COLORADO SPRINGS — Battle Mountain senior Will Brunner’s prep for the snowy CHSAA cross country state championships on Saturday? Shoveling snow off the field for the Huskies’ state soccer playoff game on Friday.
A day later, he kicked his way to the Class 4A boys state title with a winning time of 15 minutes, 19.9 seconds, as he hung on to beat Mullen’s Jacob Sushinsky (15:21.7) in a tightly contested race at the Norris Penrose Event Center.
“I am from Vail, so I would say we might have a little advantage. I spent all of yesterday shoveling the field for a soccer game for my school, so, I’m pretty used to the cold,” Brunner said of the frigid conditions Saturday morning.
Brunner and Sushinsky ran against each other for the first time at last weekend’s regional, where it was also neck-and-neck. On Saturday, once the pack broke away in the hill section, Brunner only focused on his kick.
“Someone told me freshman year that you have to end every workout with the fastest rep, so I was thinking about that during the whole race. … I prepped for it and went all-out in the last 100 meters.”
Brunner won the 4A 3,200-meter run at the state track and field meet in the spring, and also won a national championship in trail running last summer.
Vanguard’s Campos 3-for-3
Don’t bet against The Vanguard School’s Nahdia Campos when she gets inside the Penrose Events Center.
The junior is now 3-for-3 in state tiles and set the Class 2A girls course record each of the last two years, including Saturday, when she won in a record-breaking time of 18:19.1 (18 seconds faster than in 2022).
“My work is paying off at this time and I’m just really happy I was able to break my record again,” Campos said. “That was the goal coming in, just doing better than last year.”
The junior is already looking forward to next year, when she can go for a rare four-peat.
3A proves elite
The 3A races were runaways, as The Classical Academy’s Matthew Edwards set a new boys course record, while Notre Dame-bound Isabel Allori of Liberty Common won going away in 17:32.33. She entered the race as the eighth-best runner in the nation.
Meanwhile, Edwards wanted to match his friend, the 4A winner Brunner.
“I was gunning for Will’s time. I mean, we run together a lot and have similar fitness levels right now,” Edwards said after his winning time of 15:20.7, which helped his team to the boys title. “I know I can get the 3A (record) and did that one earlier in the year at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, and I just had to come out here and do what I do best.
“I led out from the front and pushed the whole time, and coming into the final mile I looked behind my shoulder and knew I couldn’t let go and had to keep fighting.”
It was Edwards’ second title. He won in 2021 and took third last fall.
CHSAA state cross country meet
Norris Penrose Event Center
Distance: 5 kilometer
BOYS
Class 5A
Team results: 1. Rock Canyon, 96; 2. Mountain Vista, 105; 3. Fairview, 118; 4. Valor Christian, 123; 5. Grandview, 213.
| 1. Brennan Draper | sr. | Chaparral | 15:14.4 |
| 2. Benjamin Anderson | jr. | Mountain Vista | 15:19.0 |
| 3. Dane Eike | sr. | Valor Christian | 15:28.2 |
| 4. Owen Whitney | jr. | Rock Canyon | 15:32.5 |
| 5. Owen Casselman | sr. | ThunderRidge | 15:33.5 |
| 6. Jonas Scudamore | jr. | Denver East | 15:42.8 |
| 7. Daniel Hruska | sr. | Cherry Creek | 15:42.9 |
| 8. Kaeden Dendorfer | jr. | Valor Christian | 15:43.0 |
| 9. Holden Krizek | sr. | Fairview | 15:52.4 |
| 10. Cadel Ruthven | so. | Fort Collins | 15:53.7 |
Class 4A
Team results: 1. Niwot, 58; 2. Cheyenne Mountain, 104; 3. Thompson Valley, 146; 4. Coronado, 151; 5. Eagle Valley, 190.
| 1. Will Brunner | sr. | Battle Mountain | 15:19.9 |
| 2. Jacob Sushinsky | sr. | Mullen | 15:21.7 |
| 3. Rocco Culpepper | so. | Niwot | 15:27.8 |
| 4. Porter Middaugh | sr. | Battle Mountain | 15:28.8 |
| 5. Aiden Le Roux | so. | Cheyenne Mountain | 15:32.2 |
| 6. Lucas Bossinger | sr. | Palmer Ridge | 15:40.5 |
| 7. Brogan Collins | jr. | Cheyenne Mountain | 15:43.1 |
| 8. Cole Mazurana | jr. | Niwot | 15:45.3 |
| 9. Oliver Horton | fr. | Coronado | 15:49.4 |
| 10. Joshua Shriver | jr. | Summit | 15:55.7 |
Class 3A
Team results: 1. The Classical Academy, 48; 2. Berthoud, 81; 3. Frontier Academy, 88; 4. Salida, 150; 5. Jefferson Academy, 162.
| 1. Matthew Edwards | sr. | The Classical Academy | 15:20.7 |
| 2. Cody Kelley | sr. | Manitou Springs | 15:59.0 |
| 3. Tate Bothun | sr. | Berthoud | 16:01.2 |
| 4. Sean Beasley | sr. | Jefferson Academy | 16:01.5 |
| 5. Cole Krug | sr. | Lamar | 16:02.2 |
| 6. Logan Halla | sr. | The Classical Academy | 16:03.2 |
| 7. Cody Wyman | sr. | Manitou Springs | 16:08.3 |
| 8. Austin Tice | sr. | Estes Park | 16:08.8 |
| 9. Jackson Fagerlin | jr. | Resurrection Christian | 16:10.9 |
| 10. Darren Hayden | sr. | Frontier Academy | 16:12.5 |
Class 2A
Team results: 1. Wiggins, 41; 2. Clear Creek, 73; 3. Banning Lewis Prep, 102; 4. Golden View Classical Academy 104; 5. Rocky Ford, 106.
