Three Angels took on the Colorado’s best on Saturday at the State Meet at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.

Sophomore Abby Howard competed in the 5A Girls Championship race in which the lead runners went out in a blistering 5:43 first mile. Howard ran most of her first mile near the top-40 runners and came through the mile in 6:10. The second mile of the course brings a series of hills and the pace slowed down substantially as the runners tried to hang on to their positions. Howard fell back a bit in the field over miles 2 and 3 before charging strongly in the final 400 meters. Ultimately, she finished in 82^nd place with a time of 20:42, more than a minute faster than she had run over the same course for the first meet of the season and 41 places better than she had at the State Meet the year prior.

Juniors Will Daley and Asher Hoyt ran smart first miles in their 5A Boys Championship race and were able to move up throughout the rest of race. Daley came through the mile in 5:10, in about 25^th place, and Hoyt was in about 75^th place after a 5:23 first mile. Daley moved his way up to 13^th place at the 2-mile mark and eventually to 12^th place at the finish with a time of 16:27. Hoyt meanwhile would pass more than a dozen runners over the second mile and near that many over the third mile to secure a 48^th place finish in 17:05. Both runners improved their finishes from last year’s State Meet by more than 50 places.

Dakota Ridge High School won the Boys 5A team championship and Mountain Vista High School won the Girls 5A team championship. All four girls teams from Region 3, in which East competes, finished in the top-10 at the State Meet.

We are so proud of all three of our Angels who competed and can’t wait for them to lead our teams at State Meet in 2019!

Huge thanks to all the East runners and families who came out to support our Angels at the State Meet. This was the biggest cheering squad we have had in the last 5 years and your coaches and teammates really appreciate it!

A handful of athletes will compete at the Nike Southwest Cross Country Championships or the Footlocker Midwest Championships. Please let Coach Kohuth or Coach Scudamore know if you plan to compete so we can help you with your training over the next several weeks.

We will soon post a Winter Conditioning Schedule on the website for all of our athletes. This will be particularly important for everyone who plans on competing in the spring track season. We strongly encourage all cross country runners to run track in the spring.

We will see you all at the banquet on Sunday, December 9^th.