The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Three individuals and girls team could qualify
by Than Acuff
The miles are in place, the work has been done, now it’s all about peaking for the post season as the Crested Butte Titans cross-country team prepares for the regional meet Friday, October 21 in Delta.
The Titans closed out the regular season in typical fashion as four runners made the trip to the annual Montrose Relays, an event that blends training with fun as athletes often dress up for the occasion and pair up with teammates to run in a relay fashion with each runner covering one mile before tagging off eventually running three miles total.
Titans Sydney Petersen and Maria O’Neal teamed up in the girl’s race while Kevin Yu and Jude Eaton ran in the boy’s race. Coach Austin Ross looked for consistency through the three laps from his runners with the goal of running faster laps as the race progressed.
“Those were the splits we were looking for and, for the most part, they did it,” says Ross.
O’Neal and Petersen had an interesting situation in that both the boys teams, the girls teams and the coed teams all run together and the two Titans fed off of the energy of the boys teams.
“It was a cool opportunity because the boys and girls run together and the boys out there would push Sydney and Maria to run faster,” says Ross. ”It was a good challenge for them to pace themselves with that competition around them.”
While Petersen remained steady through her three laps, O’Neal got a little caught up in the pace of the coed teams when she went out for her first lap. Once tagged off to, O’Neal saw some girls ahead of her on the first lap and had no idea they were coming off a boys lap. As a result she worked hard to reel them in setting a blistering pace in her split.
“She ran a really, really fast first leg and suffered for it during her third leg,” says Ross.
Nevertheless, both Petersen and O’Neal were well ahead of the other girl’s teams to take the win in Montrose while Yu and Eaton also posted some of their fastest times of the season.
“They won by a pretty wide margin which was great,” says Ross. ”Kevin and Jude ran solid as well.”
Ross now has the task of getting his runners on point this week as they prepare for the post season opening with the regional meet in Delta.
“We’re in full taper now and I think our training will have them set up for success,” says Ross.
Two things are working in the Titans’ favor as they head to Delta. First they’ve seen the competition and they stack up pretty well against their regional foes. Second, they ran on the same course two weeks ago so they know exactly what to expect.
“I would love to see Sydney and Maria on the podium and they’re capable of it,” says Ross. “My goal for Vincent (Michel) is to qualify for state as an individual and I think it’s within reach.”
While the plan is for Petersen, O’Neal and Michel all to qualify for the state race, there is an additional bonus out there for the Titans. Right now the girls team is seeded third in their region and the top four teams qualify for state so if the team remains in the top four, all seven runners will toe the line at the big race.
“That would be an outstanding culmination to the season,” says Ross.
