The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Slew of personal record times set in Gunnison
The Titans cross-country team continues to make strides this season, following up a strong showing in Leadville two weeks ago with a stellar outing at the Cowboy Invitational in Gunnison on Saturday, September 18. Nine Titans ran personal best times and five cracked the top 20 to bring home some hardware.
Coaches Connie Hayden and Shari Sullivan Marshall had 17 athletes lining up in Gunnison and used the numbers to their advantage.
“Teamwork was the theme of the day and they made it happen,” says Hayden. “It makes a big difference and this is the first time I’ve ever had this opportunity.”
Furthermore, Hayden set personal marks for each individual runner prior to the race; they rose to the challenge and exceeded it.
“I set time goals for everyone and everyone achieved them,” says Hayden. “I didn’t expect PR’s [personal records] across the board—that was stunning to me.”
Despite missing senior captain and state champion Erin Kelly, the girls’ team took third out of 16 teams, with sophomore Amber Scott, freshman Mina Moscatelli and sophomore Abby Whiting leading the way.
Scott posted the fastest time of her high school career to finish in ninth place out of 72 runners with a time of 21 minutes and 50 seconds on the five-kilometer course.
Moscatelli followed up her breakout performance in Leadville by flirting with a top-10 finish in Gunnison, taking 11th place with a PR time of 22 minutes and 20 seconds.
And Whiting appears to be back on the fast track. After battling an illness for the past two weeks, Whiting was back at the starting line and paced her way to a 15th place finish.
The remaining Titan girls used each other to push their way to the middle of the pack, coming in as a team for a solid showing and sealing the third-place finish.
“That was my challenge to the girls, to get top three,” says Hayden.
Freshman Ian Boucher continues to push himself with each race. The effort in Gunnison paid off in spades as he broke into the top ten, taking seventh place out of 100 runners with a PR of 18 minutes, 11 seconds.
“I told Ian to take off with the lead group and see how it goes,” says Hayden. “It was really exciting.”
Freshman Forrest Smith was given some mid-race instructions that led him to a top-20 finish. Smith settled into 30th place after two miles and coach Sullivan Marshall prompted Forrest to push for top 20. Smith responded passing 10 runners in the final mile to reach 20th place with a PR time of 19 minutes, 31 seconds.
Freshman Kyle Boyle had his best race of the season thus far as well, putting himself to the test to set a PR.
“He told me last week that he was ready to step it up,” says Hayden. “I told him to go out fast and challenge himself.”
The team heads to Ridgway on Friday, September 24 for the Ramble at the Reservoir. The course is rife with hills, including one stair section, and can put the hurt on the unsuspecting athlete with tight corners early in the race.
“We’re ready for some more hills,” says Hayden.
