Lyons – Remember the Titans?
While The Classical Academy still is a mystery to some, ask anyone who follows Class 3A cross country, and they will tell you coach Alan Versaw’s Titans are as good as advertised.
“Fundamentally, it comes down to kids that just work hard,” said Versaw, who has coached the TCA girls team to back-to-back Class 3A titles as well as his boys team last season.
“When you throw a heavy workout in front of them, they don’t ask questions, they figure out a way to get it done.”
Saturday’s workout took the Titans around the demanding hills surrounding Lyons High School in the St. Vrain Invitational.
TCA won the girls team title, fueled by a first-place finish from Emily Hanenburg. But the TCA boys were outdone in the team race by an impressive Rock Canyon team and individually by Valley junior Riley Weber.
On the big-school side, Broomfield’s Bryan Eicher finished first in 17 minutes, 34 seconds, and Mountain View edged Niwot to claim team honors. Boulder dominated the Class 5A-4A girls races, winning the team title and finishing 1-2 individually with Emily Lawrence and Nell Rojas.
The 3A boys race saw Weber and TCA’s Trevor Waliszewski go head-to-head. Waliszewski carried the lead for the first 2 miles, including a demanding hill south of the school. Weber, who earned his first 5K victory, caught the TCA star coming down the hill and pulled away in the last half-mile to win by 11 seconds.
“I went to a running camp up at Western State over the summer and just learned a lot of new strategies and just how to run better,” said Weber, who finished with a winning time of 17 minutes, 54 seconds. “The coach up there told me practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.”
Rock Canyon put four runners in the top 10, led by Clancy Ryburn in fourth and Dylan Orlady in fifth.
“The Classical Academy is the team we try to measure ourselves against,” Rock Canyon coach Dan Davies said. “We came up here today to see if we could run with them, and the boys passed with flying colors.”
Said Versaw of the Jaguars: “They are a freight train coming.”
Hanenburg was more than a minute faster than her closest competitor, Molly Funk of Bishop Machebeuf.
“I really enjoyed this course,” said Hanenburg, a senior. “Nobody on this team ever slacks off at any point, and that says a lot about our coaching.”
