The Denver East Angels Cross Country season officially came to an end at the Colorado State Cross Country Championships this past Saturday. It was an unseasonably hot day at the Norris-Penrose/Bear Creek cross country course in Colorado Springs, and both the 5A Girls and 5A Boys would run at the warmest point in the day.

The 5A Girls ran first. Representing East, juniors Nell Salzman and Samantha Skeen negotiated their way through the course in excellent fashion. Engulfed in clouds of dust, the two ran close together in the middle of the large field of runners throughout the 5000m race. They held their positions well throughout their runs; Salzman would eventually finish 122^nd and Skeen 128^th. They will each be among the top-100 returning girls in Colorado, ready to lead the Angels at the State Meet in 2017.

Junior Harrison Scudamore, after a crowded and physical adventure off the starting line, was able to establish himself among the top contenders by the end of the first mile. A group of more than 20 went through the mile mark together near 5:00, about 8 seconds behind a lone runner who had gone out fast. The chase pack, thinned to about a dozen runners including Scudamore, was rapidly catching the early leader by the two mile mark. With just half a mile to go, the pack finally blew open, with defending champion Issac Green easily winning his second title. Scudamore would fight to a 5^th place finish – just four seconds separated 2^nd through 5^th; seven seconds separated 2^nd through 7th.

With all of this year’s girls varsity team and most of this year’s boys varsity team returning in 2017, the Denver East Angels look forward to qualifying, not just these three individuals, but the entire team, for next year’s Colorado State Meet. Start your goal-setting now and anticipate a full summer of conditioning for next fall’s cross country season!

Turn in your clean uniforms on Wednesday, November 2 at 2:55 in the counseling center.  Unreturned uniforms will result in a $90 charge to your student account.

Congratulations on a fantastic State meet!!

End of Season Cross Country Banquet
Sunday, Dec 4th from 9:30a-11:30a
Park Hill Golf Club 4141 E 35th Ave, Denver, CO

Please join us for a celebration of another successful East Cross Country season!  We’ll have brunch, awards, Coach Kohuth’s famous speeches… and this year we’re holding a small silent auction to help raise money for the team.

Runners, parents and siblings are all encouraged to come.

Cost is $18 per person.

Please RSVP as soon as possible but no later than Nov 25 to mjbrooks@aol.com

You can send checks for the banquet to Mary Jo Brooks, 9048 E. 25th Drive, Denver, CO 80238 or pay online at the East gear store.

(If the cost is prohibitive, please see Coach Kohuth).

We are also looking for donations for the silent auction.  We would be grateful for items or gift cards from restaurants, specialty stores or hotels.  (We can provide you with our non-profit ID so that contributions are tax deductible).  Please send auction donations by November 18^th. Email Mary Jo or Marea (contact info below) with questions.

There are a limited number of Senior t-shirts (“Bringing XC Back”) still available for sale.  They are $15.  If you want one, please email Madeline.Scholtz@gmail.com.

Thanks much. We look forward to seeing you at the banquet!

Mary Jo Brooks mjbrooks@aol.com

Marea Evans MareaEvans@mac.com

The Denver East Angels ran their best race of the season at the 5A Region 1 Championships over the Thornton Recreation Center course on Friday. The East Girls ran to a 5^th place finish – equal to their best finishes (2010 and 2011) in the last 10 years. The Girls finished just 10 points short of Chatfield High School, 107 to 117, for the fourth and final team qualifying spot for the State Championship meet. However, the Angels will send two individuals to the State Championship! Juniors Nell Salzman and Samantha Skeen, with their 11^th and 15^th place finishes, are moving on to the State Meet. They follow in the recent tradition of Isa Marshall, Class of 2016 and now running varsity for the University of California at Santa Barbara, in grabbing one of these coveted top 15 finishes to go on to the State Meet. Additional highlights in the Girls race included Junior Laurel Kruger, who worked her way up to 28^th place and a personal best 21:08 under warm and windy conditions. Lilly Cory, 31^st, and Lindsey Weyant, 32^nd, rounded out the scorers for East. Congratulation also to Emily Turner, Masie Moskowitz, Serene Mather, and Sara Merman for their strong performances at Regionals. The Angels return all 9 runners and their top 3 alternates next year, so the future looks bright for East.

