by Renée Haip
The annual Saint Vrain Invitational Cross Country Meet has grown in both size and reputation over the years. Lyons High School’s picturesque home course, set at the base of the foothills, is a favorite for many Colorado high school athletes. With 83 high school and middle school teams from across the state, some from as far away as Telluride, gathering for this year’s event, it was by far the state’s largest cross country meet of the weekend. An impressive
array of volunteer helpers from the community, seen all around the course and school grounds, assisted with everything from parking, to concessions, to course marshalling, to make the event go very smoothly.
In the 5K varsity high school races, Lyons competed in the combined 2A/3A division. The boys’ varsity race had 179 runners and with the RE-1J District meet a mere three days away, the top five Lyons’ runners (Ryan Boucher, Sam Crowley, Sean Flynn, Marcel Such, and Reed Test) ran this race as a workout (not at race pace), with places and times reflecting this. In 30th place overall, Such was the top Lyons finisher with a time of 18:33, Sean Flynn (39) 18:57, Reed Test (56) 19:36, Ryan Boucher (59) 19:39, and Sam Crowley (61) 19:41 rounded out the scoring. Other Lyons runners battled it out with freshman Brian Flynn crossing the finish line next with a time of 20:17 for 79th place, followed by a pack of Lions. Spencer Huff (20:52) and Matt Dillon (20:56) finished 101st and 102nd respectively, while Levi Stone finished 107th with a time of 21:06, and Ethan Pomeroy finished 115th with a time of 21:24.
First across the line for the varsity girls was Miriam Roberts. Despite running the race as a workout, Roberts respectably placed 13th in a race of 142 athletes, with a time of 21:01. The other varsity girls ran hard and had nice races. Olivia Raspotnik finished next, placing 33rd with a time of 22:20, Hazel Myers placed 46th with a time of 23:07, followed by Kelsey Miner in 49th with 23:13, and Izzy Solman placed 63rd with 23:51. Placing 81st and 82nd respectively, were freshmen Jenna Anderson and Anna Sundrud who both ran 24:37. Maia Lang placed 110th with 26:17 and Emma Cisar placed 115th with 26:26.
In the JV girls’ race of 217 runners, Faith Myers crossed the finish first for the Lions, placing 136th with 27:24. Other finishers were Emily Schneider 28:21 (163), and Savannah Drotart 30:39 (197). In the JV boys’ race of 336 runners, Eddie Baisley was the first Lion to finish with a time of 22:37 for 165th place. Other finishers were Nick McNulty 22:54 (183), Shea Gilman 24:20 (242), Isaac Vahlenkamp 24:53 (262), Isaiah Vahlenkamp 27:49 (312), Jack Gambrell 27:52 (313), Kevin Mattes 29:20 (324), and Matt Smith 30:15 (329).
Though cross country athletes and their coaches carefully follow times throughout the year, official personal records (PR) here will be based on official school races throughout the athlete’s high school career. Official personal records at this first meet of the season were set by Hazel Myers (PR by 33 sec.), Levi Stone (PR by 1:47 sec.), and Marcel Such (PR by 44 sec.).
Coach Roberts remarked, “We are very pleased with everyone’s effort based on what we had discussed for goal times, and we are also thankful for all the work the team put in helping to host the meet. We have a good reference point to work from, and are excited about both the team and individual prospects for the remainder of the season.”
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