The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
PRs and season best times abound
By Than Acuff
It’s no secret that Crested Butte high school athletes tend to crumble at the hint of warm temperatures, but the Crested Butte Titans cross-country team did not as the boys team ran to the win and both the Titan boys and Titan girls athletes laid down a slew of personal records (PR) and season best times at their meet at Sweitzer State Park in Delta on Friday, September 27.
While the Titans often use the meets at lower elevations such as Delta to push the envelope and shave time, the course was not without its challenges.
“The course was unique, in that it was one big loop out around some fields, so it was challenging for coaches and spectators to see what was happening in the race,” says coach Laura Puckett Daniels. “It was mostly flat, with a soft dirt surface and no shade. So, while it was a fast course at low elevation, the runners really had to work for it.”
Additionally, the format of the race presented the difficulty of running alone. In bigger meets, runners nearly always have someone, or several people, out there on course to run with and against. Organizers at this race broke both the girls and boys races into two groups each, thinning the herd of runners and leaving some to fend for themselves.
“It was hard to tell exactly where everyone was place-wise until the whole thing wrapped up,” says Puckett Daniels. “The runners had to be mentally tough out there as they ran on their own in a spread-out field.”
No shade, no fans and no one to run with can be a daunting task, yet nearly every Titan rose to the challenge with 11 of the 15 Titan runners posting personal record or season best times.
The girls kicked out onto the dusty course first and while two of the Titan runners struggled with the conditions, others stepped up their game with Ali Johnson the first Titan to cross with a two-minute PR.
Josie Feier was next for the Titans in the first wave posting a season’s best time while teammates Sophia Bender and Aubrey Laird were in the second wave and made their way through some tough times out on the course to finish.
“Both Sophia and Aubrey fought through some demons out there, but both did a good job finding reasons to be positive and celebrating their teammates,” says Puckett Daniels.
Five Titans then stepped up to the line with temperatures and the dust climbing in the first wave of the boy’s race and proceeded to scorch the course led by Giles Billick and Cody Pleak. The two pushed each other through the five-kilometer course until Billick put in one last kick to place sixth with Pleak not far behind in seventh place, each posting PR times. Flint Hoyt and Max Sullivan followed suit as both fed off each other’s pace throughout the race to finish just three seconds apart with Hoyt setting a new PR time and Sullivan less than a second off his PR despite still not one hundred percent from an illness.
Six more Titans came through with five of them setting PR times as well and the Titans finished second overall against numerous teams from 4A and 5A schools.
“Everyone started smart and they finished strong,” says Puckett Daniels. “We’re so proud of the team tactics we saw, and we’re excited that we get to start seeing the dividends from all the hard work the runners have put in.”
Crested Butte returns to Delta this week for the annual Pantherfest at Confluence Park on Friday, October 4.
