Girls Cross Country Regionals Round Up
Photo: Tim McDonald/lifethroughthelensphotos.com
Individual region recaps and results:
Class 2A: 2A Region 1
Class 3A: 3A Region 1 \ 3A Region 4 \ 3A Region 5
Class 4A: 4A Region 1 \ 4A Region 2 \ 4A Region 3 \ 4A Region 4 \ 4A Region 5
Class 5A: 5A Region 1 \ 5A Region 2 \ 5A Region 4 \ 5A Region 5
AURORA – There were 13 regional champions crowned across all four classifications at today’s cross country regional championships throughout the state. Heritage Christian claimed the lone title handed out in Class 2A today, while Aspen, The Classical Academy and Timnath were crowned champions in Class 3A. Cheyenne Mountain, Conifer, Niwot and Windsor captured the Class 4A regional titles and in Class 5A, Air Academy, Cherry Creek, Fossil Ridge and Mountain Vista came away with championships.
LYONS – Heritage Christian had a dominant performance at the Girls 2A Region 1 Cross Country Championship at Lyons Middle Senior High School.
Heritage Christian captured the first-place team finish (10 points) and had seven top-10 finishers – Mikaela Kendall (20:22, placing first), Ainsley Stanton (20:38, placing second), Lilly Lukens (20:43, placing third), Emma Lukens (20:54, placing fourth), Faith Lee (21:42, placing seventh), Juliana Lundy (22:14, placing ninth) and Kate Lukens (22:22, placing 10th).
Byers’ Quincy Bowling (21:20, placing fifth), Merino’s Kya Piel (21:21, placing sixth) and Lyons’ Leah Shelton (21:43, placing eighth), were the other individual racers in the top 10.
Lyons (52 points), Loveland Classical (59 points), Merino (80 points) and Nederland (102) were the other teams in the top five.
MORRISON – Aspen was the top team at the Girls 3A Region 1 Cross Country Championship at D’Eveyln High School and Feheringer Open Space, tallying 63 points. Aspen was led to their tremendous finish by Annabelle Case (21:41, placing fourth), Ela Stevenson (21:56, placing eighth), and Julia Diaz (21:57), all of whom finished in the top 10.
Delta, which finished outside the top-five teams, and Middle Park, which finished second (86), also had multiple racers place in the top 10. Delta’s Paige Kehmeier (21:01) was the individual champion and was joined in the top 10 by Shayla Curtis (21:54), who placed seventh. Middle Park’s Margo Redding (21:51) placed sixth and teammate Briell Eaton-Ahrens (21:58) placed 10th.
Sabrea Schulte (21:18, placing second) helped guide D’Evelyn (108) to a fifth-place team finish, while Basalt’s Isabella Moon (21:28, placing third) helped the Longhorns (86) tie for second place, where they lost the tiebreak to Middle Park. In fourth place was Colorado Academy, being represented in the top 10 by Layne Ballenger (21:46, finishing fifth).
GREELEY – Isabel Allori earned the fastest time (17:38) and helped guide Liberty Commons (82 points) to a second-place team finish at the Girls 3A Region 4 Cross Country Championship at Monfort Park.
Timnath (67 points) managed to beat out Liberty Commons, thanks in part to their top-10 finishers – Izzy Schimmelpfennig (18:43, placing third) and Addison Geraets (19:08, placing fourth).
Eaton (115 points, placing fifth) and Resurrection Christian (86 points, placing third) were also led by top-10 individuals. Eaton had Delaney Reuter (18:16, placing second) and Andie Rasmussen (19:30, placing seventh) in the top 10, while Resurrection Christian was represented by Elizabeth Roberts (19:09, placing fifth) and Joy Koole (19:47, placing ninth).
Berthoud’s Jaycee Williams (19:12, placing sixth) and Sydney Slauson (19:42, placing eighth), along with Frontier Academy’s Angela Friedman (20:13, placing 10th), all finished in the top-10 despite their teams finishing outside the top five. Estes Park, on the other hand, finished fourth as a team (98 points) despite not having a single top-10 finisher.
MORRISON – The Classical Academy stood above the competition at the Girls 3A Region 1 Cross Country Championship at D’Eveyln High School and Fehringer Open Space in Morrison, earning each of the top-three finishes and seven of the top 10, on their way to finishing first with 17 points.
Representing the Titans in the top 10 were individual champion Cassidy McDonald (20:01), Joy Ahnfeldt (20:13, placing second), Vivian Jack (20:16, placing third), Jerrica Thompson (20:34, placing fifth), Jana Yuschalk (20:45, placing sixth), Paris Stark (21:12, placing seventh), and Niki Peterson (21:24, placing eighth).
Kent Denver (62 points) was the second-place team, thanks to both Molly Zann (20:26, placing fourth) and Sally Carrington (21:39, placing 10th) both finishing in the top 10. St. Mary’s Academy (79 points) finished third, and had Eleanor Graham (21:27, placing ninth) as a top-10 individual.
