The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Boys team edges out fifth place finish
[ by Than Acuff ]
While the hope was to have a full squad at the Delta Pantherfest meet on Friday, September 30, two Crested Butte Titans had to sit it out, but they still had 13 runners toe the line to continue their climb through the ranks setting eight personal records and two season best times including a fifth-place finish by the boys team, first among schools their size.
“It’s always one of our favorite places to race,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “It’s a great fitness check. It’s challenging because it’s fast.”
Given the dynamics of the course and the fact that the Titans have both a girls and boys team, the coaches had a couple of goals in place for their athletes.
“We did want them to go for it, to just go out and race,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “We also wanted them to use team tactics and work off each other and just ‘pass bodies’.”
The day started off with the girls race and the coaches had fairly simple instructions for their fastest runner Ruby Pendy.
“We told her she could finish in the top five, possibly top three, so just go for it and if you die you die,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Pendy did the former while avoiding the latter to place fourth overall posting a season’s best time.
Josie Feier and Sophia Bender were next for the Titan girls to finish taking the “team tactics” plan to heart.
“They just hung together and worked together,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Meanwhile, Paloma Lamar continues to balance both soccer and cross-country making it to Delta for her second race of the season and tacked on additional team points with her effort.
Lilla Laird was the final Titan to score for the girls posting a personal record time to help push the team into ninth place out of 15 teams.
“It was fun to crack the top 10 as a team and they got a chance to see how team scoring plays out and what it’s like,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
The boys came up next and they continued the personal record rally as six of the eight boys set new personal record times with another Titan posting a season’s best time.
Jake Pendy led the charge shaving 23 seconds off his previous best time, just a hair over 17 minutes, and finishing in third place.
“He was right in the hunt for second place and to get that close to breaking the 17-minute barrier is a huge accomplishment for him,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Flint Hoyt broke the 19-minute barrier with another personal record time, Cody Pleak and Giles Billick worked off each other for a lot of the race to keep the team total looking strong and Colby Smith was the final Titan to score for the boys as he took 30 seconds off his previous best effort.
When the points were totaled, Crested Butte was tied for fifth place, so officials go to the sixth runner for each team as the tie breaker. Max Sullivan was that sixth runner for Crested Butte and his result was enough to push the boys’ team into fifth place.
“It just shows that every runner matters, and it was good for the kids to see that,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “It’s really exciting to place fifth out of 15 teams, and first among schools our size.”
Cole Wimett and Connor Brown were the final Titans to cross with Wimett coming close to a personal record time and Brown setting a new one.
The team heads to Aspen on Saturday, October 10 taking on a course that will put the hurt on every runner there.
“It’s a really tough course,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “If you’re not going uphill, you’re going downhill. It forces runners to push through discomfort.”
