COLORADO SPRINGS – At last season’s state championships, Battle Mountain’s Porter Middaugh and Will Brunner placed second and third, respectively, as juniors.

That impressive battle between teammates has continued throughout their senior seasons, as the two have consistently shown the talent to compete head-to-head for the 2023 individual crown. On Saturday at Norris Penrose Event Center, that friendly competition between teammates was finally settled.

This year’s title went to Brunner, who crossed the finish line first with a time of 15 minutes, 19.9 seconds. Middaugh finished fourth with 15:28.8.

After receiving his medal, Brunner was thrilled to have won state. He also admitted that both he and Middaugh, who finished runner-up by 0.3 seconds last season, knew going in that either would be overjoyed had they other won instead, and that they were just happy it was at least one of them that did.

“That was honestly the main goal. And honestly, we didn’t care what order it was because a win for one of us is a win for the team,” Brunner said. “There’s no way I’d be here today without him. We split every rep at every workout, we eat the same food, we do every single thing together. It’s gotten a little bit bad. Last year the night before the state tournament, we had three guys in a room so we slept in the same bed to not give each other a competitive advantage.

“There’s definitely some competitiveness between us, and it’s great.”

Brunner captured the first-place medal with a big kick heading down the home stretch to edge Mullen’s Jacob Sushinsky.

“I think the race went exactly the way I would have hoped,” Brunner said. “I didn’t exactly want to leave it to that scary of a kick, but I do think I was ready to do that kick. I was ready for it.”

In third place, Niwot sophomore Rocco Culpepper turned in a time of 15:27.8. With him leading the way, the Cougars claimed the team title with a combined score of 58 by placing five runners in the top 21.

“It’s awesome. We have a good environment and a great team, so I’m really happy about it,” Culpepper said. “We were pretty confident coming in, but we still know state is a tough race and you still have to work hard. We still made sure we were ready to go.”

After winning back-to-back titles that past two seasons, Cheyenne Mountain finished runner-up with a score of 104. The Red-Tailed Hawks were led by sophomore Aiden Le Roux, who placed fifth with a time of 15:32.2.

Thompson Valley was third with 146 points.