Both Cross Country Teams Qualify For State Championships

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon for the Fountain Valley cross country teams running in the regional championships at Fountain Creek Park. The top four boys teams and top three girls teams from the region qualify for the state championships next week. The FVS coaching staff talked with the Rocky Ford coach before the meet discussing how it was going to be a shootout between four schools for the boys: FVS, Peyton, Rocky Ford and Vanguard. They did not know Pikes Peak Christian was going to be in the picture, too.

The boys got off to a solid start and were in third place at one mile behind Rocky Ford and Peyton and just in front of Vanguard. Dominic Carrese (’15) was in third place as an individual. Some of the Peyton boys dropped back while Vanguard’s top two boys moved forward throughout the race. The final results were (lowest score wins in cross country): Vanguard 24 (wins the tiebreaker), Rocky Ford 24, Peyton 33, Fountain Valley 35, and Pikes Peak Christian 37. That was a big three-way battle for the last two spots to qualify for the State Championships, and only two points separated Fountain Valley from going to state or going home. Results for Fountain Valley boys: Carrese finished 3rd (17:35), Daniel Wilkins (’12) 11th (18:51, season best), Jeff Brabec (’14) 20th (19:33, personal record), Zack Eberhart (’13) 29th (20:12, PR), Tyler Martin (’15) 37th (21:33, PR), Connor Dickerson (’13) 39th (21:45), and Austin Krug (’14) 52nd (23:46).

The girls race was even closer than the two points for state in the boys race. The Vanguard girls are very strong this year and were the favorites to win the regional championship. Fountain Valley needed to finish in the top three to advance to state and knew it would be a close battle with Kiowa, Peyton and Rocky Ford. The girls got off to a slow start as a team and were in fifth place at one mile behind Vanguard, Kiowa, Rocky Ford and Peyton. The girls were 17 points behind Peyton and 23 points behind Rocky Ford. It did not look like it was going to be the Danes' day. Over the next mile, girls from several schools moved positions and things looked brighter for FVS. Emma Reynolds (’13) moved from 20th to 13th and Julia Rogers (’13) moved from outside the top 30 to 20th place. Peyton moved up as well, but Kiowa was dropping back. The girls were still in fifth as a team, but were now only four points behind Peyton and seven points behind Rocky Ford.

Over the next mile, things kept going the Danes' way. Reynolds moved to 11th, Hannah Carrese (’12) was in 12th, and Rogers passed to 19th. Peyton, Rocky Ford and Kiowa were still in front of the Danes, however. The FVS girls still made some moves and got a little help in the end. Reynolds finished 10th, Carrese 12th, Rogers 17th, and Hayley Crowell (’12) moved all the way up to 19th from 27th place. Maia Presti (’13) moved up to 25th, passing Kiowa’s third runner on the final straightaway. Peyton’s third runner dropped back and a Vanguard girl also passed Kiowa’s third runner right at the finish line, which turned out to be very important. Final Results were: Vanguard 8, Rocky Ford 38, Fountain Valley 39, Kiowa 39, and Peyton 43.

The Danes won the tiebreaker because Crowell beat Kiowa’s fourth runner, and thus advance to the state championships. It truly took a team effort to take third place. Had any of the girls placed one position back, the Danes would have lost one point to Kiowa and would have finished fourth. Fountain Valley results: Reynolds 22:56, Carrese 23:22, Rogers 24:09 (PR), Crowell 24:19 (PR), Presti 25:48, and Maile McCann (’14) 28th place in 26:21.

The State Championship races are in Aurora next Saturday morning, 10/29/11.