Friday, 9/19: No Team Practice, run on own (or meet on own with teammates). Northfield Racers: 20-35 minutes easy plus 4 strides. Non-racers: Level 4: 40-50 minutes plus 6-8 strides; Level 3: 35-45 minutes plus 6-8 strides; Level 2: 30-40 minutes plus 6-8 strides; Level 1: 25-35 minutes plus 6-8 strides.

Saturday, 9/20: Northfield Meet, bus leaves from East HS at 8:30am. Meet information can be found here.

Monday, 9/22: Regular Team Practice at 4pm at City Park.

Tuesday, 9/23: Chipotle Fundraiser

Eating Chipotle to raise money for the team?! Count me in!

Isaiah Springer is hosting the next team potluck on Thursday, September 18th at 1345 Elm Street. You know what to bring.

Hot Chocolate Run Volunteers. The Hot Chocolate Run is on October 5th in Washington Park. When Denver East XC brings enough volunteers for the event, the team gets money. Please use this link to sign-up: Hot Chocolate Volunteers. Volunteer time slots are from 5:30am – 11:30am.

Team photos today!

Photo Day is Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16 – photographer message below. Come to practice in uniform!

Hey Angels Cross Country Fans!

Lace up—it’s time for Media Day tomorrow! We’re excited to capture your grit, endurance, and Angel pride.

📅 Tuesday, September 16th

🕒 4:15 PM

📍 North Side of School on Hill

Pre-orders are required! Athletes will be able to review their images right after their photo to make sure they’re picture-perfect. Once ready, a gallery link with download details will be sent straight to your inbox.

Bring your energy, show off your team spirit, and let’s go the distance with some unforgettable photos!

👉 Pre-order here: https://pci.jotform.com/waidophoto/25-26-ehs-xc

Questions? Reach out anytime at tommy@waidophotography.com or (970) 402-4426.

Let’s make this a strong finish!

Tommy Joe Waido

Waido Photography

Practice Schedule August 15 – August 20

Monday, 9/15: Long run; meet in City Park

Tuesday, 9/16: Photos on hill across from baseball fields, then warm-up on track

Wednesday, 9/17: Workout day; meet in City Park

Thursday, 9/18: Meet on track

Friday, 9/19: No Team Practice, run on own (or meet on own with teammates). Northfield Racers: 20-35 minutes easy plus 4 strides. Non-racers: Level 4: 40-50 minutes plus 6-8 strides; Level 3: 35-45 minutes plus 6-8 strides; Level 2: 30-40 minutes plus 6-8 strides; Level 1: 25-35 minutes plus 6-8 strides.

Saturday 9/20: Northfield Meet. Practice at Central Park for those not racing. Details to be announced.

Sunday 9/21: 0-35 minutes on own, optional for Levels 2-4

The Liberty Bell Invitational has achieved outsized importance for most high school cross country athletes in Colorado. Expectations for fast times are high, to say the least. For the coaches, Liberty Bell serves the purpose of measuring the team against the best teams in Colorado, our region and our league at what is the midpoint between the beginning of the season and the start of the championship season. Saturday turned out to be one of those days on which very fast times indeed would be run, when record books would be rewritten, and even many of those who didn’t feel like they had great races ran personal bests. And as the team scores got posted, the East Angel coaches began to feel pretty good about where the teams are at this point in the season.

Eleven of the top 12 ranked 5A teams in the state for both the boys and girls competed at Liberty Bell Invitatinal, including 4 of the top 30 ranked girls teams in the nation (2 of the top-10). The East Girls competed in the Sweepstakes division, reserved for the top ranked teams regardless of school size, while the East Boys competed in Division 1, the races for the largest schools not in the Sweepstakes division.

The Varsity Girls were the first to race. The Angels managed the always stressful and chaotic start at Liberty Bell well, and at the mile mark the foursome of seniors Scout Chomas and Julieta Ochoa, and juniors Avery Johnson and Corrine Kennedy had established good position within the competitive field, while the trio of senior Mary Clare Nussbaum, junior Lola Carhart and sophomore Lila Brown raced a bit further back. At 2.5 miles, Chomas and Ochoa had established a bit of a gap on Kennedy and Johnson, with Nussbaum closing the gap a bit between her and the teammates ahead of her, and Carhart and Brown trailing not too far behind. Chomas closed fast to post a blazing 18:09 for 32^nd place, a one-minute personal best and a time that makes her the #2 performer all time for Denver East High School. Ochoa finished only a handful of ticks back, running 18:15 for 42^nd place, a 45 second pr and #3 all time for the Angels. Johnson closed fast for 56^th place in 18:31, a 24 second pr and #4 all time for East with Corrine Kennedy close behind in 18:32 for 58^th and #5 all time.  Nussbaum broke on to the all-time East top-10 record board with her 62 second pr of 18:46 for 66^th place (#8 all time for East). Carhart crossed the line with a 31 second pr, good enough for 88^th place and 10^th all time for East, while Brown took 113^th in 19:32 – a 34 second personal best. As a team, the Angels finished with a total of 235 points, taking 7^th place of the 22 schools competing in this prestigious division.

