After a long summer of running miles, track practice, and preseason training, the Summit High School cross country team finally had their first opportunity to test their fitness in a race this fall.

A week after hosting an intramural scrimmage on the Frisco Peninsula, members of the Summit High School cross country team traveled to Highlands Ranch to compete in the 2024 Vista Nation 2-mile cross country race on Saturday, August 24.

The annual Vista Nation 2-Mile race is about a mile shorter than the usual 5-kilometer (3.10-mile) distance of high school cross-country races, offering competitors the opportunity to get back into racing in a shorter, faster race before racing 5Ks for the remainder of the season.

Kicking off the morning’s race was the freshman and sophomore boys’ race, which featured Summit’s talented and large group of undergraduates. After winning the freshman and sophomore boys’ race last year as a ninth-grader, sophomore Jay McDonald moved to the front of the field early in Saturday’s race.

McDonald – who is recovering from an injury sustained during the summer’s spring season – led the Tigers in the first race of the morning. McDonald finished 11th overall in the race, crossing the finish line in 10 minutes, 53 seconds, while Mountain Vista’s Benjamin Adams won the race in 9:57.

Second-grader Owen Fallon was the next Summit runner to cross the finish line. He ran a strong race, finishing 22nd with a time of 11:27. In his first high school cross country race, first-grader Cooper Levi showed his fitness and potential in the sport, finishing 30th with a time of 11:36.

Sophomore Malachi Love finished in 34th place (11:39) and sophomore Lukas Remeikis finished in a close 35th place (11:41). Finishing in the top 50 was freshman Bodhi Adnan. Adnan finished in 50th place (12:15), freshman Danny Butler finished in 70th place (12:58) and sophomore Max Klein finished in 85th place (13:26).

Freshmen Thomas Drummond and Mason Ramey competed in their first high school cross country races, finishing 102nd (14:03) and 118th (14:31), respectively. Summit’s freshmen and sophomores placed more than five athletes to the finish line, taking fifth place in the team race with 132 points.

Shortly after the freshman and sophomore boys’ race concluded, Summit’s freshman and sophomore girls lined up at the starting line to tackle the multi-lap course behind Mountain Vista High School.

Sophomore Lily Benbow and freshman Sophie Dinse were the top Summit runners in the race, running side-by-side for most of the race before crossing the finish line. Benbow finished the race in 14th place with a time of 13:38 and Dinse followed impressively in 18th place (13:44).

“I was pretty confident and excited going into the race because the distance was about the same as our time trial,” said Dinse. “I didn’t focus on my thoughts and just concentrated on how my body felt. I feel pretty good about my performance, but the last 1300 meters were definitely tough and my finish wasn’t my best. The first part of the race was super fun though.”

Two other Summit athletes finished in the top 30: freshman Paige Ratliff finished 27th (14:05) and sophomore Ashley Adkins finished 29th (14:14). After a close-knit group of four finished the race, Summit managed to place three more freshmen in the top 100.

Iyla Kuruvila finished 51st (14:56), Anna Stafford finished 53rd (15:02) and Marin Little finished 75th (16:04). Like the freshman and sophomore boys, Summit’s freshman and sophomore girls finished fifth in the team race, earning a total of 135 points.

Next, the boys team race was off the starting line, and senior Josh Shriver wasted no time in moving to the front of the field. After a stellar season on track, Shriver confidently powered his way through the course, determined to improve on his fifth-place finish from the last meet.

Shriver fought hard to the finish line, trying to catch Benjamin Anderson, but the Mountain Vista senior was crowned the race winner. Anderson finished in 9:45, with Shriver taking second in 9:53.

“It was really good and it was cool not doing it with fresh legs,” Shriver said. “I’ve been training hard, so I didn’t prepare for it or put much emphasis on training. To go in without full preparation and still do well is definitely cool. It’s a really fun race and probably one of my favorite races out there.”

Senior Will Bentley finished 20th with a time of 10:45, while junior Cain Steinweg soon followed in 39th place with a time of 11:08. Junior Gavin Benedict finished 64th with a time of 12:10.

For senior Ella Hagen, her cross country season officially began with the girls varsity race. Competing against some of the best cross country runners from across the state of Colorado, Hagen once again proved why she is one of the best, if not the best, runner in Class 4A.

With Niwot High School 11th grader Addison Ritzenhein controlling the pace up front, Hagen crossed the finish line in 11:34, placing fifth overall and the first Class 4A athlete to cross the finish line. Ritzenhein took first place with a time of 11:07, while Mountain Vista High School 11th grader Keeghan Edwards took second place with a time of 11:18.

With no Summit athletes competing in the boys junior and senior races, the Tigers finished the first meet of the season with three athletes competing in the girls junior and senior races. The top runner for Summit was junior Darby Leffler, who finished 30th with a time of 15:44.

Behind Leffler were her classmates Lila Ellison in 37th place (16:01) and Claire Jackson in 42nd place (16:12).

The Summit High School cross-country team will once again compete in the Eagle Valley Cross-Country Invitational in Gypsum. The race will be the Tigers’ first opportunity to run the typical 5K distance of a high school cross-country race and will provide the team with a chance to get to know some of the competitors along the Western Slope.

“The 5K is tough,” Shriver said. “The last mile feels really long. The 5K may not be my favorite race, but I’m excited to see how I stack up against the others this fall. This will be my last time doing a 5K. Eagle Valley will be cool, it’s all grass again, so it won’t be crazy fast.”

“When I think about the rest of the season, I’m excited to see how our team does and how my competition develops in terms of finding someone to keep up with,” Dinse said. “More than anything, I’m looking forward to having tougher competition and just having fun running.”