The East Angels had plenty of highlights at the League Championship. Among them:
- Denver East JV Girls scored a mere 18 points on their way to the team title – just 3 points from a perfect score. The Angels have won the JV Girls League title for at least 15 consecutive years (we couldn’t find records going back further).
- Denver East Varsity Girls defended their league championship with just 24 points – like their JV counterparts, the team was dominant enough to have beaten the rest of the league combined. This is the Varsity Girls 7th consecutive title.
- Denver East runners took home three individual league titles (the most the Angels have secured in a few years) with huge margins of victory: sophomore Mary Clare Nussbaum won the JV Girls race by 29 seconds; junior Jonas Scudamore the Varsity Boys race by 21 seconds; and junior Rosie Mucharsky in the Varsity Girls race by an obscene 67 seconds.
- Five East runners made first team All-City League (Scudamore, Connor Beardsley, Mucharsky, Grace Todd, Julieta Ochoa, and Corrine Kennedy) and an additional three made second team (Avery Johnson, Sophia Shiroff, and Scout Chomas).
- Thirty-three Angels ran personal or seasonal bests on Tuesday.
- Denver East parents and coaches hosted such a good championship meet we get to do it again next year! Thank-you parents! Save Saturday, October 5, 2024 on your calendar when we will host the Middle School AND High School Championships at City Park.
The Angels hosted the City League Championship on a course modified from the usual City Park course due to construction around the Museum of Nature and Science. The 3-loop course was spectator-friendly and the weather even more so, with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70’s. The JV Boys were the first race of the day, with runners from Denver South and Northfield High Schools dominating most of the first twenty-five finishers. Senior Linus Cole was the first Angel across the line for the day in 17th place in 19:44, followed closely by Mason Harper in 19:49 for 18th place. Sophomore Alexandros Mays held on for 26th in 20:21 followed by senior Carson Lerner in 27th in 20:25. Sophomore Jackson Gertge closed out the scoring for the Angels running a massive personal best of 20:44 for 29th place. In all, fourteen JV boys ran personal or seasonal bests on their last meet of the season. The JV Boys took 3rd of 9 scoring teams.
In the Girls JV race, senior Sasha Bull and ninth-grader Abby Forsberg were up near the lead most of the first 2 miles, but it was Nussbaum who moved into the lead in the final mile to claim the victory in 21:29. Bull was the runner-up in 21:58, while Forsberg held on for 4th in 22:10, closely followed by senior Avery Ash in 5th, also in 22:10. Senior Anna Rothman-Haji closed out the scoring for the Angels with her 6th place finish in 22:29. A pair of Northfield runners crossed the line before an additional cluster of Angels, including sophomores Helen Love (9th, 22:34) and Daniela Maldonado-Ramos (10th, 23:11), and junior Abby Purvis (11th, 23:15). With a trio of runners in the top-7 early on, it looked as if Northfield might make the team race interesting, but by the finish, the Angels’ dominance was clear, taking the team title with 18 points to Northfield’s 47. Sixteen Denver East girls in the JV race posted personal bests for the season.
Following an inspirational Unified Division Cross Country race (the first in City League history), the Boys Varsity took to the course. Scudamore and senior Connor Beardsley were among a pack of at least 10 runners that stuck together through nearly 2500m before asserting a faster pace and demonstrating their championship season readiness. Scudamore took the win in 16:18, while Beardsley moved through most of that pack to take a decisive 3rd place – 15 seconds ahead of 4th and just 8 seconds short of 2nd. Most of the rest of the Angels came in fairly close together, with junior Ben Brown hanging on for 19th in 18:00, and sophomore Isaiah Springer and freshman Emery Wagner moving up to 22nd and 23rd in 18:03 and 18:09 respectively. Sophomores Kyle Kojima and Abraham Morginsky took 25th and 30th in 18:21 and 18:34, junior Beckett Nelson-Gardner was 33rd in 18:41, and senior Finn Egan 45th in 19:53. While the Angels team, depleted of two of its fastest runners, was never really in the hunt to defend its league title, the 63-point total was fewer than expected on its way to a 3rd place finish. Denver South defeated Northfield for the team title on the “6th runner rule,” as those two teams both totaled 39 points.
Mucharsky ran out of patience about 1/2 mile into the Girls Varsity race and ran away with the win in 18:08. Senior Grace Todd battled for second all the way through the finish, eventually crossing third in 19:28. Sophomore Julieta Ochoa had one of the best finishing kicks of the day, flying by two Northfield girls in the home stretch to take 4th place in 19:47. Ninth-grader Corrine Kennedy sprinted to a 7th place finish in 19:56, while her classmate Avery Johnson broke 20 minutes for the first time in her early career with her 9th place finish in 19:57, closing out the team scoring at 24 points. Senior Sophia Shiroff (12th, 20:18) and sophomore Scout Chomas (13th, 20:22) both finished ahead of Northfield’s 5th runner, to add two more points to the second place team’s total of 35 points. Ninth-grader Lola Carhart hung on to 15th place in her varsity debut, and junior Lila Cypers (20th, 21:23) made sure all nine Angels crossed the line in the top-20. The East Varsity Cross Country teams now look ahead to the 5A Region 3 Championship on October 20th at the NW Open Space Park in Northglenn. From there, the top-4 teams and top-15 individuals in each race will move on to the Colorado State Cross Country Championship on October 28.
We hope to see everyone at the team banquet on Sunday November 5 from 1:00-4:00 at the Mercury Cafe (2199 California Street). Runners and family members are welcome. More details will be out soon, including a link to buy tickets.
Interested in more running?
Coaches Kohuth and Scudamore and some athletes will again attend the Nike Cross Country regional SW Championship in Mesa, Arizona on November 18, 2023.
Information on the race is here: https://nxrsw.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=302&title_id=214&do=title&pg=1&folder_id=269&page_id=484
Details are on our website in a prior announcement (from Oct 9).
You can share your intent to go and travel plans on this form, NOTE: The team will be registered together by Coach Kohuth: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TMKeXkeXxPzJoBTt3jbuccx9cXFMHQDl5WxTCbPcx0w/edit#gid=0
Questions? Ask coaches Kohuth (steven_kohuth@dpsk12.net) or Scudamore (ddscudamore@gmail.com)
Denver East High XC 