All 9th and 10th graders who did not travel to Kansas will race tomorrow (October 1) at the Pat Amato Freshman/Sophomore Invitational at Northwest Open Space Park in Northglenn. Meet information is here. The bus will leave East at 1pm. Boys race at 3pm and Girls at 3:30pm
All 11th and 12th graders who did not travel to Kansas will race on Friday at the Pat Amato Classic. Meet information is here. The bus is tentatively scheduled for 11:30am; Coach Kohuth will confirm at practice this week. JV and Varsity lineups for Pat Amato Classic will be posted at Coach Kohuth’s office.
Potluck this week is on Thursday at 6pm. It is our last potluck of the season as we wrap up the invitational schedule. Lucia and Rae are hosting at 2224 Fairfax St.
Mental Skills training continues this week at 3:30pm on Wednesday and Thursday prior to practice.
As you know, East is hosting the League Championships on Wednesday Oct 16 at City Park. This is a huge event and growing as we now are hosting 3A, 4A, and 5A. We need your help to make this event a success. Please volunteer at this link.
Rain was in the forecast for Colorado, but through the morning on Saturday conditions could not have been more pleasant for the cross country race at Lyons High School with sunny skies and mild temperatures. The three loop course at the St. Vrain Invitational facilitates a great spectator experience and it was great to see so many “Guardian Angels” on the course to support the team. St. Vrain is a quintessentially southwest US style course with an almost exclusively dry hard packed dirt surface, few trees to provide any shade, and a couple moderate hills; it resembles the Colorado State Meet course more than any other on the Angels’ schedule and always attracts many of the best teams in the state.
The Girls Varsity lined up to race first. All the Angels teams demonstrated grit coming off an unfortunate starting line assignment on the far outside. Sophomore Corrine Kennedy seems to be gaining confidence by the week and looks ready to be a future leader of the team as she got off to a good start; she was able to hold on to 29th place of the over 200 runners in the large schools division race in 19:57. Junior Julieta Ochoa moved up to just a single position back of Kennedy with her time of 19:59 on a course that does not give up sub-20 minute times easily. Junior Scout Chomas dropped a time of 20:27 for 44th and sophomore Avery Johnson 20:32 for 47th. Sophomore Lola Carhart had one of her best races of the season, going 20:37 for 51st. Junior Mary Clare Nussbaum continues to be a consistent contributor to the team and crossed the finish in 21:09 for 77th. The East Angel ninth-grader brigade was again led by Lila Brown who was just ahead of Nussbaum in 70th in 21:00, while her classmates Ainslie Mohr, Paola Ochoa, and Emma Maldonado-Ramos went 83rd, 120th, and 132nd, in 21:26, 22:35, and 23:00 respectively. Even with senior Rosie Mucharsky on the sidelines cheering on the team, the Angels managed to finish 6th of 25 teams, of which four are nationally ranked.
In the Boys Varsity race it looked as if senior Jonas Scudamore had got himself mixed up in a team trial for US #3 ranked Niwot High School. The Cougars put up a perfect score of 15 points as they had the first six runners across the finish line while Scudamore settled for 9th in 16:06. Behind him, senior Ben Brown and junior Isaiah Springer had arguably the best races of their season, running 17:04 and 17:08 for 34th and 40th over the challenging course. Sophomore Emery Wagner ran 17:48 for 77th, while junior Jack Gertge threatened his personal best time running 18:11 for 105th. Juniors Mason Harper and Abraham Morginsky finished nearly together in times of 18:39 for 125th and 126th, while their classmate Kyle Kojima ran 18:59 for 139th. Junior Alexandros Mays was the last across the line for the Angels running 19:20 for 153rd. The Angels, again not quite at full strength, took 10th of 25 teams.
Sophomore Abby Forsberg led the Angel Girls in the JV race, running 23:36 for 40th. Her classmate Grey Jenson put up another very solid performance, running 23:42 for 44th place. Junior Daniela Maldonado-Ramos (24:08) was next for the Angels in 52nd. The Angel Girls JV finished 8th of 14 scored teams. The JV Boys were led by freshman Tre Even who finished 47th in 19:32, a personal best! Juniors Alex Wilkerson and Tomas Cole ran 20:34 for 73rd and 20:59 for 86th respectively, while sophomore Zevi Shiroff ran 21:08 for 91st and freshmen Finley Knight and Elliott Sense ran 21:22 and 21:28 for 97th and 99th in the 238 runner race. The JV Boys were 7th of 19 scored teams.
This weekend the Varsity and JV1 teams will travel to Lawrence, Kansas for the Rim Rock Invitational. Ninth and 10th graders will race the following Tuesday at the Pat Amato Frosh/Soph Invitational and everyone else at the Pat Amato Invitational on Friday, October 4. Link to full results for St. Vrain
Potluck is Thursday at 6pm (not Wednesday) at 2649 Hudson Street, hosted by Campbell Hefty and family.
Our team has a tradition of volunteering at the Hot Chocolate Run. The event is Sunday, October 6 and is early in the morning from 5:30-11:30am. The event is a lot of fun according those who have done it in the past and may raise a little money for the team if we have enough volunteers. It is organized by seniors and all athletes are encouraged to volunteer. If you are interested please go to tinyurl.com/hotchocolate25. You must register by September 26th. If you have questions, please see one of the captains, Campbell Hefty or Gracie Taub.
Not everyone loves the Liberty Bell Invitational. More road race than cross country, the emphasis on times chafes some cross country purists. But the runners always seem to have fun with the fast times, so the Angels return every year, and Liberty Bell delivers as promised.