Rounding out the top-five teams were Elizabeth (92 points) and DSST Cedar (131 points).
GRAND JUNCTION – Summit’s Ella Hagen recorded an absolutely scorching time of 17:08 on her way to securing the Girls 4A Region 1 Cross Country Championship at Lincoln Park Golf Club on Thursday. Hagen was soon joined by two of her Summit teammates – Avery Eytel (19:36) and Lily Benbow (19:37) – who also earned top 10 finishes and helped Summit finish third among the teams.
Over a minute after Hagen crossed the finish line, second-place finisher Lindsey Whitton (18:28) secured the silver. Like Summit, Battle Mountain also had three racers finish in the top 10, as Addie Beuche (19:26, placing 6th) and Presley Smith (19:31, placing 7th) followed close behind.
The Huskies would only finish second (59) among the teams though, as the Conifer Lobos narrowly squeaked by them to win first, with 56 points. The Lobos were led by Kate Horneck (18:37) and Audrey VanWestrienen (18:43), who finished third and fourth, respectively.
The remaining top-10 individual finishers were Mullen’s Genevieve Hockin (19:04, placing 5th) and Eagle Valley’s Ellie Shroll (19:40, placing 10th). Meanwhile, Central Grand Junction (120 points) and Evergreen (135 points) rounded out the top five teams.
PARKER – Lewis-Palmer had a massive day at the Girls 4A Region 2 Cross Country Championship at Salisbury Equestrian Park in Parker, thanks to placing three different racers – Lily Poteet (19:31, placing second), Delilah Cooley (20:57, placing fifth) and Caroline Anderson (20:59, placing sixth) – in the top 10, and finishing as the first-place team with 52 points.
Discovery Canyon (63 points, finishing second) and Palmer Ridge (91 points, finishing fifth) also placed multiple runners in the top 10. Discovery Canyon had Kare Morrow (20:16, placing third), Anna Mulholland (20:59, placing seventh) and Shayla Miller (21:04, placing 10th) finish in the top 10, while Palmer Ridge was represented by Mia Claypool (21:01, finishing eighth) and Naomi Hedstrand (21:04, finishing ninth) in the top 10.
Finishing first overall though, was Olivia Sheridan (19:23) from Palmer (84 points, finishing third).
Falcon’s Grace Suerdieck (20:55, placing fourth) also finished in the top 10. Lutheran (87 points) finished fourth among the teams.
ARVADA – Addison Ritzenhein won her fourth-consecutive regional title Thursday, leading Niwot to the 4A Region 3 Cross Country Championship at the North Area Athletic Complex.
Ritzenhein won in 16:58 for a 51-second win, while Niwot tallied 18 team points for the runaway victory. Northfield finished second with 64 points, while George Washington (108 points) narrowly edged Golden (109) out of third. Thomas Jefferson finished fifth with 150 points.
GREELEY – Silver Creek’s Cloe Ruth ran away with the individual title at the 4A Region 4 Cross Country Championship at Monford Park, while Windsor came out on top of a close team race.
Windsor accumulated 80 points to beat out Thompson Valley (82 points) by two points and Mead (89) by nine. With two runners in the top three, Mountain View was in the running, but it finished fourth with 101 points, while Longmont rounded out the top-five with 124 points.
Ruth completed the course in 18:41.50, and she was followed by Mountain View’s Olivia Gurrini (19:16.50) and Madeline Clark (19:27.10). Mead’s Ava Mierau was fourth with at ime of 19:33.50.
Fifth, sixth and eighth place went to Thompson Valley, as Alice Lehnherr finished in 20:21.30, Hadassah Shiver had a time of 20:31.80 and Ada Reichhardt took eighth in 21:09.90. In seventh was Roosevelt’s Rachel Wheeler (20:50.20).
Longmont’s Uma Champe (21:12.60) and Windsor’s Kendal Bach (21:13.00) rounded out the top-10.
PUEBLO – The Girls 4A Region 5 Cross Country Championship at Elmwood Short Nine Golf Course in Pueblo came down to the wire, as Cheyenne Mountain (45 points, finished first), Durango (56 points, finished second), and Pueblo West (72 points, finished third) all battled for first place.
Cheyenne Mountain was led by individual champion Lauren Raley (19:55) and Raegan McRae (20:36, placing fourth), Durango had Sofia Voss (20:20, placing second), Lacy Ruggiero (20:20, placing third) and Dewa Ilg (20:54, placing eighth) in the top 10, while Pueblo West’s top 10 finishes were earned by Aliya Fulbright (20:42, placing fifth) and Emma Vecchio (20:56, placing ninth).
Rounding out the top five teams was Montrose (111 points), represented in the top 10 by Kenzie Bush (20:45, placing sixth) and Millie Crane (21:04, placing 10th), and Canon City (121 points), represented in the top 10 by Alissa Rall (20:54).
