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| Colorado state championships. Two first place finishes at the NXN Southwest Regional. Successive seventh place showings at NXN Finals. Division I recruits. For the past two years, the "Lambkins" of Fort Collins High School CO have embodied success at the highest level. Over the next nine weeks, assistant coach Phil Latter will be tracking the ups and downs, triumphs and challenges of the Fort Collins girls’ cross country team.
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the lambkin way | part 1
10.06.09
by Phil Latter, Special to DyeStat
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Introduction – The Titan Thunder Invite
Saturday, October 3rd – 9:46 A.M.
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| Rachel Viger battles for the lead with TCA's #1, Kaitlin Hanenburg.
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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Under the majestic gaze of Pikes Peak they are sprinting. Sprinting their hearts out up a hill. Not too long and not too steep, it nonetheless is proving to be the obstacle that will separate winners and losers. The controlled flow of mile 1 and the restrained agony of mile 2 have been replaced by one simple and important thought: Get me to the top.
Rachel Viger is the first Lambkin to appear. She runs with the efficiency of a marathoner, her posture straight and graceful as she hits the base of the hill. The drama over the race’s individual winner has long since ceased – The Classical Academy’s Kaitlin Hanenburg is clear of the field, on her way to an impressive 18:05. But this race is as much about team standings as it is personal triumph. The Classical Academy (Colorado Springs, CO) entered this race ranked #5 in the country; Fort Collins (CO) #11. Every place counts as the runners surmount the only hill on the course.
Now is the time for power, and it’s becoming clear that Viger, in second place, will have to contend with two runners closing quickly, their long strides now eating up her shorter, more exhausted ones. Viger took a chance early in the race, chasing TCA’s Hanenburg for the first mile and a half of the race. Now the failed coup is starting to take its toll. The Classical Academy’s Emily LaValley pulls abreast of Rachel as they summit the hill, and then they’re out of view.
Viger doesn’t know it, but reinforcements are quickly forming just behind her. Senior Kirsten Follett and freshman Erin Hooker are the next two runners to appear. They are a study in contrasts. Follett runs with the compact power of a miler, her arms and quads driving her forward up the hill. Hooker, meanwhile, skitters over the ground like a water bug. They are in no-woman’s land, fifteen seconds behind Rachel’s pack and ten seconds ahead of their nearest pursuers. They climb the hill in near silence, much of the drama seemingly on hold.
Just behind them senior Denise Chilson is running the race of her life. Only a week ago she had finished behind the team’s 8th runner at the John Martin Invitational, her race expression one of complete resignation and disgust. Now she is passing The Classical Academy’s number 3 runner, charging upward with a look of fiery rage. She has moved all the way up to 9th place after passing the mile close to 30th. Hers has been a patient and determined run, one that may now determine the difference between victory and defeat. “The team aspect is what’s meant the most to me and I had a lot to run for this week,” she would tell me later. One can tell her effort will not relent until the end.
The openness of the lead packs has now been replaced by waves of runners scrambling for final position. The Classical Academy has three runners directly behind Chilson, with the Lambkin’s Marci Witczak in their midst. Marci is surging up the hill, but the past month of almost exclusive cross training limits her normally potent kick. Two Classical Academy girls are now moving past her. I try yelling more encouragement but I know all the screaming in the world can’t overcome the effects of a lingering injury. I scream for our number 6 and 7 girls, freshmen Maddie Staab and Taleah McClintock, then prepare to run toward the finish line. I try sprinting through some overgrown grass, but even if I’d made it in time the race is too close to tell. All I can do is congratulate our runners coming out of the chute and wait for the final scores to be tallied.
One point, we know, could make all the difference.
The Climb up Horsetooth Rock
Summer 2009
Although close to the awe-inspiring views of Rocky Mountain National Park, Fort Collins sits in an arid valley. Tourists may envision all of Colorado as a densely forested mountain wonderland, but the truth lies somewhere just beneath that. A few clusters of hardy ponderosa pines line the tops of the foothills, but for the most part this is sagebrush and tumbleweed territory. Rattlesnakes and coyotes are frequently sighted just outside of town, while colonies of prairie dogs populate the lowlands. Mule deer roam throughout. Regular old trees, for the most part, are found only in town, transplants that need constant watering to survive the long, dry summers.
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| Senior Lambkin Denise Chilson competes at TCA.