The Varsity Boys produced more than a few notable marks of their own. The boys also got off the line well and positioned themselves for success. Coming through the mile, the Angels were led by senior Henry Bennett running with the lead pack, with small gaps separating senior Isaiah Springer, senior Jack Gertge, senior Kyle Kojima, junior Emery Wagner, senior Mason Harper, and sophomore Tre Evens from one another. By 2.5 miles those relative positions held, with Springer and Kojima making the biggest moves up through the total field of runners. All closed the last half mile well, with Bennett sprinting to a 3^rd place finish in 15:44, a personal best that moves him up to #7 all time for East. Springer broke on to the top-10 all time list at #8 with his 15:50 finish for 7^th place. Gertge crossed the line with a 32 second pr in 16:27 for 27^th place. Kojima had a breakout performance, taking 80 seconds off his previous best time, running 16:45 for 44^th place. Personal bests followed for the rest of the Angels with Wagner in 16:45 for 52^nd, Harper in 17:17 for 79^th, and Even in 17:27 for 87^th. The Angels totaled 133 points for 3^rd place in the division – a rare podium finish for the Angels at this meet.

In the JV Girls race, sophomore Fiona Jeong and ninth-grader Tessa Fe Morris got out aggressively and continued to run hard among the top handful of runners in the race all the way through the finish, with Morris crossing in a personal best time of 19:45 and Jeong in a personal best of 19:46, for 5^th and 6^th respectively. Ninth-grader Norah Dysart moved into the top-20 over the second half of the race to take 17^th in a personal best 20:17, with sophomore Ainslie Mohr trailing not far behind and posting a personal best 20:31. Ninth-grader Cate Carhart closed out the scoring for the Angels, finishing in 21:28, a 90 second personal best, for 56^th place. This all underclasswomen team finished 2^nd in the Sweepstakes JV1 race with 114 points, suggesting the Angels have among the best team depth in Colorado.

The shape of the Angels JV boys attack looked similar to that of the JV girls, with a couple Angels running up front, a strong supporting cast, and exclusively underclassmen among the scoring five. Freshmen Liam Gerber got out fast and hung on for 5^th place in 17:53, a 92 second personal best. Classmates Noah Erwin and Evan Mucharsky-O’Boyle closed well to take 8^th and 9^th in 18:00 and 18:02 respectively. Sophomores Finley Knight and Luke Rasquinha moved up throughout the race to take 19^th and 27^th in 18:22 and 18:35. Seniors Abraham Morginsky and Alexi Mays ran 18:44 and 19:18 for 34^th and 57^th. The Angels totaled 66 points for a very satisfying 2^nd place finish.

The Open Girls were led by another notable performance by junior Lola Kinsella, who ran 21:04 for 5^th place. She was followed by sophomore Imogen Nemitz (20^th, 22:23), senior Helen Love (40^th, 22:59), junior Emmalou Weidmann (42^nd, 23:06), and ninth-graders Rachel Jackson (46^th, 23:08) and Clementine Wolpert (47^th, 23:10). The Angels finished 4^th of 15 teams in the Sweepstakes Open race.

The Open Boys Division 1 race saw some Angels jump to the lead from the start. Freshman Elias Striker went nearly wire to wire to take the win in 18:27, an 18 second personal best. Junior Zach Smiles fought off some lingering illness to run 18:44 and take second in the race. Freshman Sam Schmidt ran aggressively from the start and hung tough to finish in 19:05 for 5^th place. The Angels closed out their scoring with sophomore Owen Van De Velde breaking the 20-minute barrier in 19:49 for 22^nd place, senior Micah Gallantz closing well in 19:56 for 23^rd, freshman Will Weidmann running 20:29 for 29^th, and junior Jackson Ruedi running 20:40 for 33^rd. The Angel boys totaled 53 points for 3^rd place, a single point behind Cherokee Trail and Regis Jesuit.

The Angels will go split squad over the next 2 weeks. The Varsity and JV1 squads will skip the Northfield Invitational as they prepare for the Rim Rock Invitational in Kansas the following week. The rest of our JV runners will be asked to step up into scoring roles for the varsity and JV races at the Northfield Invitational on Saturday.

Due to current and forecasted lightning in the area, practice will be canceled today. Athletes are expected to run on their own when it is safe to do so. Below are the running suggestions for each level.

Effort: Maintenance run

Level 4: 40-50 minutes w/ 6-8 strides

Level 3: 35-45 minutes w/ 6-8 strides

Level 2: 30-40 minutes w/ 6-8 strides

Level 1: 25-35 minutes w/ 5-6 strides

The potluck for tonight is still on! 555 N High St is the location of tonight’s potluck! We’d love to see you there! Bring your designated food!

555 N High St is the location of tonight’s potluck! We’d love to see you there! Bring your designated food!

Tuesday and Thursday: 4:00 at the track (maintenance with jumpies and wickets).

Wednesday: 4:00 @ City Park (tune up workout).

Friday: 4:00 @ City Park (pre-meet).

Saturday: Liberty Bell Invitational! Complete meet schedule can be found here: https://co.milesplit.com/meets/684038-liberty-bell-cross-country-invitational-2025

Note: Our girls will be in the Sweepstakes divisions, and our boys will be in Division 1. More details to come on who will be running which race.

Go Angels!

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.