Runner Unavailability

Are you planning on running on Friday at the Warrior Invite?
Please fill out your availability BY MIDNIGHT MONDAY so the coaches can do the entries on Tuesday when they are due to our host, Arapahoe High School. You can access the form here or at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiePfmJwj38HlRoG0IsER879yn2zzi0LEFsiWtrdvGSCaoxA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link

See coaches with questions.

Washington Park Invitational Recap

The Denver East Girls Cross Country Varsity concluded the 2021 season with their best race of the season at the Region 3 Championship state qualifying meet. Nonetheless, the team left the course with a bitter taste, having missed qualifying for the state meet by a single point. Well, the road to redemption started Saturday morning at the Washington Park Invitational. The East girls won with a 6^th runner tie breaker, when Angel senior Evelyn Higgins (21:10) finished two places ahead of Castle View High School’s 6^th runner (29^th to 32^nd), breaking a deadlock between East and Castle View who each had a sum of 85 points after five runners had scored. Looking a bit closer, Higgins also provided a decisive point by being a single place ahead of Castle View’s 5^th runner, and for good measure, sophomore Lila Cypers (21:14), East’s 7^th runner to cross the finish line, was also ahead of Castle View’s 6^th runner in 31^st. And there is the matter of the 3^rd place Regis High School, just a single point back of East with 86 points. Were Cypers and Higgins not ahead of Regis’s 5^th runner, who finished in 34^th, it would have been Regis to take home the team title. So no, neither Higgins nor Cypers were among East’s scoring five, but their finishes delivered the team title to East. So yep, every runner and every place matters.

Regarding those scoring five for the Angels, juniors Grace Todd and Sophia Shiroff led the team with 9^th and 10^th place finishes, moving up smartly from around 20^th place through much of the first mile – each had career personal bests at 19:30 and 19:40 respectively. Ninth grade Angels Kairine Brown and Scout Chomas had very impressive high school cross country debuts finishing 20^th and 21^st in identical times of 20:36. Junior Sasha Bull completed the scoring for the Angels in 25^th, also in a career personal best of 20:52. The varsity race also saw the debuts of two more very promising 9^th graders, with Julieta Ochoa (21:17) and Mary Clare Nussbaum (21:25) finishing 34^th and 35^th while senior Helen Miller (21:37) finished 41^st.

Coming off an 11^th place finish at last year’s State Meet, expectations are running high among this year’s Angels boys team. On Saturday they took a step towards backing up those expectation, winning the team title with 53 points, ahead of Grandview High School with 59, Regis Jesuit with 84 and Castle View with 95. East was led by senior Corbin Hobert; Hobert looked to be fading when he lost contact with the lead group of three runners mid-race but came storming back in the final half mile to finish 2^nd in a huge personal best of 16:01.  Sophomore Jonas Scudamore ran most of the race no farther up than 8^th place and also ran an impressive last half mile to grab third in personal best 16:06. Senior Ian Logan raced to a personal best of 16:30 for 7^th. Freshman Henry Bennett ran the fastest time by an East 9^th grader in anyone’s memory with a 16:48 for a 15^th place finish, followed by junior Connor Beardsley who finished in 26^th in 17:16 – prior to Saturday, Beardsley had never broken 19 minutes. Senior Harrison Hittle, running his first cross country race, ran 17:30 for 34^th, while fellow senior Ben Hopper ran 17:55 for a 52^nd place finish. Ninth grader Tobias Penner finished 71^st in 18:41 for his high school career debut and Ben Brown ran 19:05 for 83^rd in his first varsity race.

The JV races ran a 3000m course rather than the typical 5000m course – maybe a kinder introduction to the season. Ninth grader Meara McBride took advantage of the opportunity, running to a 3^rd place finish in 12:33, followed closely by junior Avery Ash. Sophomores Ella Terch and Grace Taub ran 13:09 and 13:26 respectively for 14^th and 33^rd. Junior Sophie DeBlasio was 32^nd in 13:51, senior Siena Berry 36^th in 13:55, and ninth grader Daniela Maldonado-Ramos 37^th also in 13:55. Clara Taub was the final Angel to break the 14 minute barrier with her 13:56 for 40^th place. Northfield High School won the team title in the JV Girls race with 49 points. East finished second with 78 points, again with an identical score to third place Castle View. This time the decisive points came from East’s sixth runner Berry and seventh runner Maldonado-Ramos finishing ahead of Castle View’s fifth and sixth runners.

In the Boys JV race the Angels were led by a couple veterans, as junior Kai Luna ran smartly to a 3^rd place finish in 10:08 and senior Charlie Keglovitz finished 5^th in 10:16. Sophomore Finley Steed showed some early season promise with his 10:20 7^th place finished followed by junior Finn Egan in 12^th at 10:33. A trio of East freshman, Abraham Morginsky (17^th 10:37), Isaiah Springer (32^nd, 11:09), and Mason Harper (40^th, 11:26) were followed by a trio of sophomores, Donovan Aggeler (42^nd, 11:27), Noah Shurz (44^th, 11:28), and Caleb Woodman (45^th, 11:28).  The JV Boys took the team title with 44 points, ahead of Regis Jesuit (49 points), Castle View High School (75 points), and Grandview High School (76 points).

Clearly it is very early in the season, and multiple teams, including East, held out some key runners for a variety of reasons. However, the results on Saturday portend well for East’s ambitions, as the Angels dominated Denver Prep League rivals Northfield and South, and Region 3 rival Boulder High School across all divisions except JV Girls. Wins will be hard to come by the rest of the Invitational season as the Angels go to more meets against top-ranked teams in the state and nation. This Friday’s meet, the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational at DeKovend Park, will feature two creek crossings, multiple surfaces, a couple short hills, at least four nationally ranked teams, and an East Team with momentum and appreciation for how every runner and place matters!   

Go Angels!