COLORADO SPRINGS - Jack Nauman soaked in every bit of the final stretch to the finish line at the end of the Class 2A boys state cross country race Saturday afternoon.
The Heritage Christian senior had been on the same patch of dirt at the Norris Penrose Event Center at state three times before in years past and there had been three runners to get there before him in 2021, 10 in his sophomore year and 26 in his freshman race.
But in his final chance, it was Nauman all alone as he held off the challenge of Lake County senior Jace Peters and enjoyed the sweetness of victory all the way until he crossed the finish line with a winning time of 15 minutes, 55.1 seconds.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for four years to run in here by myself,” Nauman said. “I almost got it at pre-state last year, but state is a different animal, so I’m excited.”
Nauman said he got injured during track season in the spring and added more weight lifting to his training regiment, which helped him make it through the season healthy.
It also helped him hold off a challenge from Peters, who ran in his shadow for the majority of the race before he eventually pulled away with about a half-mile left.
“Coming through the two-mile mark, I heard footsteps and looked back and saw Jace’s purple uniform and I was like ‘I have to drop the hammer now,’” Nauman said. “He has a nasty kick, so I didn’t want wait too long. I couldn’t risk it.”
Peters, who also made his fourth appearance at the state meet, credited Nauman with pushing him to new heights as he finished in 16:21.3 and greatly improved on his career-best seventh-place finish from last season.
“It felt great, my plan going into the race was tail Jack and see how far that could take me and it ended up taking me through about a half-mile left,” said Peters, who pushed through his discomfort to hold his spot to the finish line.
“Then my legs started tightening up and I had to let him go, but that was my plan and gosh I couldn’t be happier,” he added. “My mom was a state champion in Mississippi, so I’ve really wanted to be a state champion, but Jack is a great runner, so I couldn’t be happier with second place. That was amazing."
While Heritage Christian had the state champion in Nauman and the third-place finisher in senior Ryan O’Loughlin, it was St. Mary’s — which came in an agonizing three points behind Heritage Christian the previous season — that had the depth to come out on top in a race in which teams run six runners and score just four, less than in the higher classifications.
To that end, the fourth-place finish of senior Lyndon Gotelaere and senior Jackson Neppl’s 10th place result (sixth in team scoring) led the way for St. Mary’s. Though that still left the Pirates behind Heritage Christian through two runners, the winning results came from junior James Beam and senior Alex Bodnar. Peyton was just four points behind Heritage Christian in third place.
The top 10 also included Strasburg’s Dawit James (5th), Front Range Christian’s Evan Keys (6th), Jay Wood of Thomas Maclaren Charter School (8th), Andrew Bel of Colorado Springs Christian School (9th) and Nathan Schluessler of Peyton in 10th.
