CHSAANow

Category: Girls Cross Country

  • Air Academy cross country freshman Bethany Michalak stunned herself with Friday’s finish

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    COLORADO SPRINGS — Bethany Michalak took a quick glance at her watch as she neared the finish line at the Norris Penrose Event Center.

    Yet, the announcement of her time still came as shock. At 17 minutes, 27.5 seconds, she had blitzed the field on the first day of the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede cross country meet.

    She crossed the line with her hand over mouth, trying to process what had just happened.

    “I was not expecting that at all,” she said. “I’ve run a 17:36 on a flat course so my goal today was to be at 18:30 or lower.”

    She erred on the side of lower. Not since the days of Katie Rainsberger has an Air Academy runner been so dominant at Norris Penrose.

    Her general running strategy has even benefitted her at the same venue where she’s hoping to capture state gold. She’s familiar with the course, having seen it several times before stepping in the door of Air Academy High School. All it took was putting plan to action and it turned out better than she could have hoped for.

    “I like to go really fast to create some distance and get my speed going,” she said. “Ive trained on this course a lot, so that second mile area I know really well. I just give it my all.”

    The Stampede serves as the pre-state meet and although it’s typically held earlier in the season, it will be a vital glimpse of the State course ahead of October’s championship run.

    Friday’s races featured the top Colorado Springs Class 4A boys and girls runners. They went a day ahead so that the meet could comply with COVID-19 mandates and still have a full meet on Saturday.

    Cheyenne Mountain’s Erik Le Roux won the boys race, crossing the finish line in 15:48, 41 seconds faster than Palmer Ridge Colby Schultz.

    But the star of the day was Michalak who is quickly emerging as one of the top freshmen not just in Colorado, but the entire country.

    Her win at Norris Penrose gave her plenty of confidence not just in her ability to run the course at a winning speed, but also maintain a pace that keeps other competitors at a comfortable distance behind her.

    She’s looking forward to running the trail again next month.

    “I would love to hit that time, if not faster, at state,” she said. “I was not expecting that at all today so I’m just hoping I can be right there.”

    The Cheyenne Mountain Stampede continues on Saturday as teams across the state will get their preview of how the course will be laid out in October. Saturday’s slate will kick off at 9:45 a.m. with the 4A boys run.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

  • Cross country: Eaton grabs wins at Wolverine Invitational

    The cold weather didn’t slow things down too much as Eaton’s Logan Gullett and Andie Rasmussen set the tone for all cross country runners at Wednesday’s Frontier Academy Wolverine Invite.

    Gullett cleared the finish line in 16 minutes, 55.2 seconds to win the boys race while Rasmussen finished in 20:04.9 to take the girls title.

    Although Eaton got first place finishes in both races, it was unable to grab team win in the event.

    Heritage Christian Academy got a second-place finish from Xander Stanton and teammate Ryan O’Loughlin finished sixth to get the Eagles the overall team win.

    Estes Park’s Nolan Marske took third at 17:18.8 while Northridge had Colton Magnuson and Jaeden Nelson finish fourth and fifth, respectively.

    Northridge had a much better showing in the girls race as Victoria Perales took fourth and Karley Beck took sixth. Overall the Grizzlies had four girls finish in the top 10 which gave them enough points to get a team victory.

    Estes Park lost a close battle for that top team spot but got a solid showing from its top runners. Freshman Heather Russell took fifth at 21:55.2 and Charlotte Raymond’s 22:16.8 was good for eighth.

    Heritage Christian’s Ainsley Stanton finished second overall at 20:45.3 and Severance’s Hannah Schissler finished third at 20:56.7.

  • SMAC information regarding poor air quality from smoke

    As wildfires across Colorado continue to burn, the air quality across the state is a concern. Please see the following information from the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.

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    ATTENTION ATHLETIC TRAINERS

    As you may be aware, our state is currently experiencing wildfires in various locations throughout the state.  As a result, air quality throughout our state, and in the affected areas specifically, has been impacted.  We urge you to visit the SMAC Handbook and Air Quality section of the Sports Medicine page on CHSAANow for helpful information.

    As referenced from the CHSAA Sports Medicine Handbook:

    AIR QUALITY INDEX (AQI)

    The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for you.

    MANAGEMENT

    • Distance runners should avoid running next to busy roadways.
    • Ozone exposure can be lessened by early morning work outs.
    • Athletes with asthma must be carefully monitored when AQI is above 100.
    • Athletes with asthma should always have a rescue inhaler readily available.
    • Practices, contests, and outdoor activities should be modified or moved indoors when AQI is above 100 and consideration given to rescheduling or moving them when AQI is greater than 200.

    In order to quickly assess the daily AQI in your area, please refer to this website:

    Detailed Air Quality Summary

    Other resources for information on air quality:

  • Photos: George Washington girls, Bear Creek boys win the SkyView Academy cross country invite

    George Washington’s girls team and Bear Creek’s boys team won the SkyView Academy cross country invite on Saturday.

