2025 Eagle Valley Results

Fantastic racing Saturday! That was a lot of fun to watch. The meet was much more competitive than in previous years, with 19 teams including 10 of the 12 teams in our 4A Region 1.

Our boys were really strong, winning by a healthy margin.  Our 7th runner was ahead of every other team's 3rd runner. Our 12th runner (Danny) would be varsity (Top 7) on every other team.

Our girls were second to a strong Battle Mountain team, who were second at State last year and returned everyone - and ran everyone. And they looked good. We feel that if Kayla had run, we may have beaten Battle Mountain - and we might be able to at State. But Battle Mountain, Timnath, Palmer Ridge and Cheyenne Mountain all look to have very strong teams this year.

The boys are now 28 - 0. (28 wins and 0 losses, if you scored the first two meets as dual meets.) The girls are 14 - 1. (We didn’t run a full varsity girls team at Mountain Vista.)

Our boys were ranked 3rd in the latest coaches poll. (That’s also where I ranked them.) They definitely solidified that ranking with their performance at Eagle Valley. Coronado and Thompson Valley are ranked 1st and 2nd, but I guarantee we have their attention.

Our girls were ranked 6th in the coaches poll. I think that was too low.  Central Grand Junction was ranked 4th and Grand Junction 7th but we finished well ahead of them. Battle Mountain was ranked 5th, due to a poor opening at the Stampede, just like last year. That was way too low in my opinion - I ranked them 3rd.

Here are some top performances from Eagle Valley:

* Every single returning boy ran faster than last year!

* Lukas and Danny were over a minute faster, and John was 2:08 faster!

* Lukas, Owen and John are already within 15 seconds of their PRs last year. Danny is already FASTER than his PR last year. (All set at faster courses.)

* Milla and Sophie were more than 30 seconds faster than last year.

* Milla is only 13 seconds from last year’s PR.

* The boys top 5 average time was 16:46, 38 seconds faster than last year.

Full results are here.

Press Coverage:

2025/9/6: Battle Mountain runner wins second-straight race at Eagle Valley Invitational

2025/9/6: Summit runner sets course record at Eagle Valley Invitational

2025/9/10: Summit boys cross-country team stays perfect with second-straight victory.  Jay McDonald sets new course record; Summit girls take 2nd overall

"Virtual meet" score projections

Based off PRs from last season.

Top individual entries

Based off PRs from last season.

2024 Results

That was impressive racing! It was wonderful to see multiple packs of Summit racers running together, standing out in their bright yellow jerseys! The pack running was the best I've ever seen from Summit. It is wonderful to have a team so strong and deep that we can pack run to push each other to improved performances. The mental performance benefit of running together with teammates and pushing together is huge. I was thrilled to see you sticking together and reinforcing each other.

That pack running and your efforts for the team resulted in both girls and boys victories. Both teams won at Rifle last season for what I believe was the first ever Summit sweep. These dual victories are much more significant because they came against stronger fields.

Jay and Will gave chase to Eagle Valley's twin brothers - Dylan and Tyler Blair. Not far behind at the mile mark was Cain. Cain was followed by a bunch of yellow jerseys as Lukas, Owen, Carter and Malachi ran shoulder to shoulder through one mile, with Gavin, Jens, Cooper and Mason McEntire-Morgan close behind.

That pack running resulted in us upsetting the #4 ranked team in the State by a score of 28 to 33. That was without our normal #1, Josh, and the Ryan brothers.

Eagle Valley was ahead 3 to 7 points after each team's top 2 runners, and their third was a place before our 3rd. With the top 3 being so close, the win would be decided by the 4th and 5th place runners, and that is where our depth and great pack running gave us the decisive advantage. Lukas and Owen finished in a row right behind Cain, in the 8th and 9th scoring positions, to lock up the unexpected - in the rankings and coaches poll - victory.

The boys had 5 in the top 9 and 10 in the top 24 of a 16 team (11 complete scoring teams) and 160 runner field. Nearly all our runners finished in the top half of the race. Malachi (18th) and Thomas are missing in the results - I've notified the timer to rectify with his video back up.

