The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Overall, we’re right where we want to be”
It’s a new season for the Crested Butte Titans cross-country team. And by new I mean different from the past couple of years.
Coach Connie Hayden admits it was a bit strange last weekend when not one piece of hardware came back with the Titans from the Lake County Invitational in Leadville on Saturday, September 8.
But, upon further inspection of her athletes’ times, she and coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall had plenty to smile about.
“For us to walk away with so many personal victories was huge,” says Hayden.
The Titans make the annual trip to Leadville for the highest race in Colorado. In addition to the altitude, runners are put through the added bonus of a hilly course for a little extra pinch.
Hayden and Sullivan-Marshall refuse to hold back in preparation for the event and used the race to put the finishing touches on a long week for their runners.
“We had a really hard week of training so we treated Leadville as a training run with a really good hill workout,” explains Hayden.
Junior Mina Moscatelli returned to action after missing the first part of the season and Hayden is happy to report she made it through pain-free. Furthermore, junior Elizabeth Kilpatrick made her first varsity start and rather than get caught up in the race pace frenzy, Kilpatrick found her rhythm to rattle off three consistent splits over the five-kilometer course.
Senior Leah Wrisley had the race of the day for the Titan team, chopping a full five minutes off her time from last season.
The boys’ varsity team got a boost in Leadville with the return of junior Forrest Smith, now off the injured reserve. To get an idea of how Smith was doing, the coaches put him to the test and he responded well.
“We told him to stick with the front pack and to see what happens,” explains Hayden. “Unfortunately that meant he went out too fast and he suffered through the rest of the race but it was good experience being up front, and he needed that.”
In the end, Smith matched his time at Leadville last year.
Juniors Danny D’Aquila and Jack Duryea flashed the Leadville course relative to their races last year. D’Aquila posted a time one minute faster than last year while Duryea shaved more than two minutes off his time.
“Of all of the kids who ran last year, all but one ran faster,” says Hayden. “And all of the new kids ran great. Lots of little victories added up to a great team showing. Overall, we’re right where we want to be.”
The Titans will run in their only in-valley race of the season this Saturday, September 15 at the Gunnison Community School.
The girls’ race starts at 10 a.m. with the boys kicking off at 10:45 a.m.
“The course is fast and flat and we’re looking for some personal records,” says Hayden. “And we’re looking forward to getting more building blocks for the rest of the season.”
Hayden adds that the course is spectator-friendly and the team would like to see some Titan fans in force along the course, pushing her runners to some personal best times.
