We wanted to share with you a potential pedestrian safety threat within our primary practice site, Denver City Park. The Denver Zoo is planning the possible opening of their West Entrance in City Park for public motorist access. Motorists for this new entrance would be directed across at least four pedestrian crossings for the Mile High Loop and all pedestrian access to the City Park Playground and Tennis Courts. We believe this presents a profound risk to safety when running in the west side of the park in addition to being a threat to other pedestrian and bike traffic inside the park.
City Park Friends and Neighbors is hosting an information session with Zoo leaders on September 2nd at 5:30pm at Carla Madison Recreation Center. If you have concerns about increasing motorist traffic inside City Park, you may also consider reaching out to our City Council members: Darrell Watson district9@denvergov.org (City Park and Park Hill) and Chris Hinds district10@denvergov.org (Denver East HS, Congress Park, Capitol Hill).
Twenty-seven (27) is a magic number in cross country. A score of 27 points or fewer, no matter how many other teams are competing, cannot be beat.
On Saturday, three Denver East Cross Country teams scored fewer than 27 points.
The Varsity Girls kicked things off after a ten-minute delay to reroute the course, with the much anticipated water crossings being eliminated after some concerns about their safety. (Kudos to our friends at South who had to improvise this change in the 11th hour). For East, the pack of senior Scout Chomas and juniors Avery Johnson and Corrine Kennedy immediately established themselves near the front, trailing only a single runner from South through the first 2 kilometers. Meanwhile, junior Lola Carhart and sophomores Lila Brown and Fiona Jeong established their own chase pack a little bit further back. This early establishment of order changed very little over the next two kilometers, with the first South runner holding off a late charge by Johnson (2nd, 19:20) and the second South runner holding off a late charge for 5th place from Carhart (6th, 20:01). With Chomas 3rd (19:31), Kennedy 4th (19:38), and Brown 7th (pr 20:06), the Angels finished with mere 22 points for first place of the 13 teams, with South in 2nd with 41 points. Jeong finished 8th in 20:08 in her high school cross country debut, completing the Angel dominance of the top-10 podium.
In the Boys Varsity, senior Henry Bennett opened the season with an auspicious individual win, the first of his career, in a time of 16:34. Bennett showed the patience of a veteran, waiting until the final kilometer to put away the last of his remaining competition by a full 9 seconds. Senior Jack Gertge had a career breakthrough race, knocking more than a minute from his previous personal best and making the podium of a varsity race for the first time with his 16:59 8th place finish. Sophomore Tre Even, making his varsity debut, also knocked more than a minute from his personal best, running 17:42 for 19th. Junior Emery Wagner moved up through the middle parts of the race to finish in 20th in 17:45, followed by seniors Mason Harper in 24th (18:00) and Kyle Kojima in 27th (pr, 18:05). The total of 72 points was good for 3rd place behind South’s 49 points and Columbine High School’s 68 points in the 16-team field. (Shout out to our DPS neighbor Manual High School, who finished with a scoring team for the first time in more than 20 years)!
The Open races were a demonstration of the Angels youth movement, with underclassmen dominating the top-10 in both races. There was a bit of déjà vu in the Girls Open race, as the Angels quickly took command of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place with ninth-graders Tessa Morris, Norah Dysart, and Charlotte Clark, while another pack of Angels chased a little further back. In this case though, the order did not hold, as sophomore Ainslie Mohr moved her way up to 4th, a place ahead of Clark. Morris ran 14:51, Dysart 15:18, Mohr 15:34, and Clark 15:42 for the 3500m course. Ninth-grader Cate Carhart finished in 16:29 for 7th place to complete the scoring for the Angels and grab another of the podium spots. The Angels finished with a paltry 21 points, ahead of second place Mountain View with 63 points of the 10 scored teams.
The Angels got out hard in the Boys Open race and held on to place seven runners among the top-12, of which five were freshman and the other two sophomores. Freshman Liam Gerber led the way with a 13:34 4th place finish, followed closely by classmates Noah Irwin (5th, 13:35) and Elias Striker (6th, 13:41). Sophomore Finley Knight had what certainly had to be the best race of his career at this point, finishing in 13:45 for 7th, while his classmate Luke Rasquinha also made his first podium with a 13:47 9th place finish. Completing the run of underclassmen dominance were freshmen Evan Mucharsky-O’Boyle in 10th (13:48) and Sam Schmidt in 12th (13:50). The Angels totaled 26 points, to come away with another team win with 13 scored teams, ahead of second place South with 56 points.
Next up for the Angels will be the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational at DeKovend Park. There will be water crossings at this race! This meet also offer us one of the only opportunities to run athletes in a separate frosh/soph race, which should be exciting for this group of Angels. Competition will be stiffer at Arapahoe, with a handful of the top 5A schools in the state entered. Details of the Arapahoe Meet will be posted later in the week.
We want your photos. Please upload your photos to the team’s Memento account here: EastXC25 photos. From these galleries we can update our website with fresh photos, share with other families and friends, and gather what we need for the end of season slideshow. We will maintain folders for each of our meets and other team celebrations. Thanks!
Course: Varsity – 5000 meters: Open – 3500 meters:
Links to course maps are below
5000m Varsity Course – Begin with a loop of the grass field, then the south Grasmere (crushed gravel) lake loop to the finish. Water crossing at ~2.5k and ~4k.
3500m JV & Middle School Course – Same as the varsity minus the first loop of the grass field. Water crossing at ~1.5k and ~2.5k.
Be on time for the bus. We will leave at 7:45am sharp. You must have preapproval from Coach Kohuth if you plan not to take the bus to and from the meet. We expect all athletes to stay through all races and the awards ceremonies to encourage and celebrate your teammates.
This is a new course and the 5000m course will likely be identical to the course we run at our League Championship.
This course has two water crossings. The water crossings are wide enough and deep enough that there is a 100% chance your shoes will become completely submerged. Most good running shoes will not absorb much water. You will need to be selective about what socks you wear. Thick cotton socks will absorb and hold on to water, leaving you with heavy, wet feet for the rest of the race. Wear the thinnest tech/nylon socks you own. If your feet are substantially calloused, you might even consider not wearing socks. Finally, water crossings are known to steal shoes; tightly tie your shoes!
Bring water and snacks for after your race. Bring a change of clothes. And bring more cowbell! Great things are about to happen.
All athletes and their parents/guardians should join us at 6pm on Wednesday, August 20th, for our kickoff meeting and potluck. Uniforms will be distributed, team swag will be for sale, food will be shared, and the coaching staff will share important information about the coming season.
9th Grade Families: main dishes
10th Grade Families: side dishes and salads (no veggie trays please, they don’t get eaten)
11th Grade Families: dessert
12th Grade Families: drinks
Please bring dishes large enough to feed about 8 people so we have enough for everyone.
Captain Jack announces the first “boys grilling session” at City Park. Bring your own meat, or whatever you prefer to grill, and then freshmen and sophomores bring chips and fruits and other sides and then juniors bring drinks, and seniors will be in charge of condiments and buns, and what not. This is going to happen on Tuesday the 19th after practice, and all boys are encouraged to come. There’s gonna be games too; the seniors are in charge of games and have promised no broken bones this year.
Give-Back Dates: August 4 – September 8. 10% of all sales will go back to East XC + 15% off for ANYONE who mentions East XC. This could be neighbors, friends, family, frenemies, etc.
Please remember to sign up for uniforms by 5 p.m. on Monday, August 18! Athletes must sign up by that time in order to receive their uniforms at the potluck in time for the meet on Saturday.
Denver East High XC 