The girls race was similarly strong. Ella ran to her biggest year to year improvement on the same course since sophomore year, lowering her course record. My guidance to both the boys and girls teams was to start the first 800 holding back a bit and then move up through the field. They executed this race strategy superbly. Avery and Lily were together in approximately 15th place after 800 meters and then started passing runners from other teams, catching and passing a couple more racers in the last half mile to move up to 3rd and 4th. A big pack of yellow followed closely behind them, with Sophie, Milla, Paige, Ashley and Cece moving up together throughout the race. They separated slightly in the last half mile, with Sophie finishing in 11th and Milla closing out our scoring in 14th. Paige, Ashley and Cece finished closely behind to give us the reassurance that we have runners ready to step in at any race when needed.

A good indicator of our depth is that Summit's 7th place runners, boys and girls, placed before the 5th place runners of every other team and before the 3rd place runners of all but the second and third place teams.

Similar to the boys, all of our girls ran superbly, including the freshmen in their first high school races. Lila had a rough day, falling at the start and injuring her hip and ankle. Other than Lila's tough day, all of our girls finished in the top half of the field, with our top 8 in the top 23.

The Eagle Valley course is a "real" cross country course, and is a full 3.1 miles. Our rankings in the MileSplit database, based on fastest times for the year, won't be that high. That is because many teams have run on the regretably large number of courses that are either short, or largely on pavement - or both. Liberty Bell next week is the latter, but because so many teams race there, it will be the first head to head indicator of team strength, without delving into differences in course speeds. Eagle Valley was a week after Liberty Bell last year, with our runners on average about 90 seconds slower on the harder Eagle Valley course. This year they are reversed. It seems reasonable to anticipate our runners racing 90 seconds faster this Saturday at Liberty Bell!

Notes

Our runners showed huge improvements over last year, or comparatively to the Mountain Vista 2-mile two weeks ago. See the spreadsheet below.

Avery ran 22 seconds faster than last year, Lily a big 54 seconds and Milla a huge 1:29 to earn the girls "PR Chain" for this week. John, just a couple weeks into his return, was 15 seconds faster than last year, Cain 41 seconds, Lukas 1:03, Jens 1:13, Max 1:26 and Owen 1:27 to narrowly record the biggest year to year improvement for the second race in a row. Since Owen earned the PR chain at Vista, we will share it with others this week!

The boys' top 5 and top 7 average times were both 2 seconds slower than last year, but that was without Josh and the Ryans. The girls top 5 average time was 1 second faster, but our improved depth shows - with the top 7 average time being 17 seconds better. Removing Lindsey Kiehl's times, who couldn't compete at State, from last year shows a significant 28 second top 5 and 47 second top 7 improvement.

The timing service has division results, by grade level, where you can see where you stand within your class. (And we look very strong there! For example, our four freshman girls are in the top 12 of the freshman class and our three sophomore girls are in the top 7.) 

Eagle Valley was our second race this year. Last year it was the fourth. Last year you were much farther along in your training and race experience, making this year's times that much more impressive. 

Press

Summit Daily: A Summit sweep: Tigers cross-country team tops team races in Gypsum

Vail Daily: Eagle Valley twins go 1-2 to lead Devils at home cross-country invitational

Vail Daily: Summit runner wins Eagle Valley Invitational a day after committing to run for the Colorado Buffaloes

Photos

I put a few of the great photos taken by Dillon Benbow, Paul Steinweg and Myrth McDonald in the carousel below. You can see all of them, and upload your own, here: Photos

2023 eagle valley results

This was a brand new course for the Eagle Valley race after a three year absence. We didn't really know what to expect other than it was mostly grass and a little rolling. Thanks to heavy watering the night before the course was quite soggy in places. There was also a fair bit more concrete cart path running than expected. While I think it was only slightly rolling, others might disagree. The first mile was a bit net downhill and the second mile had a gradual climb and net uphill. That can certainly be seen in the difference between the 1st Mile and 2nd Mile splits.

