The Colorado High School Cross Country State Championships will take place on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Norris Penrose Events Center. Cheyenne Mountain will also host a Pre-State Meet this Friday, Aug. 23, where high schools across the state can come and run the exact state meet course.
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One very large question loomed over Colorado high school cross country on Halloween morning, 2011. After taking a beating over a rigorous course layout and a legendary case of traffic gridlock on East Quincy Avenue leaving the state meet, Smoky Hill High School made it known they would not be putting in a bid for the next two-year cycle of hosting the state championships.
Problem was, there wasn’t exactly a clamor of schools looking to host the event in 2012.
Pueblo School District 60 had put in bids only a few years before for the Elmwood Golf Course Short Nine, but the combined factors of limited parking and only one narrow foot bridge between the two sections of the course spelled doom for any hopes of bringing the state meet back to Pueblo. The Colorado State Cross Country Championships had simply outgrown the storied Pueblo venue.
In the middle of all the uncertainty, though, one man stepped forward with a plan. That man was the now-retired coach at Cheyenne Mountain High School, Stan Lambros. Lambros’ vision was to bring the state meet to the Norris Penrose Event Center and Bear Creek Regional Park on the west side of Colorado Springs.
One thing was certain: Norris Penrose had enough parking to handle the state meet well into the future. Two matters of lesser certainty, however, concerned the traffic situation departing the state meet and the suitability of the course for state competition.
While the traffic situation would evolve over the years, it relied on scheduling to help it eventually land where it is now—with a morning session of two classifications and an afternoon session for the other two classifications. The Unified/Paralympic race lands between the two sessions and helps to provide a bit of breathing room for the parking lots to empty and then fill again.
The time that it takes to leave the venue has proven to be well within the bounds of tolerable.
The course suitability issues would prove more difficult to iron out.
“The initial pushback was beyond fierce,” explained Sean O’Day, current cross country coach at Cheyenne Mountain High School. “I look back and agree some of that was warranted… but I believe the course’s biggest flaw was the immediate bottleneck of the course crossing [at 400 meters].”
Some felt the biggest problem with the course was the long climb up the signature hill of Bear Creek Regional Park followed by a steep descent, but it didn’t matter. It soon became apparent to all that a reconfiguration would be necessary.
That reconfiguration came in 2015, and the course has remained essentially unchanged since. Athletes now have 1200 meters to sort things out before crossing a bridge (rather than the original creek crossing) from Norris Penrose to Bear Creek Park.
Although the massive hill – known as Big Willis – has given way to rolling terrain on the east end of the Bear Creek Regional Park property, there is no flat to be found at Bear Creek. The rolling section of the course now blends seamlessly with the overall character of the park.
The inbound creek crossing remains the same as on the original course. Alongside the stadium finish, it ranks atop the signature elements of the course and makes delightful use of the small creek running between the park and event center properties.
When asked now what he thinks, O’Day offered his assessment of the new course layout and venue.
“[The course] requires thoughtful planning on when [to push] and how to run it, without being gimmicky,” he explained. “The parking, bathrooms, team camp areas… it’s a large venue that can handle a ton of traffic in all forms. And the backdrop of the mountains right behind the course is iconic.”
He seems to be satisfied.
What has resulted from the reconfiguration is an unprecedented permanence of location for the state cross country meet. The past 12 state meets have been at Norris Penrose/Bear Creek. The last nine of those meets have used the current course configuration.
Both of those tallies represent new standards of continuity for Colorado high school cross country. Prior to Norris Penrose, the longest run of consecutive state meets in one location was a span of five consecutive years (1985-89) in Pueblo, another span of five years (1998-2002) on the campus of the Kent Denver School and associated trails, and a third span of five years (2003-07) at El Pomar/The Vineyards in Colorado Springs.
This fall’s state meet will mark 13 years at the Norris Penrose venue, tying it with the total number of state meets held in Pueblo and placing it well ahead of all other venues in use since CHSAA went to 3-mile courses in 1977 and then to 5K courses in 1981.
Records are also becoming legitimized now. With a consistent course over a period of time, it’s more realistic to be able to compare race results and identify standout performances. In fact, last year alone – three of the eight races saw a new course record set, as Vanguard School’s Nadhia Camps (18:19.1, 2A girls), The Classical Academy’s Matthew Edwards (15:20.7, 3A boys) and Niwot’s Addison Ritzenhein (17:39.0, 4A girls) all topped the previous records set for their classifications.
Behind that newfound permanence, however, lies something deeper that’s easy to miss. Without the longtime spirit of volunteerism within the Cheyenne Mountain community, led by Cheyenne Mountain Athletic Director Kris Roberts, the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) would have had to find a new state venue long ago.
“Our parents are the ‘it’ factor in holding a successful meet,” O’Day stated. “The medical tent is staffed mostly by Cheyenne Mountain parent alums that just happen to be physicians, EMTs, PTs, etc. The chain of command and number of course marshals we can provide is mindboggling for a 4A-sized school. Our JV boys and girls gladly stand at their posts and cheer on runners for all the races.
“It takes a village, and honestly, the fact that our village is so invested in this meet is one of the reasons we’re still hosting a dozen years in.”
It just might be the biggest reason.