The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Everyone crushed it, it was really great”
By Than Acuff
Despite a chaotic day from start to finish, the Crested Butte Titans cross-country team took it all in stride and then some setting 17 personal record times (PR) and three seasons’ best times at the Warrior Lincoln Park Challenge in Grand Junction on Friday, October 10.
Hopes were high for fast times in the Titans first trip to this race as the flat course and low altitude provided the perfect recipe for speed.
“I knew it would be a fast course and we’ve been trying to fit this race into our schedule,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall. “We had been doing faster intervals in practice that week, so we were primed to run fast.”
Then, chaos ensued.
It all started that morning when race organizers informed teams that, due to rains, the race was being moved from the golf course to a multi-loop layout around Central High School and through the adjacent neighborhood and entirely on pavement.
Then, an accident on Highway 50 left the Titans stalled in traffic and arriving to the venue later than hoped leaving little time for Ainsley Stewart and Aubrey Laird to warm up for the opening event, the girls’ open race and thus starting their pre-race routine on the bus. But once Laird and Stewart finished their race, both with PRs, the stage was set for the rest of the team to shine.
“Ainsley and Aubrey set the tone for the rest of the afternoon,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
The six Titan boys who lined up for their open race built off the initial effort of their teammates as five of them ran PR times with the sixth tying his PR. The rain continued, then subsided briefly, but started back up again as the varsity girls and boys prepared for their races that afternoon.
Dari Spedden, Ali Johnson and Eva Loflin then lined up for the girls’ varsity race joined by Tazzy Pozner who had been training and recovering from an injury all season but was now healthy and ready to race.
Spedden led the team as she pushed herself to run at a faster pace and was rewarded for her efforts with a PR running her first sub-20 5k race. Pozner was next for the Titans, and she was given a directive to step out of the race if she felt any pain due to the course change.
“We’ve been avoiding pavement during her training to protect her foot and since this race was supposed to be on a golf course we thought it would be a good first race for her,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Ironically it was on pavement, so I told her she had permission to not finish the race.”
Well, all the training and patience of Pozner ended up paying off as she ran a PR by 57 seconds cracking the 21-minute mark for her first time ever.
“Tazzy has been chomping at the bit to race,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “Her diligent cross training, strength and PT exercises paid off.”
Johnson cracked the 22-minute mark for a new PR and then Loflin fell victim to the unique race format as she thought she had come through the finish line only to find out she had one more lap to go yet still posted a season’s best time.
The rain started falling again when the boys’ varsity lined up and Max Sullivan and Cody Pleak used the opportunity as Sullivan broke the 17-minute mark for the first time and Pleak ran a PR by 17 seconds for another sub-17-minute effort by him.
“For Max and Cody to both be under 17 minutes is amazing,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “It was a great shot of confidence.”
Flint Hoyt dropped the hammer in the final stretch to pass five runners for a season’s best time as Jayden Beyer and Micah Hansen teamed up to pick off opponents and post sub-18-minute times for the first time and close out a team result that had them finish first among similarly sized schools as well as several other larger programs.
Cole Wimett then stole the show among all of the stellar Titan efforts. Wimett had set a goal in his fourth and final season of high school cross-country and reached it with room to spare in Grand Junction to set a new PR by over two minutes with a time of 18:10.
“All season he’s wanted to break 20 minutes,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “He raced the best I’ve ever seen him race in four years.”
Colby Smith and Jackson Moore closed out the Titan PR party with PR times of their own for Crested Butte.
“Everyone crushed it, it was really great,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “It felt really good to send all the kids off to break with these great time and huge PRs.”
Some of the Titans aren’t done though as they head to the league meet this Friday, October 17 in Monte Vista looking to defend their league titles from last year. Once the entire team is back from break, they set their sights on the regional meet on Friday, October 24, the lone opportunity to punch their tickets to the state championships.
