Colorado Springs – Ellie Rastall was having so much fun playing in the mud that she nearly forgot a state cross country title was waiting at the finish line.
And once the senior from Rocky Mountain kicked it in, she could hardly turn it off.
Rastall, state runner-up in the Class 5A cross country championships last season, lost herself for a moment in the sloppy-but- fun conditions on the 5-kilometer course at El Pomar Youth Sports Complex before turning on the jets down the stretch to finish six seconds ahead of Durango’s Laura Thweatt with a time of 18 minutes, 57.75 seconds.
“(The course) was a little bit slippery, but it distracts you from the race. Having all the mud and puddles to slosh around in was fun,” Rastall said.
The Lobos finished second in the team chase behind Cherry Creek, and Rastall became the second female runner in Rocky Mountain history to win an individual title (Jeanie Crist, 1993).
The Bruins notched their third team championship (1996, 1997) by placing three runners in the top 16.
Lisa Johnstone was the top finisher for Cherry Creek, taking sixth in 19:30.35, and Lauren Johnson and freshman Clare Gallagher finished 15th and 16th respectively.
Dakota Ridge finished third thanks to top-10 finishes from Alexa and Natasha Rogers.
Rastall, who placed sixth as a sophomore and 23rd as a freshman, settled into a spot near the front of the pack for more than two-thirds of the race before making her move. Running with Northglenn’s Allison Gohl (fourth place, 19:25.65) through the swampy course, Rastall realized the end was near – both the end of this race and the end of her high school career – and opened up the throttle.
“I was a little bit past the two-mile point and decided, well, I need to go. So I opened up my stride and went for it,” Rastall said.
Behind Rastall, Thweatt broke the top 10 for the third year in a row. But finishing second was more than the senior expected.
“I’m so excited,” Thweatt said immediately after the race. “Last year I was eighth, and I didn’t have the race I wanted. Today I wanted top three. … I was a little concerned because I got boxed in and I was in fifth place going into the last mile. But I felt good so I started closing the gap.”
Fairview’s Sarah Cocco finished third, Littleton’s Leigh Ann Ganzar was sixth, Jen Bremser of Sand Creek took ninth and Coronado’s Megan Burrell rounded out the top 10.
