Titan runners hang tough in Pueblo against larger squads

Third place among 4A and 5A schools

Coach Emma Catmur made a clutch call heading into last weekend’s cross-country meet in Pueblo on Saturday, September 27.

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Catmur had two options. She could either put her team in the smaller division and, more than likely, dominate. Or, she could challenge her team and bump them up to the bigger division and run against 4A and 5A schools from the Front Range.
She opted for the challenge of the big schools and in the end, all of her runners stepped up to the fight, posting some of their best times of the season.
Two Titan boys, junior Nicholas Harper Johnson and freshman David Bright, were thrown into the field of 115 runners and ended up improving tremendously on their times from earlier in the season.
Harper Johnson posted a time of 19 minutes and 19 seconds on the five-kilometer course and Bright came across the finish in 22 minutes and 23 seconds.
“David ran a minute and a half faster than any time he’s ever ran this year,” says Catmur.
The girls stepped up as well, placing third as a team in the meet that included a nationally ranked Ft. Collins team.
Sophomore Erin Kelly put in a sub 20-minute effort to come in eighth place followed by a tremendous effort from senior Maddie Garcia to finish 10th.
Maddie “pulled out a great last mile,” says Catmur.
Junior Monica Kinsella got her feet wet in the varsity ranks for the first time all season and took 20th place, but the key to the Titans’ team success came from senior Emma Vosburg.
Vosburg kicked the final stretch of the course to pass a number of runners for a 25th-place finish that helped keep the Titans’ team score down.
Senior Kelli Hargrove was the final scoring runner for the Titans with a 79th-place finish, followed by sophomore Madeline Malzhan who was close behind in 80th place.
Freshman Jessie D’Aquila fought off some pre-race jitters to finish as well, despite the jaw-dropping level of competition in the varsity race.
The energy transcended the JV competition as well, as both senior Jessie Frame and sophomore Jenna D’Aquila both put in their best times of the season.
“It ended up being a really good decision,” says Catmur. “It was fun for the girls to run against some of the girls from the bigger schools.”
The team heads to Aspen to run in the Chris Severy Invitational on Saturday, October 4.