By Alissa Noe
Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at
1:24 pm
LITTLETON — The Dakota Ridge boys could
not be stopped on Friday. At the Dave Sanders Invitational at Clement Park, the
Eagles showed their strength immediately. First, junior Connor Ohlson crossed
the finish line in 15 minutes, 47 seconds to win the Division-I boys
competition outright. He barely beat out his own teammate, senior Austin
Vancil, by one second. The final three in the top five runners that were needed
to score all came in with the top 12 competitors. Riley Abrashoff (16:23) and
Benjamin Piegat (16:25) both crossed the line at ninth and 10th, respectively.
Jacob White finished seven seconds later at 12th place.
With Dakota’s Ridge’s team score of
34, the second-place Mountain Vista team didn’t even stand a chance. It
finished with 75 points. “It feels pretty great,” Ohlson said. “So far it’s our
best race of the season, and it’s a little redemption from earlier seasons. I
just feel like I haven’t pushed myself so far in races, and this week, we had a
really great week at training. It just really all pulled together and is the
first intonation of the rest of the season, I guess.”
The girls, however, did not fare
nearly as well as their male counterparts, as they finished 12th in a pool of
22 teams. They were led by senior Lucy Pidek, who finished 54th at 20:46.
Behind her were Zoe Plechaty (58th, 20:57), Lauren Dynda (74th, 21:20), Chloe
Meehan (91st, 21:55) and Abby Vagher (94th, 22:00).
D’Evelyn
Even though they were down one of
their best runners, the Jaguar girls put on a show for everyone watching the
Division-II race. Generally, when the D’Evelyn girls line up to race,
spectators see a mirror image of both Katy and Taylor Haerbig. But, as Katy was
injured with leg ailments, only Taylor took to the course on Friday, where she
finished fifth at 19:44.
Their teammate, Eliana Thompson,
crossed the finish line 20 seconds later for second place.
“I was really happy,” Taylor said. “I
just saw Kasey (Klocek of Green Mountain), and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s
right there.’ I tried to push it in, but it’s hot, and I’m happy with how I
raced. My teammate Eliana crushed it. She pushed me super hard, and a girl from
Elizabeth named Ashten (Loeks) pushed me really hard, and she was really
encouraging.” Every placer from D’Evelyn finished in the top 25: Sonja Morin at
15th (21:06), Kati Livingood at 16th (21:07) and Corin Zapico at 25th
(21:28). With 66 points, the Jags beat out Green Mountain by 12 points.
The boys, however, were middle of
the pack. At 15th with 455 points, they fell in line behind frontrunner Caleb
Feagans, who took 46th at 18:41. Behind him came Isaac Lopez at 66th
(19:07), Abe Saks at 75th (19:18), Logan Schottland at 155th (21:28) and Zach
Swadburg at 164th (21:58). They were, however, running without their top
athlete in Andrew Jossi.
“This year is kind of a rebuilding
year for us,” Swadburg said. “We lost a lot of our good runners, so we might do
good in regionals, but I don’t know about anything past that.”
Columbine
In a very competitive 5A race, the
Columbine girls showed their strength with an eighth-place team finish with 266
points. Freshman Josie Williams led the charge with a 35th-place finish
(20:19), followed by Nicole Killeen (57th, 20:52), Riley Besse (66th, 21:12),
Mackenzie Mesec (69th, 21:15) and Tatiana Hamilton (75th, 21:21). “Our girls
varsity is killing it. We got third at Rock Canyon, so we’re placing really
well. We’ve got some talented young girls,” Hamilton said. “I loved it. It was
really fast, it was a good course and my girls pushed me. Got a PR, too, so it
was a good day.”
The boys, however, finished last
with a 634. First to cross the finish line was Travis Stauffenberg at 109th
(18:35), with Jack Ryckman (142nd, 19:24), Ben Fiore (167th, 19:59), Jared
Amsberry (168th, 20:01) and Spencer Mancuso (171st, 20:10) falling in line
behind him. “I am so happy,” Stauffenberg said. “Everybody’s been working hard
all season, and it’s really great to see everybody’s work pay off.”
Chatfield
For the Chargers, the girls far
out-performed the boys. The ladies placed 10th with 295 points as the boys took
15th with 397. Junior Cole Nash, however, highlighted the best of Chatfield’s
overall performance as he came in fourth with a 16:11 time. Although he’s
gotten first on that specific race course twice this season, Nash said he also
finished fourth at last year’s Dave Sanders race.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “I
started out pretty conservative and then just tried to slowly move up after the
first mile and a half-ish. I am pretty happy. I was seeded like low 20s, so I
was pretty happy with my kick in my finish.” His big placement was bolstered by
Kaelen Moore (92nd, 18:15), Spencer Lipsteuer (95th, 18:19), Mason Bassette
(125th, 19:02) and Aidan Porier (135th, 19:12). On the girls’ side, senior
Sydney Williams led the battle at 29th with 20:05. Elizabeth Cothran (41st,
20:27), Payton Lott (65th, 21:11), Katherine Hanson (80th, 21:35) and Nicole
Bergman (120th, 22:50) followed.
“(It was) pretty good. I kind of
wished I had a little bit faster time, but I feel like I pushed as hard as I
could,” Williams said. “I know the time isn’t really something to compare (with
last year), but I think I was stronger overall.”