COLORADO SPRINGS — Katelyn Maley entered the Class 3A state cross country race as the far and away favorite to win the whole thing.
She didn’t disappoint.
The Basalt junior, who won last year’s individual title and five out the seven races leading up to Saturday’s contest at the Norris Penrose Center, crossed the finish line at 18 minutes, 37.1 seconds. It was a full 10 seconds ahead of second-place Allison Pippert of Stargate (18:47.6).
“It was such a fun race,” Maley said. “I love getting to come out here, especially with my team and just really show what we’ve been working on. Today was definitely tough with the heat. I kind of felt it towards that second mile, but when it comes down at the end of the day, I’m doing it for my team. It’s really awesome to have them out here, all working so hard.”
The junior phenom led from the start but got caught around the two-mile marker. She kicked it into high gear at the water crossing to shake the other girl before letting her mind take over for her body.
“At that point, it’s just pump your arms because your legs are gone,” she said. “You just got to pump your arms and really just envision what it would be like when you cross and it’s going to be over before you know it.”
The Classical Academy, likewise, lived up to their expectations as it repeated for the team title with 52 points to second-place Alamosa’s 72. The Titans leaned on their depth to carry them to victory as two girls from Basalt, Berthoud and TCA all enjoyed top-10 finishes.
Junior Sawyer Wilson embodied the Titan spirit as she pushed through the pain to squeak onto the podium at 10th place (19:29.1).
“I was injured for a while with a stress reaction and so today, I was just like, I’m going to go out there and give it my all,” Wilson said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and so during the last few minutes, there was this sort of drive that just struck me. I was like, ‘I have worked so hard to get here and I have not given up at all.’ I just pushed myself so much so why would I stop right now? Why wouldn’t I give it my all for this last few minutes of the biggest race of the season? I literally just said, ‘You know what? I don’t even care if I die.’”
Her teammate, senior Hope Ahnfeldt, beat her out by 20 seconds for a sixth-place mark (19:09.7).
“Competition is such a gift and we are so grateful to have so many incredible athletes running out here on this beautiful day,” Ahnfeldt said. “It means that we can come out and give it our all and we may win or we may come out in second but whatever happens, we gave it our all.”
