Finally, the East Angels got to start competing. This week’s Varsity and JV-1 teams traveled to the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede to preview the State Meet course against some of the toughest competition in 5A. In fact, of the 20 teams entered, the Girls 5A race featured five of the top-10 teams in the preseason poll and two of the top-10 boys teams battling it out over 5 hilly kilometers on a warm August day in Colorado Springs.
The Girls JV were the first to take to the course. While the JV race was not officially scored, it looked to be a close battle between runners from Denver East, Cherokee Trail, and Fossil Ridge. The Angels had three of the first twelve runners to cross the line, led by sophomore Lilia Scudamore in 22:31, followed closely by senior Lily Cory in 22:43 and sophomore Alana Marie Barros in 22:47. Senior Emily Turner crossed the line in 23:33, ahead of Grace O’Meara, Reese Brogden, and Ellie McWhirter, who each broke 24 minutes over the tough course.

The Varsity Girls race immediately followed the JV. Sophomore Abby Howard and junior Anna Lucy Buddenhagen led the Angels to a 9th place finish of the 20 teams, finishing in 37th and 42nd place respectively with times of 21:52 and 22:01. Junior Elena Thoman finished in 22:30 for 60th place, while sophomores Maya Nussbaumer and Julia Schor rounded out the scoring in 54th (22:52) and 59th (23:02). Making her high school debut, Ellison Mucharsky-O’Boyle finished in 66th in 23:31.
Later in the afternoon, it was the JV Boys turn to toe the line. After more than three tough miles, junior Ballard Kauffman would be the first Angel to cross the line, in time of 20:09. Sophomore Cyrus Jenkins-Nieto would closely follow in 20:14, and senior Jack Thompson would be the next Angel to finish, in 21:39. Junior Taylor Lucas and 9th grader Nick Virnich would also come in under 22 minutes.

For the Varsity Boys, it was juniors Will Daley and Asher Hoyt moving up smartly in the second half of the race to snag podium finishes of 9th and 10th place with times of 17:10 and 17:11 respectively. The next three Angels came across the line separated by only 13 seconds, as sophomore Xander Pacini finished 69th in 19:09, junior Elijah Bruggeman in 72nd in 19:12, and 9th grader Eamon Nussbaum in 79th in 19:22. Junior Riley Nickols survived a fall during the race to finish in 93rd in 19:46, and Jack Beardshear finished 111th in 20:34. The Boys, like the Girls, finished 9th of 20 teams.
The following day, East’s JV-2 scrimmaged against Golden High School and Green Mountain High School at the 10th annual Ram Run 5K hosted by Green Mountain – where the Angels in attendance saw more hills over 5K than they might see at all the meets for the rest of the season combined. Top performances were turned in by Paul Buffington in 24:04, Kerra Hendrickson in 24:59, Alia Quinby in 25:03, Marcus Burnett in 25:04, Alex Schor in 25:24, and Clara Lorenzo in 25:49. Coaches Miller, Fehrman, and Scudamore also ran the course well. A special shout out to parent Renee Supplee who not only came to pick up the tent, but also dropped a 24:48 for 5K!
Next weekend brings us the Washington Park Invitational on Thursday for most of the team, while Varsity and JV-1 go to the Centaurus Invitational on Saturday.