The Thornton Invitational has long been a mainstay on the schedule of the Denver East Cross Country Team. The meet moved from late season to earlier season a couple years ago, but it has maintained its appeal. The course offers some nice variety in surfaces and topography, is spectator friendly, draws a bunch of schools, is well organized, and East athletes have tended to deliver some fast times there. With cooler temperatures and overcast skies for most of the meet on Friday, “yes, indeed,” one can imagine Coach Kohuth saying, as the East Angels delivered a lot of personal and seasonal bests.

As we are already three weeks into the season, the decision was made to hold out many of the varsity runners, using the meet for the younger runners and JV runners to gain additional experience at racing the 5K distance. This meant moving JV1 runners up to varsity competition and expecting our JV2 to stay competitive in the JV races. All four teams managed the competition excellently, in every case finishing among the top half of all teams entered.  The race details described are courtesy of Coach Brimeyer.

In the JV Boys race, which went off first, freshman Sam Schmidt put himself in position early and continued to pick off runners throughout the race. He flew down the hill in the last 800 meters putting up a massive personal best of 19:01 for 8^th place. Sophomore Owen Van De Velde moved up throughout the race and finished strong, nearly breaking 20 minutes in 20:04 (previous PR 21:49) to take 26th. Sophomore Tyler Villanueva had a big pr of 20:25 for 36th. Senior Micah Gallantz, coming off some injury setbacks in the past year, survived for a time of 20:46 for 48^th place. Junior Wyatt Jackson, returning to the team after a year away, broke the 21-minute barrier for the first time in 20:58. Junior Jackson Ruedi ran gritty with his seasonal best 21:05, and senior Hutton Zimmerman ran a pr 21:11. The East Boys finished 4^th of 17 teams.

Following 10 minutes later on the course, the Girls JV were led by 9^th grader Rachel Jackson; a summer practice stalwart, Jackson got out aggressively and maintained her position for the big pr crossing the line in 22:52 for 16^th place. She.  Senior Helen Love was next for the Angels in 23:36 for 23^rd, followed by 9^th grader Clementine Wolpert in 24:07 for 34^th. Ninth grader Abby Evenson (24:54, 47^th) led a pack of Angels down the final straightaway including sophomore Sena Thompson (24:57, 49^th), junior Addy Everhart (51^st, 24:59), and Audrey Hinshaw (25:04, 52^nd). Together the JV Girls finished 6^th of 13 teams and 170 runners.  

At the mile mark of the Boys Varsity, freshman Noah Erwin was out in 5:40 with classmate Evan Mucharsky trailing close behind. Senior Alexi Mays came through next. Sophomore Luke Rasquinha was running slightly ahead of his classmate Finley Knight at the mile, while junior Zach Smiles was running a smart race and moving up throughout along with freshman Elias Striker. Senior Syncere Garcia and freshman Tyce Weber formed a great pair that moved up together throughout the race. In the final 800m, Erwin led the way for the Angels with Mucharsky close behind, both finishing under 18 in their second ever 5k for 43^rd and 45^th in 17:56 and 17:58. Knight showed off great racing tactics by slowly moving his way up once again to finish in 18:29 for 68^th place. Rasquinha held on impressively to finish in 18:34 for 72nd. Mays faded a bit in the middle but rallied to finish strong in 18:38 for 76^th, with Smiles close on his heels to finish in 77^th, also with 18:38. Striker had a fantastic debut 5k (18:45, 90th), and Garcia and Weber closed strongly, both with huge PRs of 19:10 and 19:17 respectively for 112^th and 119^th. The Angel Boys Varsity finished 8^th of 24 teams in a race that included 197 runners.

In the Girls Varsity, the trio of 9^th graders Tessa Fe Morris, Charlotte Clark and Norah Dysart, got out aggressively in the first 800, and at the mile Morris was in the top 10 with Clark and Dysart not far behind. Sophomore Ainslie Mohr came along a bit later, showing veteran instincts and moving her way up throughout the race. All four had come into the race a little questionable due to some mild illness during the week.  Clark and Dysart fell a bit off their early pace, with Mohr catching Dysart in the last 800 meters. All were impressive at the finish, with Morris going sub-20 (19:45) for 13^th place and personal records all around for Clark (20:23), Mohr (20:35), and Dysart 20:36) for 28^th, 35^th, and 38^th.  Sophomore Emma Maldonado, realizing she was the 5th runner, moved up significantly throughout the race, fighting for every place, eventually finishing in 68^th in 21:53. Sophomore Imogen Nemitz and junior Grey Jenson ran most of the race together, picking up steam as they went, with Nemitz taking off in the final 600 meters with a blistering kick to finish in 21:58 for 70^th, and Jenson taking 77^th 22:09. Junior Emmalou Weidman ran a 2-minute person record, finishing in 22:55 for 93^rd, while her classmate Abby Forsberg steadily moved up to finish in 22:57 for 94^th. As a team, the Varsity Angel Girls finished 5^th of 20 teams.

The Angels will look to bring all this momentum into next Saturday’s Liberty Bell Invitational. This will be the most competitive meet on our scheduled prior to State Meet, with most of the top teams in Colorado in attendance.