Results

This was a good season opener for us and our results show great promise for the season. Starting the season with a 2-Miler that had a Freshmen/Sophomore division made for a different feel than our normal start at the Battle Mountain 5k, which this year is next week.

Running a 2-Miler was perhaps a little less intimidating for our new runners, but speaking with them afterwards, all are also confident about and looking forward to stepping up to the normal 5k next week.

Highlights of the meet include Josh placing 5th overall and Jay winning the Frosh/Soph division. Jay's time placed him 10th in the merged (combined) results. Will was close behind in 17th. 

The merged results below were compiled by Dillon Benbow, for which we are very thankful. It is very helpful to see the merged individual and team results. While it is great for the freshmen and sophomore to have a race just to themselves early season, it is also good to know where things shake out had they all run in the varsity division.

Highlights on the girls side are Ella placing 2nd in the varsity and Lindsey placing 3rd in the Jr/Sr division. Lindsey will gain post-transfer varsity eligibility for Liberty Bell.

As this was the first time we have competed in the Vista Nation 2-Mile, we don't have any prior SHS times to compare to. The results of this year's race are our all-time records. However, we can compare our times this year to the course records, and we made some marks on those lists.

Josh's time was the 9th fastest ever recorded on this course! That's something, as the race has been held many years and always attracts some of the top teams in the state. Scrolling down the list, I see the names of a few state champions below Josh! And his time was only 6 seconds behind Gatorade athlete of the year and Stanford runner Cole Sprout! Josh is 4th on the Junior list.

Jay's time places him 2nd on the all-time Freshman list and 24th overall!

Ella is 3rd on the all-time list and Lily and Ashley are 53rd and 73rd on the Freshman list.

As a team, our girls placed 6th after the merge, which is what really matters. Three nationally ranked teams were ahead of us. Mountain Vista and Air Academy looked very strong and highly deserving of their national rankings - and Air Academy rested U.S. #1 (in some rankings) Bethany Michalak. The Chaparral girls also did very well and will rocket up the 5A rankings because of this performance. Nationally ranked 4A competitor Niwot wasn't that many points ahead of us, but rested most of their top girls. 

Both Air Academy and Niwot are expected to qualify as teams for NXN, so their seasons will be going into December. Thus they decide to push back their season start for many of their runners.

The boys team finished 5th in the merge. Multi-time state champions Niwot and Mountain Vista were #1 and #2. We finished ahead of former 5A State Champions Broomfield and Dakota Ridge and last years #6 5A team Cherokee Trail.

All of the above is contingent on it being early season and too early to tell if some teams withheld some of their top runners.

We had very strong performances by our new Freshmen boys and girls. This is hugely important in improving our team depth and is crucial to our placing in bigger meets and at State. Had we run this course before, I'm sure our upperclassmen would have shown big improvements year to year, which also is critical to a high placement at State. 

Compared to last year, we continue to have great "low sticks", but more importantly we have much improved depth all the way to the #7 positions and well beyond. This means we can have much better consistency and have considerably more room for improvement as the season progresses. With continued hard work by the entire team, our 3 through 7 positions can improve considerably. At a large and competitive meet like the State Championship, it usually the strength of the 3 through 5 positions that determine team results. This year we can do better than EVER in these most important positions. 

I am also enthused by the fact that for the first time ever, we can compete to be the top JV teams - boys and girls - at many meets, especially against 4A competition. Going for team JV victories makes it fun for everyone and is how teams really develop into feared competitors.

Looking forward to this Friday at Battle Mountain we can expect strong competition from our regional 4A rivals Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley. Based on Vista Nation, I believe both our boys and girls can make strong challenges for the top step of the podium!

Full Results are on MileSplit, here.

The full merge prepared by Dillon Benbow is here.

Photos here. Please upload your photos.

WHEN:  Saturday, 26 August 2023

WHERE:  Mountain Vista High School, 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126

TRANSPORTATION: Bus pickup at SHS (back entrance/track side) at 6:00. Depart by 6:10. Return approximately 1:30 pm. We will likely stop somewhere for food after the race.

OUR RACE TIMES:

8:30 Frosh/Soph Boys 

8:50 Frosh/Soph Girls

9:10 Boys Varsity 2-Mile

9:30 Girls Varsity 2-Mile 

9:50 JR/SR Boys 

10:10 JR/SR Girls 

10:45 Awards After Final Race

SCORING:

Varsity - Run 7, Score 5

Frosh/Soph and Junior/Senior - Run unlimited, Score 5

COURSE: The course is on a spectator friendly 1200-meter loop that runs around the perimeter of Mountain Vista High School. The loop is 90% dirt trail and 10% grass. You will be able to see nearly 100% of the race. 

AWARDS: The top 10 individuals in each race will receive a bag of Sour Patch Kids.  Trophies that have nothing at all to do with running will be given to the top team in each race.

Live Results At: https://halsports.net/event/vista-nation-2-mile-cross-country-race-2023/

course Map

Race entries

The seed times are very incomplete. They only include those that have done a 2 mile time. These are only the top varsity entries with seed times from previous years. Many of them are times from middle school. There are many top runners entered who have no prior 2-mile time, so don't appear below.

Full entries are here: https://co.milesplit.com/meets/563319-vista-nation-xc-2-mile-invitational-2023/entries

Course records

directions