FORT COLLINS — Denver Christian’s Ryan Poland and Brush’s Amos Bowen approached the course’s first hill just a few hundred yards from the starting line Saturday morning in the lead. It was just the first race of the day at the Poudre School District Pre-State Cross Country Invitational at Fossil Ridge High School, but Poland and Bowen were setting the tone for the season- opening event.
Poland, a senior who finished 19th at state last year, shattered his personal-best time by more than 30 seconds en route to finishing the 2A-3A boys 5K race in 15 minutes, 54.52 seconds, more than eight seconds ahead of Bowen. But, even in victory, Poland kept things in perspective.
“It’s good. It’s good to have a good race at the beginning of the year, but it’s a long time until October,” said Poland, referring to next month’s state meet scheduled for Oct. 31, also at Fossil Ridge.
Even so, Poland and Bowen, the top returning finisher in 3A from a year ago, were trendsetters. Including Nederland’s Kelley Robinson, the defending state champion in 3A girls, Saturday belonged to the favorites. One of those was Wheat Ridge’s Scott Fauble.
Taking over for graduated teammate Dart Schwarderer, Fauble clocked a time of 15:46.46 to easily win the 4A boys race, finishing more than 11 seconds ahead of Pueblo West’s Michael Cernoia. He didn’t quite hit his clocked time on his watch, but Fauble was pleased with the result.
“Yeah, I’m really happy with what I did. My goal was to come out and break 16. I ran 15:45. I was really happy. It’s a tough course,” Fauble said.
The event gave runners like Fauble a chance to compare themselves to the course and to the field.
“I wanted to get a time to compare this one to the race at the end of the year. Also, you always run against competition,” Fauble said. “It’s a great race to see where you fit in because there’s so many great runners, great teams here.”
Cherry Creek’s Walter Schafer ran a day-best time of 15:31.57 to beat Pomona’s Adam Sinda by more than 25 seconds in the 5A event.
In the team competition, Cherry Creek edged Regis Jesuit for top honors in 5A boys.
On the girls side, Allie Parks of Greeley Central won in 4A, and Highlands Ranch’s Eleanor Fulton led a 1-2-3 finish for the Falcons.
Estes Park, in 2A-3A, and Evergreen, in 4A, also won team titles.
