To find out if you are running varsity or JV at the Cowboy Classic, click here: Cowboy Classic Varsity List

Who: All JV athletes who are not attending Rim Rock. Rim Rock athletes will attend practice at City Park at1:30pm on 9/12.  If you can’t race at the Cowboy Classic, please fill out this form, Cowboy Unavailability Form.  Rim Rock runners do not need to fill out this form.

Arrive at school: 1:50pm

Bus leaves East: 2:00pm (meet on Detroit Side of school)

If you are not riding the bus, plan on arriving at the meet 1 1/2 to 2 hours before your race.

Races & Times:

• 3:30 — Coach Meeting (at the Starting/Finish line)
• 3:40 — Boys Open 5K (unlimited entries – score 5)
• 4:10 — Girls Open 5K (unlimited entries – score 5)
• 4:40 — Boys Varsity 5k (seven entries — score 5)
• 5:00 — Girls Varsity 5k (seven entries — score 5)
• Awards Ceremony @ 5:45pm

Site: The Denver West High School Cowboy Classic at Garfield Lake Park this year.   3600 W Mississippi Ave, Denver, CO 80219.

Parking: All team buses can drop off runners on South Lowell Blvd and W. Arizona Ave. Bus parking around the park perimeter.

The course has a combination of mostly concrete, some grass and is FLAT and FAST giving  athletes a confidence boost early in the season.

Course: Denver West Cowboy Classic Course Map

The course has a combination of mostly concrete, some grass and is FLAT and FAST giving  athletes a confidence boost early in the season.

Rules of Competition:  Top five athletes from each team will be used for scoring.  Runners six and seven will be displacers.  In the event of a tie, the winning team will be the team with the highest placing 6th runner. Each team will be assigned a starting box.

Awards: First place varsity girls and boys teams will get trophies and top 3 individual finishers in those races will receive a medal.

Results: Results will be available following the event at  co.milesplit.com

Team Camps: Team camps are set up around the park area.  We need a JV parent to pick up the tent from this meet and bring it to the person who is taking it to St. Vrain on Saturday.  If you can help, please click here:  Tent Sign Up

Restrooms: There are restrooms near the tennis courts. .

Trainer: There will be a trainer on site at the finish line in case of emergencies.

As you know, we are hosting the League Meet, 4 weeks from today, which includes DPS and Aurora Public Schools. The meet will be at City Park on Tuesday October 10 from approximately 3:15-5:45, though we will need help before and after. As host, we will need volunteers for a huge range of big and small tasks– from recruiting lead mountain bikers to working the timing area to monitoring the course.

Please go to this link and sign up to help.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E48ACA92BA20-league

And mark your calendars– after the League meet, we can all head to Hopdoddy Burger Bar at 9th and Colorado to dine, celebrate, relax, and raise money for the team.

Thanks for all you do to support our kids!

Cowboy Classic Runners: If you are riding the bus, please be on the Detroit St side of school by 1:50pm. If you are getting yourself to the meet, please be there 1 1/2 to 2 hours before your race.

Kansas Runners: Since tomorrow is an early dismissal day, we will start practice at 1:30pm by the tree in our normal location in City Park.

The Denver East coaches get a little exhausted every year by the over-hype surrounding the Liberty Bell Invitational. After last year’s unseasonably cool weather produced even faster times than usual on this glorified road race with a net downhill profile, the hype reached new heights going into this year’s races. But as long as the meet continues to deliver the toughest competition of the season and lots of smiles on athletes’ faces after achieving personal best times, the Angels will keep returning to Heritage High School for this mid-season test. The 2023 edition delivered plenty of both for Denver East, so go ahead and pencil in this meet for 2024.

The East Boys competed in the Division 1 races at Liberty Bell this year – the division for large schools not invited to the Sweepstakes Division – the race in which every team, more or less, is ranked in the top-10 in Colorado in their respective division. This change in divisions from the last two years was actually a favorable development for our young team, allowing the Angels in the varsity race to run closer to the front against suitably strong competition. The East Boys took full advantage of this situation, with six of the seven boys running lifetime bests with an average improvement of nearly 50 seconds per runner for 5K. Junior Jonas Scudamore led the way for the Angels with a solid finishing kick to take 2^nd place overall in 15:31. Senior Conner Beardsley took 41 seconds off his personal best with a 16:29 20^th place finish followed by sophomore Toby Penner in 38^th in 16:59 and junior Ben Brown in 44^th in 17:07. Sophomore Isaiah Springer knocked 75 seconds off his previous best time, clocking a 17:54 for 82^nd place. Freshman Emery Wagner crossed in 18:22 for 106^th and senior Finn Egan 120^th in 18:47. The East boys finished 6^th of 22 scored teams in the division.