AURORA (by Jessica Maestas) – Cherry Creek swept the 5A Region 1 Cross Country Championships at Arapahoe County Fairgrounds Thursday, as the Bruins edged Chaparral out of first place by one point (33-34) and Emily Cohen won the individual title.
Both Cherry Creek and Chaparral finished with four runners in the top 10, and Regis Jesuit claimed the two remaining spots on the top-10 leaderboard.
Giving Cherry Creek a head start for the day, Cohen won the individual title with a time of 18:02, as fellow Cherry Creek racer Kynlee Wolf came in runner up with an ending time of 18:54. They were joined in the top-10 by teammates Kylee Hu, who placing eighth for Creek with a time of 19:34, and Paisley Piepgras, who came in 10th in the race with 19:50 on the clock.
Not far behind, Chaparral placed runners back-to-back-to-back claiming the third, fourth, and fifth spots on the podium, as Kapri Perry (19:04), Kaylee Ellsworth (19:14), and Hayden Parry (19:14) led the program to a second-place finish with 34 points. With help from ninth-place finisher Sutton Persichina, who contributed a time of 19:43 for the team.
Though Cherry Creek and Chaparral took up a majority of spots on the leaderboard, Regis Jesuits racers Ashlyn Pallotta and Erika Danzer raced to score sixth and seventh of the day, helping their team to a third-place finish. Pallotta finished with a final time of 19:17 and Danzer 19:29.
Among the teams, Grandview came in fourth with 116 points and Cherokee Trail followed in fifth with 126.
GRAND JUNCTION – Mountain Vista ran away with the team and individual titles at the 5A Region 2 Cross Country Championships at Lincoln Park Golf Course Thursday, as the Golden Eagles swept the top three individual finishers and placed all five scoring runners within the top-seven.
Peyton Adams led all competitors across the finish line with a time of 17:15.12. She was followed by a pair of teammates, Juliet Frum in second (17:24.08) and Claire Guiberson in third (17:33.31), while Arapahoe’s Karli Holmes was fourth in 17:53.02. Mountain Vista’s Zoe Brandt took fifth with a time of 18:06.68 and Audrey Thiel crossed sixth in 18:14.75.
Gabriela Boeckman rounded out Mountain Vista’s scoring runners, taking seventh in 18:16.13, while teammate Carly Christians rounded out the top-10 with a finishing time of 18:50.96.
In eighth was Dakota Ridge’s Hanan Aldelemy (18:20.57), while Heritage’s Caroline Fender was ninth in 18:41.29.
Mountain Vista left no question on who the team champion would be as it scored 18 points. Dakota Ridge led a close race after that, finishing second with 104 points to beat out Chatfield (111 points), Arapahoe (112) and Heritage (126).
LOVELAND – Loveland’s Elena Torres claimed the individual title at the 5A Region 4 Cross Country Championships on Thursday, but Fossil Ridge placed four runners in the top seven to claim the team title at Loveland High School.
Torres won in 18:23, while Fossil Ridge’s Tatum Berg (19:08) and Delaney Voronin (19:37) finished second and third, respectively. Brighton had the fourth-place finisher, as Claire Engelhardt crossed in 19:43.
Fifth and seventh places went to Fossil Ridge, as Maya DiGallaonardo finished in 19:46 and Mountain Range’s Daxton Almeida edged Mia Williams out of sixth, as both finished in 19:50, giving Williams seventh.
Rocky Mountain’s Lindsey Kaines finished eighth with a time of 19:55, and Loveland’s Briar Crockett (20:07) and Fort Collins’ Delaney Johns (20:16) were ninth and 10th, respectively.
Team wise, Fossil Ridge ran away with the title, using 29 points to win. Loveland was second, with 74 points, while Rocky Mountain finished third with 88 points, Fort Collins fourth with 110 points and Centaurus fifth with 138 points.
COLORADO SPRINGS – Air Academy ran away with the 5A Region 5 Cross Country individual and team titles as the Kadet’s were six of the top seven individual finishers to claim the win with an impressive 17 points.
Bethany Michalak was the first across the line in 16:59.10, completing the course 40 seconds faster than teammate Tessa Walter, who finished runner-up in 17:39.50. Teammate Emily Beers was third in 17.59.00.
Pine Creek’s Emma Wilhelm broke up the Kadet’s with a fourth-place finish in 18:13.90, while Air Academy’s Chamorra Cooper (18:18.40), Jordan Banta (18:31.90) and Lauren Myers (18:51.30) followed.
Castle View’s Neev Lev was eighth in 18:58.40, while Air Academy’s Olivia Chura (19:07.00) and Valor Christian’s Alex Lancaster (19:11.10) rounded out the top 10.
Valor Christian finished second among the teams with 73 points, while Castle View took third with 84 points. With 115 points, Rock Canyon placed fourth and Pince Creek was fifth at 164 points.
