The first races of the season are always revealing. They do not reveal everything, but they reveal much about how far summer training has brought some athletes and how far some runners and teams may have to go to close the gap between their current race readiness and the season’s goal. For East Angel Cross Country, the first week definitely revealed some happy surprises and some harsh realities.
The forecasted thunderstorms and heavy rain mostly spared the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede Meet on Friday at the Norris-Penrose Event Center, leaving the runners to take on the State Meet course with the most favorable running weather in a month. The JV Boys got the honor of being the first East Angels to race this season. Senior Finn Egan led the JV team with his 27th place finish in 20:07, with classmate Carson Lerner placing 37th in 20:35, followed closely by sophomore Alexandros Mays who ran a personal best for 5K of 20:36 for 39th. Junior Donovan Aggeler (54th, 21:10) and sophomore Mason Harper (61st, 21:40) made up the rest of East’s entries. The JV Boys ended up 8th of 10 scored teams.
In the Girls JV race, senior Avery Ash negotiated her way around the Norris-Penrose course a few seconds faster than she had at the State Meet last year, running 21:52 for 7th place. Junior Lila Cypers finished in 22:25 for 11th place while sophomores Quinn Dunkin, Meara McBride, and Daniela Maldonado-Ramos ran 22:42, 22:56, and 23:07 for 13th, 16th, and 20th respectively. The next three finishers for the Angels were all cross country debutants, with ninth-graders Lola Carhart (21st, 23:09) and Abby Forsberg (25th, 23:16) separated by sophomore Helen Love (22nd, 23:11). East’s scoring five totaled 63 points for 2nd place of 11 teams, behind only Fairview High School.
The Denver East Varsity Boys toed the start line with seven of nine boys running in their first real varsity competition. Junior, and two-time State-Meet veteran Jonas Scudamore led the way for the Angels moving up from around 15th place at 2000m into the race to a 7th place finish in 15:56, a five second personal best. Senior and fellow State Meet veteran Connor Beardsley also posted a five second personal best on a course that does not give away a lot of PR’s, running 17:10 for 57th place. Sophomore Tobias Penner and junior Ben Brown finished nearly together in 18:15 and 18:17 for 107th and 108th. The rest of the team was packed in between 140th and 149th, with sophomores Abraham Morginsky, Isaiah Springer, and Kyle Kojima running 19:07, 19:15, and 19:41 respectively, junior Beckett Nelson-Gardner also running 19:15, and freshman Emery Wagner running 19:25 in his debut. As a team, the Angels were 16th of 18 teams. Of the 15 teams ahead of the Angels, five are ranked in the top-10 in Colorado 5A, with most of the rest ranked in the top-10 of their respective divisions in Colorado – a tough initiation for this young team.
Six of the ten Varsity Girls to lineup for the Angels ran at last year’s state meet, and the confidence gained from that experience showed. Further, the two ninth-graders who shared the start line with their new teammates definitely left the impression that they are ready to make an impact on the varsity level. Junior Rosie Mucharsky shared the lead up front in the race with two excellent runners for about 4600m; then she was apparently done sharing and ran away for a decisive win in 17:54 – 51 seconds better than her previous best time on the Norris-Penrose course. Senior Grace Todd also demonstrated excellent early season fitness, racing to 11th place in 19:24. Sophomores Julieta Ochoa and Scout Chomas showed the maturity of varsity veterans as they moved up to 35th and 40th in the loaded field with times of 20:19 and 20:31. Not all that far behind in their first race, ninth graders Avery Johnson and Corrine Kennedy kept moving through the field to grab 54th and 56th place respectively in 20:54 and 20:56, working together the whole way. Senior Sophia Shiroff followed Kennedy by just 7 seconds for 65th, sophomore Mary Clare Nussbaum was 94th in 21:43, and seniors Sasha Bull and Anna Rothman-Haji were 95th and 103rd in the 155-girl field. The East Angel girls finished a very strong 2nd of 18 teams with 137 points, behind only Valor Christian High School’s 96 points. Of the many ranked teams the Angels beat, their finish ahead of #5 ranked regional rival Fairview High School by 3 points was probably the most satisfying.
WASH PARK INVITATIONAL
On Saturday, the remainder of the East Angel JV competed at the Washington Park Invitational with similarly favorable running conditions. The Girls JV demonstrated the team’s depth with strong performances from sophomore Liza Cathey who finished 2nd in 12:01 over the 3000m course (more than 2 minutes faster than her time on the course last year), followed by junior Abby Purvis in 7th in 12:56. The remainder of the scoring five included ninth graders Charlie Kinsinger (11th, 13:36) and Grey Johnson (17th, 13:43) and junior Yelena Konowal (18th, 13:55). The Girls finished 2nd of five teams.
In the Boys edition of the JV race, the Angels were led by another sophomore, Liam Taylor, who ran 11:20 for 17th place. Senior Linus Cole (19th, 11:21), sophomore Micah Gallantz (24th, 11:52), senior Isaac Ely (27th, 11:55), and sophomore Caleb Smiles (30th, 12:00) made up the rest of the scoring five, with the East Boys finishing 3rd of 6 JV teams.
Next week all East Angels will race at the Legacy Lightning Invitational in Broomfield, on Friday, September 1. Watch for all details on the website and team calendar.
HAVE PICTURES TO SHARE? Please upload your photos to our team page or into the folder for the specific meet (see below):
East XC 2023: https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023
As you upload, please sort into the right meet folder from the pull down menu, if possible.
You can also directly upload from one of these links:
8/25/23-Cheyenne Stampede
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https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023/upload/82523CheyenneStampede
8/26/23-Wash Park
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https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023/upload/82623WashPark
9/1/2023- Legacy Lightning
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https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023/upload/912023LegacyLightning
9/9/2023- Liberty Bell
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https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023/upload/992023LibertyBell
9/12/2023- West Cowboy Classic
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9/16/2023- St. Vrain
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https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023/upload/9162023StVrain
9/19/2023- North Viking
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https://albums.memento.com/EastXC2023/upload/9192023NorthViking
9/23/2023- Rim Rock
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9/23/2023- Northfield
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9/29/2023- Thornton
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10/10/2023- League
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Denver East High XC 