  • Standley Lake’s Abernethy claims Ralston Valley cross country invite title

    (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Sophia Abernethy could cross the finish line and not have to worry about what was happening immediately behind her.

    The Standley Lake senior had pulled well ahead of the field and crossed the finish line in 20 minutes, 53.3 seconds to take the win at the Ralston Valley cross country invite. Arvada West’s Amelie Bauer finished in 22:17.3 to take second place.

    Ralston Valley claimed first place as a team thanks to getting five finishers in the top 10, including freshmen Teya Varela and Ainsley Kelver.

    The boys race was dominated by Arvada West. Senior Logan Deison crossed the finish line in 17:27.1 and was only in danger of getting caught by two of his teammates.

    Overall, the Wildcats had six runners finish in the top 10 of the race. Since only four get scored, Deison, David Rhoades, Dominic Danborn and Gabe Schultz gave the team 10 points, the absolute best score a team can record.

    Pomona got two top-10 finishers to take second place and host Ralston Valley finished third. Pomona junior Dylan Jenkins was the top non-Arvada West finisher at 18:28.3.

  • Arvada West boys and Chatfield girls win XC team titles at D’Evelyn Dash

    DENVER — The annual D’Evelyn Dash Cross Country Invite looks a lot different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    With new guidelines restricting the number of teams and runners allowed at cross country races, D’Evelyn split its cross country invite into two days. The first day of the varsity-only event featured seven teams — Arvada West, Bear Creek, Chatfield, Columbine, D’Evelyn, Longmont and Lutheran.

    Chatfield girls cruised to the team title led by a pair of impressive freshmen. Chatfield freshman Reese Tucker won the individual title with a time of 18 minutes, 28.4 seconds. Her mile pace with under six minutes. Teammate and fellow freshman Aspen Webb placed second with a time of 19:10.4.

    Columbine junior Elizabeth Fender placed third and a pair of D’Evelyn seniors — Sonja Morin and Kati Livingood — rounded out the top-5.

    On the boys side, Arvada West took the team title. A-West senior Logan Deison, junior David Rhoades and senior Gabe Schultz placed in the top-5 to pace the Wildcats. Longmont junior Connor McCormick won the boys individual title with a time of 16:26.

  • Photos: Vista National Cross Country Two-Mile Invitational

    The Vista Nation XC 2-Mile Invitational brought nine teams together in a cross country race hosted by Mountain Vista.

  • Air Academy, Palmer runners shine in early-season cross country meet

    (Photo courtesy of Blue Anderson/Air Academy High School)

    Air Academy freshman Bethany Michalak wasted no time introducing herself to the cross country landscape.

    At this last weekend’s Doherty Early Bird Open, Michalak competed in her first race as a high school runner and also grabbed her first win. She logged a time of 17 minutes, 36.24 seconds besting the rest of the field by nearly two minutes.

    Her teammate, Ella Chura, finished second at 19:31.29 but by then Michalak had already caught her breath. The Kadets came away with the team win in the four-team race beginning what they hope is a very successful 2020 season.

    Palmer’s Adele Havlick had the best finish for the Terrors at 20:21.48. Doherty junior Kendall Windsor was the top Spartan at 21:46.6 and Coronado junior Allie Leisher was the best Cougar at 22:26.69.

    But the performance of the day clearly went to Michalak. Although the course makeup will be vastly different should she run at state, her sub-18 time is faster than what the state championship time was at Norris Penrose last fall.

    The boys cross country teams for these same schools were also in action over the weekend. Palmer’s Scott Prieve finished first at 16:07.5.

    Coronado junior Zinabu Engstrom finished second while Air Academy’s Alex Maline took third. Like in the girls race it was Air Academy coming away with the top team score. The Kadets had five runners finish in the top 10.

    Avery Whitesell posted the best time for Doherty at 18:32.8.

    Prieve is looking for a special year of his own. He finished ninth in the Class 5A race at the state cross country meet last year. He was the second Terror across the finish line at Norris Penrose as Gus McIntyre was about 27 seconds faster.

    The early-season race at Monument Valley is a long way from the atmosphere that state will provide, but the lesson from the weekend is that there are several kids setting big goals for themselves in 2020.

  • Basalt’s Sierra Bower relishing her chance to claim another cross country title

    Basalt girls cross country Sierra Bower
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    When Sierra Bower crossed the finish line at the Norris Penrose Event Center last fall, it wasn’t joy or elation that she felt from winning the Class 3A girls state cross country title.

    It was relief.

    Her time of 18 minutes, 00.1 seconds is a 3A course record and something she had been aiming for all season. Heading into 2020, she wants to be a good or better but will have a deeper appreciation for that feeling of crossing the finish line at the state meet.

