Pine Creek's Zachary Alhamra has high hopes in 5A boys cross country - Colorado High School Activities Association

Pine Creek’s Zachary Alhamra, a talent since he entered high school, feels he hadn’t discovered his potential yet.

“I came into high school as the dominant Colorado runner for the freshman class and no other freshman could touch me,” Alhamra said. “Towards the end of my freshman year, I kind of had a plateau and that plateau continued into my sophomore year and the entire year I only improved a few seconds in each of my events.”

“I went into last season a little apprehensive,” Alhamra admitted of his mindset entering his junior cross country season, a year after placing 12th at the Class 5A state meet as a sophomore.

After surprising himself a little with a third-place finish at a loaded Arapahoe Warrior Invite to kick off his junior campaign, Alhamra could see the opportunity for a breakout season.

“I told myself, why not take first and do some incredible things this season,” Alhamra said. “Next race I took second to Cerake (Geberkidane) in my division and just kept the ball rolling from there.

"At Liberty Bell, I took first with a significant PR of 15 seconds. Rim Rock, which is in Kansas, I had a very good race and took third. From then on I just decided I’m going to take second place to Cerake at the 5A state meet.”

Alhamra was enjoying his best season yet, but had a mental barrier to overcome the week before the state championships.

“Where it really got interesting was the week before at the regional meet,” Alhamra said. “The weekend before the meet, I got sick, and it almost seemed like déjà vu. My freshman year, I got sick the same exact weekend and I ended up collapsing a hundred meters from the finish line at the regional meet and didn’t qualify for state.

"This was my first time ever returning to the course since that event occurred. I was sick and wasn’t feeling the greatest about it and even during the race, I remember I wasn’t feeling too good physically, but I just stayed behind Connor Weaver (of Mountain Vista).

“Last half mile, I decided to sprint him out there instead of waiting until it got too close to the finish,” Alhamra noted. “I basically just ended the race by taking a big surge and creating a gap between us. I ended up winning the race and then going into state, I recovered from my cold.”

Alhamra put the icing on the cake of a wildly successful fall by accomplishing his goal of placing second at the 5A state meet behind one of the best runners in state history, Denver East’s Geberkidane, an Oklahoma State signee. Alhamra went on to qualify for the Nike National Championships and placed 20th, second out of Colorado runners behind fourth-place Geberkidane.

The Pine Creek senior, the leading returner in 5A boys cross country, has high hopes for his last high school season. He is drawing inspiration from last year’s state champion.

Alhamra, a young man who comes across as confident but not arrogant, said, “Cerake was kind of like that beacon out in the distance that I would like to be chasing after. Even though he’s graduated, my main competitor, as far as what I’m focusing on this year, is his times from last year. I want to see if I can match or break his times.

“The state meet, obviously I want to be dominant and take first,” Alhamra added of his goals. “I would like to go undefeated in Colorado and I would like to return to Nike Nationals and qualify for Foot Locker Nationals, as well.”

Alhamra, boasting a 4.76 GPA, has been hearing from several Ivy League schools, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Austin. He’s also received some interest from his dream school, Stanford.

Alhamra said he’s looking for the best combination of academics and running at the next level but for now he’s focused on continuing to tap into his potential at Pine Creek.

“I just had an every race was better than the last type of season,” Alhamra said of his junior cross country campaign.

Alhamra appears to be the state title favorite, but will have competition from a deep group of talent including the likes of Thornton’s Joshua Joseph, Smoky Hill’s Blake Yount, Rampart’s Ben Dingman and Chaparral’s Dom Compoz, all top-10 finishers at the 2013 state meet.

Mountain Vista has claimed the team crown the last two years, but lost a great senior class with front-runners Connor Weaver and Andrew Walton departed.

The strength of the Golden Eagles’ young talent should put them right in the thick of it again. Chaparral, Fort Collins, Arapahoe and Monarch look poised to contend.