The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Running at home this Saturday
by Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans cross country team headed back on the road last weekend, traveling to Fruita for the annual Anna Banana Invitational on Saturday, September 22, with expectations of faster times and even some personal records (PR).
“It’s a very fast race,” says coach Laura Daniels. “It’s at a lower elevation with a net elevation loss from start to finish and a very competitive field. We look for PRs and season-best times.”
In the end, some Titans hit their pre-race goals while others maintained their current pace and look to continue building speed as the season continues.
Given the strength of the field at the Anna Banana and the youth and size of the Titan team, the coaches decided rather than throw their athletes into the fire of the varsity race, they had their runners line up for the JV race to give them a more quality experience.
“Because the other schools are so big and we are so young, it’s more appropriate to be in the JV race,” explains Daniels. “They end up so far behind the pack in no man’s land and it’s hard to run well, hard to run fast and hard to really enjoy it out there by yourself.”
The girls stepped up their game at the Anna Banana as Sam Merck shaved five minutes off of her personal record time to come in 20th place and Stevee Reinhardt took almost two minutes off of her PR time to finish in 34th place.
“The girls had a really great day,” says Daniels.
Five boys lined up for their JV race with numbers still missing due to illness and hockey. Max Faust led the boys team in Fruita as he dropped 17 seconds from his previous PR and ran a minute faster than last year on the same course to come in third place.
“For Max it was a really good day,” says Daniels.
The other four runners ran close to their best times and look to ramp it up even more this Saturday as the team will run in the Elk Run 5k as part of a CHSAA-sanctioned high school race.
“We’re very excited to host an official home meet,” says Daniels. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm from the schools that are coming in for the race as well.”
