COLORADO SPRINGS - Ethan Kiptui made mistakes during the Class 2A boys championship cross country race Saturday morning to be sure, but he made up for them in glorious fashion at the end.

The St. Mary’s sophomore admittedly mismanaged the downhill descent in the second mile of the race at the Norris Penrose Event Center that allowed Soroco’s Nick Clark to pull away before he closed in spectacular fashion.

Kiptui leaned at the finish line and came away with a victory by 0.01 of a second in what was announced as the closest state race since 2015. Kiptui finished in 16 minutes, 20.07 seconds, to Clark’s 16:20.08.

“That was the closest race ever and I didn’t think I’d won, I thought he got it,” Kiptui said. “I collapsed at the end because my body was done. It was a good day, though.”

The individual championship spot opened up with the graduation of two-time winner Andrew Bel of Colorado Springs Christian and Kiptui (who placed 27th as a freshman) became the new champion with a memorable finish.

While Kiptui said it was by far the closest race he’d even competed in, not so much for Clark.

At his first race of the season — the Basalt Longhorn Invitational back on Aug. 23 — he was locked into a battle for second place in which he dove across the finish line to beat his opponent by 0.03 of a second.
In the state race, Clark knew he was in for a battle at the end and simply couldn’t hold off Kiptui’s surge.

“Props to him, he came flying up that last hill,” Clark said. “I was the first one in the stadium and all I heard was screaming. I’m trying to give it all and look like I’m not hurting at all, but my legs just weren’t moving as fast they should have been. I was pumping my arms looking back to see how close he was and then he got me, barely.”

Up until the finish, it was the race Clark — who placed ninth a year ago at state — wanted to run.

Just past the two-mile mark, he gained the separation he wanted from Kiptui and that sustained him until the incline that led up into the stadium. Kiptui closed ground there, stayed just behind Clark and with the inspiration of seeing his coaches, family and friends in the stands caught up before he won by a lean.

“It’s nice because he couldn’t see me,” Kiptui said. “He could hear me, but he couldn’t see me, so it just gave me a little bit more momentum. It’s easier to chase than run in the front, but I didn’t think I won. I got lucky.”

While Clark was disappointed, he had ultimate perspective on the result.

“I played football my freshman year and got a really bad concussion and couldn’t play anymore, so I ran sophomore year,” he recalled. “I ran 28-minute 5K that year, so I’ve come from absolute rock bottom. If I were to tell my younger self sophomore year that I would place second at state, I don’t think he would believe me one bit.”

The 2A boys team chase also proved to have a miniscule margin of separation as 2024 champion Golden View Classical Academy, Thomas MacLaren School and Forge Christian finished with a margin of just 11 points between them at the top of the standings.

In the end, coach Amanda Gilmore’s Golden View Classical Academy repeated as champions with 30 points, which came with a big boost from the performances of seniors Joseph Todd and Pieter Langedyk in sixth and seventh, respectively, plus the 11th-place result from junior Huckleberry Hale. Senior McKade Hartvigsen (21st) and junior Wyatt Freedman (36th) rounded out the scoring for the Sentinels.

Thomas MacLaren School’s near-miss in the quest for its first state championship came with a grouping of four placers in the top 14 in seniors Shawn Kipchumba (9th) and Nate Stokes (10th), followed by sophomore Evan St. John (13th) and junior Brandon Mora (14th). The fifth score for the Highlanders came from junior Clarence Lilevjen in 80th, which helped them hold off Forge Christian by seven points for the runner-up trophy.

Rounding out the individual podium spots were SkyView Academy junior Rylan Griffith in third, Rye senior David Maroney in fourth, Forge Christian junior Titus Kammerlohr in fifth and Crested Butte Community School senior Cody Pleak in eighth.