Many consider this past weekend to be the biggest weekend in Colorado cross country until State Meet due to the quality and size of the Liberty Bell and St. Vrain Invitationals. Denver East is one of the few schools that competes in both of these big meets.

LIBERTY BELL: The East Angels started off their weekend at the Liberty Bell Invitational on Friday, hosted by Heritage High School. True to expectations, this meet produced many personal bests. The varsity boys were led by senior Rafael Marmalejo-Daher in a personal best of 17:11. He was followed closely by freshman Asher Hoyt in 17:13, which was the 6th fastest time of any freshman in the Division 1 Varsity race. Also with life time bests were fellow freshmen Elijah Bruggeman in 18:51 and Kristian Laird in 19:01, junior Jackson Adams in 19:15, and freshman Liam Peck in 19:17. This very young team was 21st of 22 teams.

Junior Nell Salzman turned in the best time for the varsity girls with a strong 20:03. Sophomore Lilly Cory followed not far behind in a lifetime best of 20:23. Lindsey Weyant was the top freshman for East in 20:53, and for the third time in as many weeks junior Laurel Kruger ran a new personal best – this time a 21:20. The girls, all juniors or younger, were 16th of 21 teams.

In the JV boys race, the Angels saw underclassmen lead the day with sophomore Cole Finley-Ponds (19:29), freshman Ballard Kauffman (19:49), and sophomore Alex Zonca (19:57) each turn in personal best times over 5K. Junior Samantha Skeen, still obligated to run JV races this weekend and next due transfer rules, finished second overall in the girls JV race, followed by frosh Macie Moskowitz and Ann Lucy Buddenhagen, who each ran to personal best times. Maddie Scholtz and Mackenzie Whitehead-Bust rounded out the scorers for the JV squad, who finished 8th out of 18 teams in their division.

ST. VRAIN: On Saturday, the Angels traveled up to Lyons High School for the prestigious St. Vrain Invitational. Harrison Scudamore, who had skipped the Liberty Bell to concentrate on this race, led through much of the second mile, but would eventually fade to a 5th place finish in a seasonal best 16:08. Asher, Rafael and Elijah, who had all run hard and fast races the previous evening, followed in 64th, 66th and 181st. Junior Alex Weber was the 5th runner for the East boys who finished 17th in a field of 27 teams, of which 9 teams are currently ranked in the top 10 in Colorado in the 4A or 5A Divisions.

Sophomore Emily Turner, who had also run at Liberty Bell, had her strongest race of the season thus far, leading East in the varsity girls race with a 114th place finish. Not far behind, Lindsey (119th), Laurel (120th), Serene Mather (145th), Ann Lucy (174th), Maddie Solomon (180th) and Maddie Scholtz (207th) each followed up their Liberty Bell races with solid performances at St. Vrain. The team, depleted of its top two runners from the day before, finished 20th of 25 teams.

The boys JV race was highlighted by personal best times run by frosh Zach Abdulkadir (20:48) and juniors Mac Meeter (21:51) and Henry Kaufman (22:06). Along with Nicholas Panagos and Jack H. Thompson they led the Angels to 14th place out of 27 teams. The girls JV team was again led by Samantha Skeen in 11th. Allona Macrossie-Smith impressed in her cross country debut with a 36th place finish, followed by Sara Merman, Audrey McGlothlen, and Anna Clayton. Together they placed 7th of 30 teams in JV girls.

LOOKING AHEAD: On Friday the squad will split between the John F Kennedy Commander Cup at Bear Valley Park and the Arvada West Invite at the Stenger Soccer Complex. Both are smaller meets than this past week, but both offer fast courses good for running personal best times over 5K cross country.

Arapahoe Warrior Invite

It was an exciting meet for East at the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational on Friday afternoon. This meet always offers up some of the best competition in the state and features a real cross country course – two water crossings, a variety of surfaces, and this year’s added feature of twice having to negotiate your way over a large log lying across the trail.

The East frosh/soph boys kicked things off on this warm day. They were led by Elijah Bruggeman in 51^st place. He was followed by Kristian Laird and Liam Peck, who each ran personal bests of 20:25 and 20:33 respectively. Cole Finley-Ponds and Alex Zonca rounded out the scorers for the Angels who finished 12^th of 26 teams.

The frosh/soph girls were next on the course, led by a strong finishing Lilly Cory who finished 24^th and ran a personal best of 22:49. She was followed by Emily Turner, Anna Lucy Buddenhagen who also ran a personal best time. Serene Mather and Massie Moskowitz followed and the East frosh/soph girls finished a strong 8^th out of 23 teams.

Harrison Scudamore summoned a furious finish, closing a 5 second gap over the last 400m. It was literally a photo finish; the results were in doubt for several hours, but the officials finally determined he had come up a hair’s breadth short, taking second place. Rafael Marmalejo-Daher started his Labor Day weekend off well with a 35^th place finish. He was followed by juniors Peter Jonas, David Spritzer and Jack Thompson – all with solid seasonal debuts for 2016.

The varsity girls were again led by Nell Salzman who finished 35^th. Laurel Kruger ran another strong performance for the girls, followed by Caroline Ritchie, Madeline Solomon and Francis Fedele.

The junior/senior boys were led by Mac Meeter who ran a huge personal best in 5K cross country and the junior/senior girls’ race saw the East debut of Samantha Skeen who finished 4^th overall. She was followed by Anna Clayton in her debut in cross country.

Congratulations to all the East runners who competed at this challenging meet.

Centaurus Invitational

A small and determined group of runners traveled to the Centaurus Invitation in Lafayette on Saturday.

In the boys varsity race, Rafael Marmalejo-Daher came back for his second race of the weekend finishing 46^th. Frosh Asher Hoyt followed in 61^st place. Jackson Adams, Cameron Ayedelotte, and Alex Weber rounded out the scorers for East.

For the second race in as many days, Samantha Skeen led the East girls JV squad – on this occasion with a 5^th place finish. Maria Crippen, McKenzie Whitehead-Bust, and Audrey McGlothlen followed in 40^th, 43^rd and 45^th – each with seasonal bests.

Stay tuned for many more personal bests next week as the team competes at both the super fast Liberty Bell Invitational and the super competitive St. Vrain Invitational.

Our own Harrison Scudamore (Junior) led the Angels by winning 1st place with a blazing fast time of 16:09 at Cheyenne Mountain on Friday. Click here for the boys 5A results.

The girls finished in 7th place and was led by Nell Salzman (Junior) who ran a screamin’ fast time of 21:18 and placed 13th in the girls 5A race. The girls team finished 7th overall. Click here for the girls 5A results. 

As Coach Kohuth explained Thursday night, the Angels, no matter where they finished, ran the toughest race they could run.  They will continue to do this each week throughout the season.    “It doesn’t get easier, you just get faster.” ~ Greg LeMond

To view photos of the race, click this link Cheyenne Mountain Photos

We can wait to see how the rest of the Angels run at Green Mountain today!