In a morning full of races, the Varsity Sweepstakes races are the first to take the course; the Sweepstakes Division is for those teams and individuals ranked near the top-10 in their classification at state regardless of school size, while the rest of the day’s races are divided by school size. Senior Jonas Scudamore was the first off the line for the Angels, running with a large lead pack through the first mile in the low 4:40’s. There was only minimal separation through the second mile, with the race stringing out a bit only over the last half mile. Scudamore crossed the line in 10th place in 15:06, a personal best performance that moved him up to #2 all time for East runners in races run in Colorado (altitude).
The front of the Girls Varsity Sweepstakes played out similarly, with a large pack of girls setting a sizzling fast pace early. Senior Rosie Mucharsky knocked additional time off her school record by the finish, crossing in ninth in 17:21. The next four girls for the Angels all ran personal bests that placed them among the top-10 performers all-time for Denver East High School. The pack of sophomore Corrine Kennedy (18:56), sophomore Avery Johnson (18:58), and junior Julieta Ochoa (19:00) came across in 57th, 58th, and 59th, with junior Scout Chomas back only a handful of seconds in 19:09 for 73rd. Together these first 5 totaled 243 points, a score identical to that of meet host Heritage High School, ranked #8 statewide ahead of the #9 ranked Angels. So, 7th place in the Sweepstakes Division was to be settled by the strength of each squad’s 6th runner. East sophomore Lola Carhart claimed 101st place in a personal best 19:41, 13 places and 22 seconds ahead of Heritage’s 6th runner, securing 7th place for East. Had it come down to the 7th runner, the Angels were winning there too, with junior Mary Clare Nussbaum finishing in 111th in a personal best 20:01. Of the six teams ahead of the Angels, five are nationally ranked, including US #1 and US #2.
The Boys Varsity D1 race got started just as the Sweepstakes Girls were finishing. Junior Henry Bennett moved himself up into the top-10 runners in the race by the 2-mile mark and secured 10th place with a personal best 16:06, a time that moves him up to #9 among all East runners in races run in Colorado. Junior Isaiah Springer had a breakthrough run, dropping a 16:35 for a massive personal best and 24th place. Senior Ben Brown crushed what had been the elusive sub-17 barrier running 16:49 for 39th. Sophomore Emery Wagner also broke 17 minutes for the first time, running 16:59 for 48th. Junior Toby Penner took 85th in 17:50, while his classmate Micah Gallantz seemed to adjust just fine to varsity, clocking a personal best 18:02 for 94th. Junior Abraham Morginsky took 136th in 18:53. The East Angels took 7th of 22 teams in their division. Had Scudamore joined his teammates in that race, the Angels would have won the D1 team title; had his teammates joined him in the Sweepstakes race, the Angels would have taken down a half dozen of the 23 schools assigned to that division.
The first five across the line for the Angels in the Girls Sweepstakes JV race all ran personal bests. As has been the way for the first half of the season, the Girls JV were led by ninth graders. Lila Brown led the way with her 20:25 for 20th, followed by Ainslie Mohr in 20:49 in 32nd and Emma Maldonado-Ramos in 22:07 for 69th. Senior Rae Tatel took 70th in 22:15, while sophomore Grey Jenson continued to establish herself as a top JV runner with her 22:58 for 88th. Juniors Daniela Maldonado-Ramos and Abby Forsberg took 90th and 102nd respectively in 23:04 and 23:35. The Angels were 11th of 22 teams in their division.
The JV Boys raced to an impressive 2nd place finish in the D1 Boys Division. They were led by four juniors who all ran under 19 minutes. Jack Gertge led the Angels in a personal best 18:17 for 9th place, followed by Kyle Kojima (15th, 18:28), Mason Harper (16th, 18:30pb), and Alexandros Mays (24th, 18:45pb). Freshman Tre Even continues to take chunks of time off his personal best, posting 19:38 for 54th on Saturday. Junior Alex Wilkerson (71st, 20:00) and sophomore Jackson Ruedi (87th, 20:32) also ran career best times.
There were many, many personal bests run among the East Angel runners competing in the Open Division. Among the highlights for the boys, included the debut of junior Sebastian Rodriguez, who only recently turned in his cleats for running shoes. He dropped a 19:09 on his way to a 9th place finish in his race. Sophomore Zivi Shiroff dropped more than 40 seconds from his personal best, running 20:47 for 18th place. For the girls, senior Yelena Konowal improved on her personal best by nearly a minute, running 23:09 for 35th place, while seniors Franny Hebbard and Campbell Hefty ran 24:19 and 25:07 respectively and ninth graders Imogen Nemitz and Audrey Hinshaw ran 25:21 and 25:22.
The Angels will again skip the upcoming DPS meet, the North Viking Invitational, in favor of focusing on the St. Vrain Invitational. The St. Vrain course resembles the state meet course more than any other on East’s schedule and gives the Angels another chance to compete against the best teams in the state and country.
Buses leave from East at 6am on Saturday for the Liberty Bell Invitation. Come prepared to run fast! All athletes need to arrive at the meet more than 90 minutes prior to their race. Parking near the course is a challenge – leave plenty of extra time if not taking the bus. Please let Coach Kohuth know if you do not plan to take the bus to the meet. Links to course map and other meet information is below.
Sweepstakes BoysVarsity – 8:00am
Scudamore
Sweepstakes Girls Varsity – 8:03am
Mucharsky, Kennedy, J.Ochoa, A. Johnson, Chomas, Carhart, Nussbaum
D1 Boys Varsity – 8:20am
Bennett, B. Brown , Springer, Wagner, Penner, Morginsky, Gallantz
Sweepstakes Girls JV – 9:30am
P. Ochoa, L. Brown, Mohr, Parish, Jensen , Tatel, E. Maldonado-Ramos
D1 Boys JV – 9:55am
Gertge, Mays, Kojima, Harper, Z. Smiles, Even, Wilkerson
Denver East High XC 