| 1. Andrew Bel | jr. | Colorado Springs Christian | 16:16.6 |
| 2. Sage Wynja | sr. | Lyons | 16:23.8 |
| 3. Bobby Kiesewetter | jr. | Golden View Classical Academy | 16:24.1 |
| 4. Yosef Heldt | sr. | Golden View Classical Academy | 16:38.5 |
| 5. Dawit James | so. | Strasburg | 16:39.3 |
| 6. James Talbot | jr. | Rangely | 16:44.1 |
| 7. Ian Molgaard | so. | Heritage Christian | 16:48.2 |
| 8. Ocean Caplan-Holdgrafer | jr. | Clear Creek | 16:52.0 |
| 9. Gabe Gatti | so. | Peyton | 17:00.0 |
| 10. Chase Bodine | sr. | Wiggins | 17:01.2 |
GIRLS
Class 5A
Team results: 1. Air Academy, 26; 2. Fossil Ridge, 120; 3. Chaparral, 134; 4. Cherry Creek, 135; 5. Mountain Vista, 143.
| 1. Rosie Mucharsky | jr. | Denver East | 17:28.8 |
| 2. Tessa Walter | jr. | Air Academy | 17:46.1 |
| 3. Mariah Hook | fr. | Air Academy | 17:50.9 |
| 4. Emily Cohen | so. | Cherry Creek | 17:55.3 |
| 5. Elena Torres | sr. | Loveland | 17:57.9 |
| 6. Bethany Michalak | sr. | Air Academy | 17:59.0 |
| 7. Chamorra Cooper | fr. | Air Academy | 18:00.9 |
| 8. Emily Beers | jr. | Air Academy | 18:06.8 |
| 9. Claire Guiberson | so. | Mountain Vista | 18:17.0 |
| 10. Zoe Brandt | jr. | Mountain Vista | 18:18.8 |
Class 4A
Team results: 1. Niwot, 20; 2. Cheyenne Mountain, 150; 3. Northfield, 150; 4. Conifer, 155; 5. Summit, 183.
| 1. Addison Ritzenhein | so. | Niwot | 17:08.2 |
| 2. Ella Hagen | jr. | Summit | 17:38.0 |
| 3. Olivia Alessandrini | sr. | Niwot | 18:01.2 |
| 4. Sarah Perkins | sr. | Niwot | 18:07.1 |
| 5. Payton Meineke | so. | Riverdale Ridge | 18:16.0 |
| 6. Mia Prok | sr. | Niwot | 18:17.2 |
| 7. Olivia Sheridan | sr. | Palmer | 18:17.7 |
| 8. Avalon Beltran | so. | Niwot | 18:22.9 |
| 9. Lauren Raley | sr. | Cheyenne Mountain | 18:34.2 |
| 10. Anna Prok | so. | Niwot | 18:46.4 |
Class 3A
Team results: 1. The Classical Academy, 69; 2. Peak to Peak, 133; 3. Holy Family, 134; 4. Alamosa, 146; 5. Salida, 162.
| 1. Isabel Allori | sr. | Liberty Common | 17:32.4 |
| 2. Allison Pippert | sr. | Stargate | 17:52.6 |
| 3. Elizabeth Mcquitty | jr. | Alamosa | 18:37.0 |
| 4. Madelyn Stice | jr. | Gunnison | 18:44.9 |
| 5. Izzy Schimmelpfennig | fr. | Timnath | 19:04.3 |
| 6. Delaney Reuter | fr. | Eaton | 19:16.5 |
| 7. Anabella Descalzo | jr. | Holy Family | 19:17.2 |
| 8. Jaycee Williams | sr. | Berthoud | 19:20.8 |
| 9. Jemma Petrie | jr. | Gunnison | 19:23.9 |
| 10. Joy Ahnfeldt | fr. | The Classical Academy | 19:25.2 |
Class 2A
Team results: 1. Heritage Christian, 37; 2. Lake County, 47; 3. Banning Lewis Prep, 69; 4. Caprock Academy, 84; 5. Denver Christian, 100.
| 1. Nadhia Campos | jr. | The Vanguard School | 18:19.1/td> |
| 2. Mikaela Kendall | so. | Heritage Christian | 19:22.6 |
| 3. Alexia Gonzales | jr. | Banning Lewis Prep | 19:44.4 |
| 4. Austin Cook | so. | Telluride | 19:52.8 |
| 5. Taylor Skinner | sr. | Caprock Academy | 20:09.3 |
| 6. Keira King | sr. | Lake County | 20:12.3 |
| 7. Quincy Bowling | so. | Byers | 20:18.2 |
| 8. Olivia Bell | jr. | Banning Lewis Prep | 20:18.9 |
| 9. Ella Bullock | jr. | Lake County | 20:19.8 |
| 10. Emelia Falcon | sr. | Banning Lewis Prep | 20:23.8 |
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