Titan Boys’ XC team takes home state 2A team title

First state team title in school’s history

The Crested Butte Titans boys’ cross-country team broke the seal at the state level. For the first time in the school’s history, a Titan team won a state title when the boys’ cross-country team won the 2A title at the cross-country state championships on Saturday, October 29 in Aurora.

Basketball got close three years ago falling in the finals and the school’s had a handful of individual state champions, but never, until now, has a Crested Butte high school sports team stepped to the top of the podium.
The state championships offered the Titan boys’ team a shot at redemption after falling to Telluride 10 days earlier in the regional meet.
But the team, as a whole, wasn’t on their game at regionals, waiting until the championships to make their presence known.
And after spending the entire season ranked second to Telluride, the Titans rallied when it counted to take the win.
“What was so nice was that the target was on Telluride’s back,” says coach Connie Hayden. “We savored the position as the underdog. We were bound and determined to take them down and if everyone ran smart, we would be capable of doing that.”
Three Titans finished in the top 10 at the state championships, with sophomore Ian Boucher placing second, senior Matt Galley ninth and sophomore Forrest Smith in tenth place.
The day started with the girls, and junior Amber Scott set the tone for the Titans with her effort.
Facing a hilly and snow-patched five-kilometer course, Scott battled her way through the throngs of runners to take fourth place with a time of 20:02, 26 seconds faster than her time on the same course last year.
“She had a mental race plan and she stuck to it,” says Hayden. “Go out in the top 10 and work her way into third or fourth place.”
Running in the top 10 from the start, Scott made her move a mile into the race on the first charge up the infamous Powerline Climb, a crushing uphill that runners face twice during the race.
“It’s a deal breaker,” says Hayden. “You either love it or hate it.”
Scott charged her way into fourth place on the first Powerline Climb and held her spot for the rest of the race.
“She worked the hills both up and down and really had the perfect race for her,” says Hayden.
The senior girls contingent of Shelby Kopf, Natalie Barefield and Jessie D’Aquila closed out their high school cross-country careers in fine fashion. Qualifying for the state championships for the first time for all three was the main goal, with the race itself the icing on the cake.
“They worked really, really well together,” says Hayden. “That was their theme, to run as a pack their very last race.”
The boys were in prime position for the state title midway through the race as Boucher was holding steady in second place neck-and-neck with the leader, Galley in third place and Smith running in sixth.
With Telluride’s number two and three runners back in the pack, the team title appeared to be a lock for Crested Butte. But the Titans got a surprise from a couple of runners turning up the heat in the final mile.
“These others kids from the Front Range had a much more powerful third mile than we did,” says Hayden.
 Boucher held his spot on the shoulder of two-time state champion Ty Williams from Telluride before dropping off at the end to finish in second place with a time of 16:41, just 15 seconds behind Williams.
“I wanted to win,” says Boucher. “I wanted to go for it all, go out there and take it home.”
Boucher stayed with Williams for most of the race looking to put some pressure on Williams the entire way.
“I wanted to apply a little pressure on him,” says Boucher, “keep a consistent, constant distance from him.”
“He had a great race,” adds Hayden. “He went in determined to take the title and he finished without any regrets. He gave Ty a run for his money for sure.”
Galley came into the day with a plan and stuck to it as well, despite the rush of Front Range runners in the final mile.
“He ran according to his game plan and dug super deep to hold onto ninth place,” says Hayden.
Smith had an uncharacteristic fast start in his state effort. Hayden admits she was concerned about whether Forrest could keep it up the entire race. But when it came down to the wire, he held strong to cap the Titans team title.
“He went out too fast for his liking but still had an awesome race and pulled off heroic maneuvers to take 10th place,” says Hayden.
Sophomores Kyle Boyle and Danny D’Aquila finished 31st and 34th, respectively, out of the 84 runners in their first exposure to the big show.
“They were both kind of awe-struck and affected by the scene,” says Hayden. “I think they had some pre-race jitters but they still had awesome performances.”
“I’m absolutely proud of the team,” says Boucher. “We’ve been working on this all year and they absolutely put 100 percent in, both the girls and the guys.”
Still, as officials following the race corralled the top 10 finishers, Hayden had a slight anxiety attack when she saw two runners from Lyons high school in the mix.
“There was definitely 10 minutes of panic,” says Hayden.
If the third Lyons runner finished 11th, the teams would be tied and the tiebreaker would come down to the fourth runner on each team.
As it turned out, the third Lyons runner finished 14th and the team title went to the Titans by three points.
“It was not comfortable at all,” admits Hayden.
While the tough course denied the Titans personal record (PR) times, Hayden explains that wasn’t the intention this year.
“I didn’t have any expectation for anyone to PR,” says Hayden. “This was where we were supposed to peak effort-wise and they nailed it. I’m just so excited for the kids. To see all their work come to fruition is so special.”