    “That was the goal all year to do that and break that record,” Bower said. “It felt good to finally do that especially because it’s something I think about all the time on my runs and when I’m training.”

    To say the growth she experienced as a runner between her sophomore and junior season was remarkable doesn’t quite do her justice.

    In 2018, she finished 28th in the state race and her time was two minutes behind where she ended her championship run. It was regimented offseason training that led to her being better and it was the same approach she took on in the time since the season ended.

    “It’s hard to peak for state then peak for some of those (regional and national) postseason races that happen in the five or six weeks after,” Basalt coach Ron Lund said. “It’s what you do in between that can have a lot to do with it.”

    This year certainly provides a unique circumstance given the COVID-19 pandemic that has engulfed a lot of high school athletics. She was fortunate enough to claim her state championship a year ago and according to Lund, she has colleges knocking down her door trying to get her to run for them.

    That makes this season’s bid to repeat more about her own personal competitive nature rather than what life after high school is going to look like.

    “From a recruiting standpoint, she doesn’t need to (repeat),” Lund stressed.

    But she wants that satisfaction of being the first runner to cross that finish line once again. With a lot on the line for her a year ago, it was that sense of relief that washed over her when she finished 44 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. If she finds herself in the same position this year, she’ll be able to enjoy the accomplishment for what it is on the surface: a championship run.

    More than that, she just wants to enjoy everything about competing this year.

    “Last year I raced a bunch and never thought a lot about it,” Bower said. “Going into this season I know that nothing is promised. I’m going to take full advantage of a lot of these races. I’m taking each race and almost thinking about it as if it’s my last.”

    Her desire to claim another championship will be powered by that mentality. When the starting gun gets fired, she and hundreds of other runners will take off thinking they have everything to win and nothing to lose.

  • Q&A: Assistant commissioner Jenn Roberts-Uhlig on modifications to cross country’s season

    State cross country generic
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    The cross country season can begin competition on Saturday.

    Before that happens, we caught up with Jenn Roberts-Uhlig, the assistant commissioner in charge of the sport, to talk about key modifications to the sport in order to ensure it complies with state guidelines around the COVID-19 pandemic.

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    Question: How will things look different this season?

    Roberts-Uhlig: Typically, a season will have 11 meets, and that has been reduced to seven. We have shortened the season by two weeks in order to have our state championship event completed prior to the late-fall moratorium.

    In working with the Governor’s COVID Response Team and other health agencies, we worked together to get cross country up and running within the established guidelines. These guidelines allow us to have starts in waves of no more than 25, with a minimum of two minutes between the waves starting.

    Regular season races can have no more than 50 participants total. At regionals, there will be no more than 75 total. At the state meet, it’s 100 per classification, per gender.

    Start and finish lines could look different, and we’ve approved time-trial starts.

    Truly, for cross country — and really, for all of our sports — it is very important that coaches, teams and community members abide by the state guidelines to ensure safety and risk minimization for athletes, and to allow us to finish the season. That’s not just for the regular season. Everyone is going to have to follow these guidelines.

    This means things like wearing masks, appropriate social distancing, and not congregating in one area. The start and finish areas may look different for spectators, as well.

    Q: What about masks?

    Roberts-Uhlig: Athletes are going to be required to have a mask at the start line. As they proceed into a part of the course where they aren’t around a mass of people, they can remove the mask, but it must be back on at the finish line.

    Spectators are going to be required to wear a mask at all times. They need to social distance outside of their family units. Again, we need everyone to follow these guidelines to ensure we can finish the season.

    Q: We’ve already heard about schools moving away from big invitationals and are instead planning dual, triangular, and quad meets. Can you expand on that?

    Roberts-Uhlig: Yes, and this is allowed so long as they meet the requirements of 50 athletes per race.

    This season, we expect to see more of those types of meets as everyone navigates trying to stay within the maximum athletes allowed, and trying to limit the amount of teams participating.

    Also, as league meets and big invitationals navigate this, they are looking at setting up multi-day meets, such as having two races of 50 per day.

    Q: What about the postseason? What is that going to look like?

    Roberts-Uhlig: Qualifying into regionals will look different. We’ll have more information on this soon.

    State will continue to be held at Norris Penrose Event Center on Oct. 17. There will be plenty of time in between races to allow for a transition.

    We are now putting classifications together at the state meet, so, for example, 4A girls and 4A boys will run back-to-back. As soon as those races are over, those participants, coaches and spectators will exit the venue, and the next classification will come in following a buffer of at least an hour. We need to be sure they’re cleared out between races.

    Doing this will allow us to have 100 participants, per classification, per gender at the state event.

    Q: Are you seeing schools add cross country this fall?

    Roberts-Uhlig: Yes, we have had about 10 schools add a program. In addition, existing programs are seeing a lot more kids come out within their school.

    In general, the cross country community is growing as kids are finding that this is a way to participate this fall, and that’s exciting to see.