The Colorado 5A #9 ranked East Angel Girls toed the line in the Sweepstakes Division, along with all of the top thirteen ranked 5A teams in the state and six of the top seven ranked 4A teams in Colorado. As she has for more than two years now, junior Rosie Mucharsky led the way for the Angels, moving up for an 11^th place finish in 17:51. Senior Grace Todd has generally monopolized the #2 role for the Angels for the last three years, as she did again on Saturday, with a 18:33 performance for 37^th place and a 17-second personal best. Sophomore Scout Chomas ran 19:25 for 64^th place and a 66 second personal best. East’s Class of 2027 ticket of Kennedy-Johnson went 83^rd and 99^th, as Corrine Kennedy ran a 64 second personal best of 19:52 and Avery Johnson ran a 38 second personal best of 20:16. Seniors Sasha Bull and Sophia Shiroff took 109^th and 116^th in 20:25 and 20:36 respectively. The East girls finished an impressive 6^th of the 23 teams in the Sweepstakes division. Of the five teams ahead of the Angels, three are nationally ranked, including two in the top-10 (Air Academy, Mountain Vista, Cherry Creek) and a fourth has been part of the national conversation this year (Fossil Ridge).

The JV Boys were the next East team to take the course. Sophomores Kyle Kojima and Abraham Morginsky fully seized the opportunity, taking 13^th and 14^th place, in identical times of 18:17 (personal bests of 74 and 50 seconds respectively) – Kojima moved up nicely throughout the latter miles while Morginsky took a more aggressive early approach. Their classmate Alexandros Mays was the third Angel across the line in 56^th place with a time of 19:43 (a 53 second personal best) and senior Carson Lerner also broke 20 minutes with his 19:58 for 62^nd. Sophomore Mason Harper ran 20:08 for 68^th, giving the Angels a scoring total of 208 points for 9^th place of 18 scoring teams.

The East Angel Girls JV Team had the best team finish of the day for the program, taking 5^th place of 21 teams in the Sweepstakes JV Division – an impressive demonstration of the team’s depth and with a first to fifth runner difference of only 28 seconds. Sophomore Mary Clare Nussbaum led the way with a 24^th place finish in 20:53 – a 32 second personal best, followed by junior Lila Cypers who ran a 20:58 for 27^th place. Ninth grader Lola Carhart knocked more than 2 minutes off her previous 5k best, running 21:04 for 31^st. Seniors Avery Ash and Anna Rothman-Haji rounded out the scoring for the Angels finishing 34^th and 38^th respectively in 21:09 and 21:21.

Highlights from the Open races that followed included junior Beckett Nelson-Gardner winning the Division 1 Boys Open race in a 20 second personal best of 18:55, while senior Merle Hezel debuted his season with a 19:44 for 10^th place. In the Girls Sweepstakes Open race, sophomores Kairine Brown and Meara McBride took 8^th and 9^th place, both in 22:10.

The East Angels have two meets on the schedule in the week ahead. The Denver West Cowboy Invitational is a smaller meet on Tuesday to which East will send JV runners, some of whom will be tasked with racing at the varsity level. On Saturday the Angels head to the St. Vrain Invitational at Lyons High School – another meet at which there will be nationally ranked teams competing on a true cross country course (hills and dirt!) that is very spectator friendly. Continue following the website for meet details.

Monday is the big (burrito) day! From 4-8 pm we receive a portion of all the sales we bring in. You can order online for pick up– just be sure to use our promo code so we get credit: VPRXM26.

Please share this with everyone you know. See you there!

Directions on how to order online:

Just a reminder that the team potluck tonight will be hosted by the Rothman-Haji family (978 Cook St– between 9th and 10th) from 6-8 pm.

WHAT TO BRING:
frosh: main dish
soph: sides or salads
juniors: dessert
seniors: beverages

And of course, WE NEED TENT HELP this weekend.
You can sign up to bring it to OR from the meet here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16sD5bQV0C9aSMg4UhJ6rNpcTneX7KdZAJkqicFHsiIg/edit

We want all of our runners to feel comfortable and fast in their running shorts. Currently, our standard issue short for girls is the Nike short as pictured below:

 If you like this short, you can keep this short.

If you would prefer a different short, we will offer the following Nike v-notch short:

Please fill out the following form if you would like to exchange your shorts: Girls Short Exchange Form

If you decide to exchange, you can bring your current uniform shorts to practice to exchange for a v-notch pair on Thursday or Friday, 9/7 or 9/8.

If neither style appeals to you, you can wear any pair of red (JV) or black (varsity) shorts that have just one small brand logo or no logo on them. If you have questions, please ask a coach.