Conditions improved substantially for the Boys Race, allowing fully six of East’s nine runners to race to personal bests! Junior Harrison Scudamore will be joining Nell and Samantha in Colorado Springs at State. Coming from 18 seconds behind at 3000m, he stormed back to take the Regional Championship title and guarantee a spot in his third consecutive State Meet. Freshman Asher Hoyt ran a personal best 16:49 for 18^th place; two years ago, on this same course, that time would have been good enough to qualify for State Meet! Senior Rafael Daher-Marmalejo ran a career best 17:06 in his last cross country race as an Angel, taking 24^th place. The freshman trio of Elijah Bruggeman (18:22, 57^th), Kristian Laird (18:48, 62^nd) and Zacharias Abdulkadir (18:56, 63^rd) followed, each with their own personal best times over 5000m. Jackson Adams, Jack Rocchio, and Liam Peck made up the rest of the team, each at or near a personal best time. The Boys finished a surprisingly strong 7^th place, just 2 points from 6^th place. This team features 5 freshmen. By way of comparison, the other 10 boys’ teams at Regionals had a combined total of just 7 freshmen! Like the Girls, we have reason to expect big things from this team in the years ahead.

Nell, Samantha, and Harrison run at the State Championship at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs this Saturday, October 29. The 5A Girls race goes off at 12:00pm and the Boys at 1:20pm.

We hope to have a large group of supporters cheering them on and visualizing what it will be like next year when we take two full teams of Girls and Boys to State! Please reach out to your teammates and coaches to make plans to get down there; it is always an exciting meet to attend.

Unfortunately, we still have runners who haven’t returned their uniforms.  For a large team with over 130 students on the roster, we need every uniform to be returned.

Libby’s mom will be at East in the counseling center after school until 3:45 pm.  If you are not running in the regional meet, please turn in your uniform to her TODAY.

Thank you to all who have turned in their uniform.

Athletes, including alternates, who are training to run regionals on Friday are invited to dinner this Thursday, Oct 20 at 6:00 pm at Harrison Scudamore’s house (751 Elizabeth Street).

This is not a potluck, but attendees are welcome to bring drinks or desserts.

email Jennifer jareich424@gmail.com if you have questions. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you Thursday night.

Athletes who are not running at the regional meet:

Please turn in your clean uniform on Monday, October 16, 2016 after school in the East counseling center.

If you are a DSA student, we will pick your uniform up at 12: 20 pm (end of  lunch) in the DSA counseling center.

If we don’t receive your uniform by Monday at 3:45 pm, your student account will be charged $90.  Thank you for your help in the uniform return process.

Thanks for volunteering to help pass out water for the Rock n Roll half-marathon. Our team will get money for being there and it should be a fun day.

We need to be at our post at 6:15 on Sunday at California and 16th, Note that streets will close around 6 am. Here is a pass to get through road closures, a release form, and details. rock-n-roll-cheer-station

rnr-cheer-parking

cheer-release-form.

Email Steven_Kohuth@dpsk12.org with questions or to let him know you are going.

Tonight’s potluck has been canceled.

In case you are looking for another occasion to run with Angels (or on the side of the angels), here is your chance. As some of you know, the Scudamore family annually organizes a fundraising team to benefit the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. For the fifth year, we are putting a team together to benefit the Coalition at the Holidays 5K. For the past several years we have been the largest team, one of the teams raising the most funds for the coalition, and are the only team that is more than half young people. Many of you are longtime members. We would love to keep building momentum, raise funds to support the Coalition, and increase awareness of the work they do in our community.

Saturday NOVEMBER 5 at City Park.

When you register select JOIN AN EXISTING TEAM and then select MITZVAH MANIACS. If the team does not appear on the pull-down menu, be sure the type the team name MITZVAH MANIACS in the space below and someone will make sure you are added.

Then shortly thereafter, send an email to jareich424@gmail.com to communicate that you are joining the team. You will get your very own team shirt, an invite to our team party, and a bragging rights forever more.

This is open to everyone: runners, walkers, parents, siblings, friends… the more the merrier. Really. You can REGISTER HERE.

Contact Harrison Scudamore or Jennifer (jareich424@gmail.com) with questions, need for clarification, or expressions of raw enthusiasm.

We hope you will join in!