BOULDER — This was Laura Thweatt’s moment.
Race favorite. Hometown Colorado crowd. Two straight club cross country titles. A dream to represent the United States on the world stage still unfulfilled.
When the gun sounded at the USA cross country championships Saturday at Flatirons Golf Course, the Durango native and University of Colorado alumna raced to the front — pacing a deeply talented field filled with runners capable of winning — and never relented.
“I was just trying to stay really relaxed, not press too early,” said Thweatt, who runs for Boulder Track Club and is sponsored by Saucony. “I knew going into the fourth lap it wasn’t over. I knew I was going to have to surge a few more times to really solidify it.”
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She finished the 8-kilometer course in 27 minutes, 42 seconds — 31 seconds faster than second place Mattie Suver — to win the biggest race of her young professional career.
“To get a national win at home, there’s nothing sweeter,” Thweatt said.
For most of the race, Sara Hall trailed just a few feet off the winner’s shoulder before Thweatt made her final move in the last 2K lap of the 8K course to ensure her win. Hall faded in the final lap but managed to finish fifth to qualify.
“I’m really proud of Laura for how she ran, being in front of the hometown crowd here, running so poised and strong,” Hall said.
By the time the 12K men’s race went off at 1 p.m., the temperature hovered at an unseasonably warm 70 degrees. Two-time defending champion Chris Derrick — whose stomach felt uneasy before the race — was facing perhaps his biggest test yet: beating three-time Olympian and former CU star Dathan Ritzenhein and New Hampshire’s Ben True, who topped him at worlds in 2013.
But Derrick, a Stanford alumnus, dominated, racing with a 30-deep pack for half the race before gradually opening up a lead that grew to about 100 meters. He won convincingly in 36:18.
He joins four other runners who have won at least three consecutive titles since this event was first held in 1890: Ville Ritola (1925-27), Don Lash (1934-40), Frank Shorter (1970-73) and Pat Porter (1982-89).
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Derrick decided to make his move after hearing labored breathing from Ritzenhein and True.
“I could feel them breathing pretty hard, and I felt really good,” Derrick said. “I thought maybe the altitude was having an effect. So instead of letting it rest there, I decided to go to the front.”
“It doesn’t matter when you go, but when you do it, be relaxed about it, do it for real, don’t force it. I was planning on waiting later, but I felt good. I felt like I could do it in a relaxed way … and once I went 10 meters … I just kept the rhythm up all the way to the finish line.”
Ritzenhein, in his first return to racing in Boulder in Boulder in 2007, but ended up third behind Bobby Curtis. He will give up his spot at the world championships — March 28 in Guiyang, China — to focus on the Boston Marathon on April 20. The top six runners in the women’s and men’s open and junior races get spots representing the U.S. at worlds, unless they give up their invitations to the next runner in line.
“I’m coming from sea level, and it was -6 (degrees) when I left,” said Ritzenhein, who is training in his native Michigan. “It felt really hot, and you could feel the altitude a lot. It was hard.
“I had a really rough 2014, so really I’m really happy to be back out racing and feeling good. I’m blessed every time I get to go out and race. Just because I didn’t win that fourth title today, I’m still happy.”
Daniel Petty: dpetty@denverpost.com or twitter.com/danielpetty
