Titan boys take third at cross-country state championships

“They simply ran out of their minds”

It wasn’t quite what cross-country coach Connie Hayden expected but it all worked out in the end. While two of her seven runners had uncharacteristically tough races at the 2A state championships in Colorado Springs on Saturday, October 27, five Titans left it all out on the course and the boys team returned to the podium for the second year in a row, placing third.

The lead-up to the state championships was smooth for the Crested Butte Titans. After a strong showing at regionals, the team had seven days of workouts to prepare for the final race of the year. The team previewed the course at a race in August, so both the coaching staff and runners knew what to expect.
“The pre-state workouts went really well,” says Hayden. “The course has hills, twists and turns so our focus was on hill work and the skill of changing gears. We worked on making definitive passes and strategy building. The kids were in prime condition when they toed the line on Saturday.”
The boys’ team won the state title in 2011 but lost two of the top three runners from that title team. Nevertheless, the boys, specifically captains Forrest Smith, Kyle Boyle and Danny D’Aquila, were determined to prove their ilk and their legitimacy as one of the top programs in the state—and they did so last Saturday.
“They totally exceeded all expectations,” says Hayden. “The three captains worked their butts off.”
It was Smith’s third trip to the state championships. Last year he finished 10th and he started the 2012 season with his eyes on a state title. Unfortunately, as injuries and illnesses (including being sick the week before the state race) plagued him during the season, Smith scaled down his goal to a top-10 finish this year and reached it, placing seventh.
After his typical conservative start, Smith made his move into seventh place on his way up a brutal climb midway through the race.
“That hill is a deal breaker,” says Hayden. “Kids were dropping off like flies.”
Ultimately, the key to Smith’s success came on the downhill, as he maintained his pace and place into the flats and across the finish line.
“People were just flying down the hill,” says Hayden. “He had to pound it down the hill and he did just that.”
Danny D’Aquila tested the waters of the state championships last year, finishing 34th. This year the plan was to crack top 20 but it wasn’t until the final stretch that he managed to hit his goal.
D’Aquila was in 25th place at the top of “the hill” and worked the downhill perfectly to stay in stride and keep his breathing consistent. From there he managed to pick off eight more runners to finish in 17th place.
“He was determined,” says Hayden. “He has amazing turnover and cadence and he just used that to his advantage.”
With the top three runners scoring points for the team at the state championships, the final push for the Titans to the podium came from freshman Aiden Truettner.
Truettner put the finishing touches on a spectacular breakout season. Every week he stepped up his game, culminating with a 26th-place finish at state.
“He just embraced the state atmosphere,” says Hayden. “He was just running with the intention of getting to the finish line as fast as he could. It was an awesome effort.”
But it didn’t end there for the Titans effort as Kyle Boyle and Jack Duryea also put in their best efforts of the season in the final race.
 It was Boyle’s second trip to the big show and he was hoping for a top-30 finish the second time around. After an aggressive start, Boyle settled in the pack until the final stretch, when he made one last push to hit his goal and place 29th.
“He used his sprinting legs to make a few final passes at the end,” says Hayden.
Meanwhile, Duryea closed his season finishing in 51st place, shaving close to a minute off the time he ran on the same course in August.
Senior Amber Scott had a rough close to her prolific high school career at the state championships.
Scott came into the race the top-ranked runner in 2A and had finished in ninth place as a sophomore and fourth place as a junior.
“She was definitely gunning for the title,” says Hayden.
But 400 meters into the race, something mysterious and devastating happened.
“I felt great the morning of the race but as soon as I started, I didn’t feel that good,” says Scott. “I started out like I normally start out but my legs just didn’t loosen up. Everything was just tight and it hurt.”
Despite her struggles, Scott pushed through to cross the finish line in fifth place overall.
“Fifth was hard to get to, but it’s impressive to me considering how I was feeling,” says Scott. “I’ll take what I got.”
Scott attributes her struggle to a number of issues leading up to the race including her fueling the day before, possible dehydration, and the onset of personal pressure.
“I’ve been under pressure before but not self-inflicted pressure,” says Scott. “I didn’t have a bad race all season so I was due a bad race. Unfortunately it happened at state. It happens.”

“For the first time ever her legs just would not turn over,” adds Hayden. “It was just heart-breaking and it turned into the longest race of her life. It just wasn’t Amber’s day. It’s just totally inexplicable.”
Scott tallied three top-10 state finishes over her high school career and will continue her season with the Nike regional championships in Arizona in November and then at the collegiate level next year.
“She’s definitely developed a very nice progression,” says Hayden. “It was not the finish she envisioned but it was an incredibly accomplished high school career.”
Freshman Tara Mortell, strangely enough, had a similar circumstance in her first race at the state championships. After a strong opening mile, Mortell got to the top of the infamous hill and was gasping for air, forcing her to stop altogether. She pressed on to finish the race but was never able to get her wind back the entire time.
“It was the first time in her running career where she just couldn’t breathe,” says Hayden. “The fact that she did finish is just a testament to her will and determination.”
In the end Hayden was blown away by the boys’ team third-place finish.
“Every single kid needed to have his race of a lifetime and they did,” says Hayden. “They simply ran out of their minds.”