On average, the girls were about 1:30 slower than at Liberty Bell due to the slower course. (Below in the "diff LB" column.) From that, it jumps out that Milla had a much improved race, being only 13 seconds slower than Liberty Bell. That was followed by Josie at 46 seconds and Claire at 51 seconds. The girls 1-7 split was just 4:51, over a minute improvement over Liberty Bell thanks to Mila's strong run.

The girls won the battle at every position. That is, our first girl was ahead of every other team's first girl, our second girl was ahead of every other team's second girl, etc. all the way to our fifth girl. It's impossible to lose when you do that, and again shows the importance of depth and a strong 3, 4, 5 as it lead us to winning by a strong 46 to 73 margin over 5A Fruita Monument and 11 other teams.

The boys averaged about a minute slower than Liberty Bell, but there was more variability. Donovan actually was faster by 2 seconds! Owen, Gavin, Max, Will and Cain also raced "comparatively faster" at 23, 43, 47, 50 and 54 seconds slower than Liberty Bell.

The boys gave Eagle Valley a real battle. The 1, 4, 5 finish of our top three put us one point ahead of Eagle Valley's 2, 3, 6. Eagle edged ahead with their 4 and 5, but Carter and Cain raced great and with their continued hard work and steady improvement I expect that to narrow by Regionals. At State it could very well play out differently.

It was awesome to see several packs of Summit runners out there pushing each other. Lily, Ashley and Cece came through the mile together on the heals of Avery. Milla, Adaline and Claire went through the mile together 30 seconds later, followed closely by Josie and Darby.

The boys had a tremendous front pack of Josh, Jay and Will together at the mile and 2 mile. At the mile, Carter, Cain and Lukas were slightly spread out, then it was another pack of Gavin, Owen, Jens and John running together.

Running as a pack and pushing each other is a great way to race better - and to train better, too!

Consistent hard work and a daily "can do" attitude incrementally lead to steady improvement. Those that are training hard are seeing the fruits of their labor. As a team we are improving and slowly seeing more success because so many of you are devoted and willing to work. Failure is not fatal and success is not final. Keep working, keep having fun and keep seeing your efforts paying off. Improving is fun!

Congratulations to Jay and Ella, the Eagle Valley Course Record holders, and to the whole team for your great races.

Summit Daily Article: Summit runners place high at Eagle Valley Cross-Country Invitational in Gypsum

Vail Daily Article: No. 5-ranked Eagle Valley boys win home cross-country invitational over No. 6 Summit

Team Scores

Top Individual Places

Full results on MileSplit. 

a sampling of photos

Many more are on here, where you can upload your own.

WHEN:  Saturday, 16 September 2023

WHERE:  Siena Valley Club, 3631 Gypsum Creek Road, Gypsum CO

DIRECTIONS: https://www.sienavalleyclub.com/contact 

TRANSPORTATION: The bus will depart at 8:10 a.m.

RACE TIMES:

8:30 Devils Dash Citizens 5k

9:15 Kids Races 

9:45 Middle School 2 Mile Girls

10:15 Middle School 2 Mile Boys

10:45am High School Girls (all in one heat)

11:30am High School Boys (all in one heat)

12:30 Awards

SCORING:

Run unlimited, Score 5

TEAMS ENTERED:  Aspen, Caprock Academy, Coal Ridge, CO Rocky Mountain School, Eagle Valley, Fruita, Grand Junction High, Lake County, Meeker, Palisade, Peyton, Rangely, Resurrection Christian, Rifle, Steamboat Springs, Summit

Race virtual meet

The racers listed aren't necessarily racing. They are just on their team's rosters. Something is wrong with the MileSplit database. The boys' times are not updated with Liberty Bell results. We appear to be much lower ranked than we actually our. By my calculation, we are actually 9 points behind Eagle Valley with Liberty Bell times included. The times in the Race Entries section below are correct. There it is apparent that we will have a tight race with Eagle Valley.

Race entries

Top entries with seed times. These entries should more accurately reflect who is actually entered in the race versus the virtual meet.