The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“I’m excited to see how it all plays out at regionals”
By Than Acuff
While the school’s October Break can slow down the progress of Crested Butte Titans athletic programs, it appears to have little effect on the Titans cross-country team as both the boy’s and girl’s teams ran to league titles at the Eric Wolffe Invitational in Monte Vista on Friday, October 18.
The race came on the tail end of the break and while the coaches gave their runners the first part of the week off from workouts, they got back to it on Wednesday to get in two trainings before the race on Friday.
“We ended up having two-thirds of our team travel to the race and we really appreciate the effort of the kids,” says coach Shari Sullivan-Marshall.
The race is more than just a league event though with teams from inside and outside of the Southern Peaks league competing bringing additional competition to the day. And while the Titans did have an underlying goal of winning their league, it was not the focus of their effort that day.
“We gave them normal race plans, not targeting our league, just getting them more competitive,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “That’s what’s going to help us at regionals and state, every point counts.”
The Titans girls did their part led by Tazzy Pozner who finished in second place among her league peers and 15th place overall.
“For her to be league runner-up as a freshman is awesome,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Eva Loflin was the next Titan across placing 27th overall and fifth in the league results while Ali Johnson finished in 29th place and sixth in the league with the effort of Ilo Hawley sealing things for the Titans. Hawley dug deep in the final stretch to pass four more runners and place 36th in the bigger field and eighth in the league results. Aubrey Laird then rounded out the field of the Titan girl’s team to close out her season.
“To have five girls racing was awesome and everyone really contributed,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
The reality then hit the team as they announced league results. When the team heard the first result of Hawley in eighth place their ears perked up. Then as Johnson, Loflin and Pozner’s results were announced it was official, the Titan girls took home the Southern Peaks league title and fifth overall out of 13 teams at the race.
“We didn’t even talk about it,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “I knew we would do well, I just didn’t know how well. It was really good for the girls to see every place matters.”
Eight Titans then lined up for the boy’s race confident they could take the league title but still focused on their race plans with the post season on the near horizon.
Giles Billick played his cards perfectly with his effort. After settling into a comfortable place at the start, he proceeded to pick off runners to run to a first-place finish in league and third place overall.
“Each time he races I’m just more impressed,” says Sullivan-Marshall.
Max Sullivan was the next Titan to cross coming in fifth place overall and second place in the league. Cody Pleak was a bit worn out from his travels during the October Break and after a strong start, battled some dizziness but stayed on task to finish in 10th place overall and fourth in the league.
“Giles and Cody have been top 10 in every race but one this year,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “They know that’s where they can be.”
Flint Hoyt also had travel legs issues but pushed through to a 12th place finish, fifth in league, and Colby Smith posted a personal record (PR) time to take 20th overall. Jake Pendy returned to racing action after spending the entire season recovering to finish in 30th while Micah Hansen cracked the top 50 and Donovan Gagen passing 11 runners in the final kilometer to post a PR and place 51st.
The Titan boys ended up with the league title as well as taking the race win including beating a 3A team that beat the Titans at a race in Gunnison earlier this season.
The effort of both teams has set the pace as they head into the post season with the regional race on Friday, October 25. The regional race is also the state qualifier with the top 15 individuals and top four teams making the cut.
“It was super confidence building and they’re both racing well,” says Sullivan-Marshall. “I’m excited to see how it all plays out at regionals. It’s been well over a decade since we have qualified both a boys and girls team at state, so that’s our goal.”
