3A boys cross country: Edwards sets the pace as TCA claims individual and team crowns

COLORADO SPRINGS – Knowing how finishing in second place feels like, The Classical Academy was determined to set a tone.

That’s exactly what Matthew Edwards did. He was one of three runners taking an early lead in the Class 3A boys cross country race. By the conclusion of the second mile, he had pulled well ahead and crossed the finish line at 15 minutes 34.5 seconds to win the state title.

TCA had three runners finish in the top 10 and they needed every bit of them as the Titans held off a tough Salida team to capture the team championship.

“None of us anticipated the run that Salida was going to have,” coach Alan Versaw said. “I think 11 of the top 20 finishers were either TCA or Salida. They score 48 points and finished second? We got pushed to the max today.”

And it can all be pinpointed back to Edwards setting that tone early and working to build a solid lead. The Titans knew that his pace and the finish of the next few guys in the pack would be essential to dethroning Frontier Academy as team champions.

“It was crucial because I don’t have as good a kick as those guys,” Edwards said. “I run this course all the time, so I’m used to the hills. I knew if I set a past pace that I could just go from there.”

The key was making sure that everyone coming in behind came in at the right clip. Fending off Salida was never an issue prior to the race or even during the race. The Titans had Frontier Academy on their minds the entire time.

Knowing that Edwards was a favorite to win, his teammates were determined to contribute in their way to keep the overall score as low as possible.

“It takes five to score,” Chandler Wilburn said. “We have a great team because we have depth.”

But they knew that depth was only good as long as the runners could perform their tasks.

“It looked to me like if Matthew got and it did his thing and our pack came out and stayed below 20^th, if I was even below seventh, then that was it,” Wilburn said. “I started passing guys near the end and I knew that we had put it together.”

Wliburn notched a fourth-place finish, just behind Edwards, Eaton’s Logan Gullett and Manitou Springs’ Henry Ilyasova.

As great as it would sound to say that pure emotion was the fire that powered TCA through the race, but the runners and coaches know better. The fire for this win was started when the Titans finished second a year ago, but the true fuel came from the work that they put in through the course of the season.

“(A second-place finish) can get you started, but it can’t get you across the line,” Versaw said. “Without paying the dues all year long and without buckling down and refusing to be denied, it doesn’t happen.”

Now what happens is teams will turn their attention to the Titans in the offseason. Four the top six TCA finishers return to the team next year and they know that teams will be out to get them the way they were out to avenge their second-place finish from a year ago.

“It puts a target on our back,” Wilburn said. “Frontier Academy was the defending champion. That’s how we looked at them this year and that’s how people will look at us next year.”