there. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Jerald Taylor's stellar season could come down to a rematch at state with Ben Kelley. Photo by Alan Versaw.
See here how to run virtual meets for the 2016 Colorado State Cross Country meet.
We have a new, and quite different, schedule of races for this year's state meet.
Look for a few minor changes at state cross country as a result of the new field sizes. Photo by Erin Percy.
2A cross country will run six and score three at state this year, just like it did last year. Photo by Alan Versaw.