By Bobby Reyes for Colorado MileSplit
Now that the dust has settled on the Colorado State Cross Country Championships, let’s look back on all the excitement from Saturday’s event in Colorado Springs.
Draper And Mucharsky Stun the field in 5A
There was a theme in the 5A Colorado State Championships. And that was Upset City. Both individual races saw big-time stunners.
And in both races, I was happy to be wrong in my previews, because Chaparral’s Brennan Draper and Denver East’s Rosie Mucharsky were more-than worthy victors.
Draper has been spent the entirety of his high school career always on the cusp of that one big race. And in Saturday’s finale – the final race of the day – the Chaparral senior finally made the jump. Draper kicked to win this the boy’s race in epic-fashion, running the fastest time of the day – a 15:14 clocking, which made him the fourth-fastest ever on the course.
Draper’s victory came after a illustrious high school career that saw him finish 21st at State as a freshman, 40th as a sophomore, and 25th as a junior. And in 2019 he won the Colorado Middle School State Cross Country Championship.
Likewise, the girl’s 5A race was decided in the final 500-meters, with dark horse Mucharsky turning on the jets to win her first cross country state title.
Bethany Michalak – the Air Academy senior – came out swinging and led 4700-meters of the race before getting caught by Mucharsky at the creek-crossing on the bottom of the double-hill before Penrose. Mucharsky – who is the defending 800 state champ – used her signature kick up the hills and into Penrose, shocking nearly everyone inside the stadium. The Denver East junior clocked a personal best of 17:20 – a rarity for any Colorado runner (running a PR at Penrose).
US No. 2 Air Academy put their entire top-five inside the top-eight to take the girls title, while Rock Canyon emerged victorious for the boys.
Read the full article at Colorado MileSplit here.
Ritzenhein and Brunner take 4A titles
Addison Ritzenhein answered quite a few questions in the girl’s 4A race. The Niwot sophomore torched the final mile to capture her first state cross country title, running the fastest time of the day – a 17:08 clocking, which was a 4A meet record. The performance made her the third-fastest ever on the course.
Summit’s Ella Hagen sliced 10-seconds off her 2022 time, running 17:38 to finish second.
And then the US No. 1 Niwot squad came storming into Penrose. With six runners in the top 10, easily took the girls team title.
A year ago Will Brunner found himself on the Oh-So-Close side of a state title, finishing second in a wild kick inside Penrose.
Saturday morning he found himself in a similar situation, only this time he was the one pouring fuel on the flames with a wild kick of his own. Brunner shifted into another gear to win the 4A Colorado State Championships. The Battle Mountain senior went stride-for-stride with a familiar foe – Mullen’s Jacob Sushinsky over the final half-mile of Saturday’s race. Brunner captured his first cross country state title, clocking 15:19, while Sushinsky was once-again two-seconds back, running 15:21.
A familiar last name was the stunner in the field beyond the state title – Niwot sophomore Rocco Culpepper finished third in 15:27, leading the Niwot boys to the team title.
Read the full article at Colorado MileSplit here.
The Classical Academy came, saw and conquered in 3A
The Titans swept the team races in the 3A Colorado State Championships, and added the boy’s 3A individual title to their banner day.
In the boy’s race pre-race favorite Matthew Edwards capped his senior year by reclaiming the 3A state title, clocking 15:20 – a 39-second victory, and a 3A state meet record. Edwards won this race as a sophomore, and finished third as a junior.
In the girl’s race, pre-race favorite and defending state champ Isabel Allori of Liberty Common dominated the field, running away early and clocking a stellar 17:32. Stargate senior Allison Pippert put together a great race of her own to capture second, running 17:52.
Read the full article at Colorado MileSplit here.
Campos three-peats, Bel takes boys crown in 2A
Call it a three-peat, because Nadhia Campos of The Vanguard School dominated the field in the 2A Colorado State Championships once again. The Vanguard junior sliced 18-seconds off her 2022 state-winning time, running 18:19 – that was a 1:03 victory over the field. Add that it was a 2A meet record.
While the team race was bound to be tight, this one did come down to the fourth-runner.
In the team competition, Banning Lewis had the best 1-2-3 punch of any squad, but Heritage Christian’s depth prevailed in a big way Saturday morning to the title.
In the boy’s race pre-race favorite Andrew Bel of Colorado Springs Christian soloed his way around the Penrose course, claiming his first state cross country title, running 16:16.
Golden View Academy ran away with the 2A state title, tallying an impressive 42-points for a 43-point victory.
Read the full article at Colorado MileSplit here.
But who was the best team on the day?
Well, let’s start with a disclaimer of sorts – it was definitely much, much cooler in in the morning compared to the afternoon this year. But, this is the one race where everyone runs the same course, on the same day.
The Air Academy girls! And get this — their performance Saturday was The Best Ever in Colorado history. Air Academy averaged 17:56.74, and had a 1-5 split of just 20-seconds. That made them not only the first squad to crack 18-minute average, but the first squad to crack 18:20 – that’s how incredible they ran Saturday.
Niwot was a close “Runner-Up.” They averaged the second-fastest 1-5 split ever, clocking 17:59.32. They had a 1-5 split of 1:14, compliments of Addison Ritzenhein‘s Fastest Time Of The Day – a 17:09 clocking.
For historical comparisons, last year’s Niwot squad – who, at the time ran a Best Ever – average 18:20 – and went on to finish second at Nike Cross Nationals.
Basically, Saturday’s performance proves what we’ve sort of known all season – Air Academy and Niwot are two of the best squads in the country this year – they are currently the top-two ranked squads in the US..
For the boys Niwot ran away with this just like they ran away the 4A state title. They averaged 15:55, and had a 1-5 split of 46-seconds. Their performance made them the second-fastest squad ever in Colorado State meet history (behind the 2021 Cheyenne Mountain squad who averaged 15:47.)
Rock Canyon was second best and had a 1-5 average of 16:10, while Mountain Vista was a close third, averaging 16:12.48.
Add that 3A state champions – The Classical Academy were a very, very close fourth, averaging 16:12.62.