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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Standing tall above this desert land on the first foothill range of the Front Range is Horsetooth Rock. To the Native Americans who once peopled this area, the rock was seen as the last remnant of a giant who guarded the Valley of Contentment below. Legend states that Chief Maunamoku led his people up to the top of the mountain where they killed the giant, striking blows to each side of his heart with a tomahawk. When the tribesmen woke the next morning, the giant was dead and his heart had turned to stone.
Horsetooth, at nearly 7300 feet above sea level, is more than just a postcard view for the runners at Fort Collins High School. It is a proving ground, home to a foundational summer workout that has become just as much a part of their tradition as the oral history of the giant was to the Native Americans. Every Friday during the summer at 6 AM, the runners meet at the high school, shuttle 20 minutes to Horsetooth Mountain Park, and prepare to assault the mountain. The workout is simple: climb 1700 feet over 2.5 miles as quickly as you can, mostly on singletrack trail. To the fit and supple, this is a challenging workout whose one great relief is the easy descent back to the start line. For those that have been lacksidasical in their summer training, however, this workout will make their hearts feel every bit as rocky as the giant’s.
“More than any other workout they prepare me for the mental side of racing,” says senior Denise Chilson (left). “The trail is such that I have to break it down and talk myself through each 200 meter section and focus completely on running. They definitely get me excited for the season and give me confidence that keeps me going throughout the summer.”
Somewhere on this trail during the summer a change started to occur.
Coming out of the spring, Fort Collins looked to be a team on the decline. Two of their top five runners had graduated and accepted Division I scholarships. Seniors Rachel Viger and Kirsten Follett were both coming off All-State honors at the Colorado 5A Track and Field Championships, and junior Marci Witczak had run 11:21 in the 3200m earlier in the year, but those seemed to be the only certainties. Getting five, much less seven competitive runners, seemed to be a near impossibility.
But something interesting started to happen on those Horsetooth runs as June became July became August. A group of freshmen, led by Erin Hooker and Maddie Staab, were starting to keep the upperclassmen in sight. Chilson was starting to enjoy the sport again. Viger, Follett, and Witczak looked in mid-season form. Expectations changed.
“It really brings a team together when everyone is showing up at 6 am to work their [behinds] off running up a mountain,” says Chilson, and the team seemed to agree. Dreams of state titles and Nike Cross National appearances started to once again dance in their heads.
Downhill All The Way: Liberty Bell Invitational
September 18, 2009
There are few things more confusing to a non-native Coloradoan than high school cross country courses along the Front Range. In an area that is absolutely dedicated to conversation and public lands, one might envision endless cross country courses cascading through bountiful fields that offer panoramic views of the mountains to the west.
One would be wrong.
“They don’t build parks here like they do in the East,” Chris Suppes is telling me. Finishing up his first decade coaching at Fort Collins, Suppes has created a legacy of his own, winning state titles on both sides of the gender line. He is also a fount of information, spouting off on many topics. One of them is parks.
“The parks here are built for soccer. There’s concrete everywhere. Soccer is what brings in the money for the towns, not cross country. That’s why we race on the sidewalks.”
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| Boulder's Kelsey Lakowske, fastest girl at Liberty Bell.
Photo by Chris Heiny
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The Liberty Bell Invitational will not buck this trend. Starting off on an asphalt road beside Heritage High School, the runners encounter their first obstacle in a nearly invisible speed bump one hundred meters from the start. The road takes them downhill to a packed cinder canal path, where they again continue downhill before encountering a brief uphill. The remainder of the course winds through a neighborhood, onto a narrow path, and then up into a parking lot for the finish. Not only are the surfaces hard and fast, but the finish line is well below the start line in terms of elevation. To say the course is aided would be a great understatement.
As the girls prepare to warm-up, a technical issue immediately presents itself: Erin Hooker has forgotten her shoes. Having only flats, she is told to warm up alone on the grass soccer fields while the rest of the team previews the course. Giggly and playful only a minute before, she now has a serious look in her eyes. A good but not great runner in middle school, Erin has come of age quickly. Barely five feet tall and a hundred pounds, she is anything but intimidating to look at. But in her first race of the season she ran toe to toe with Kirsten Follett, then placed second at the Cherry Creek Invitational the following week, losing the race only in the last half-mile. Fort Collins is running at full strength today for the first time all year, and she knows she may make the difference between them beating nationally ranked Boulder (CO) High School. Coached by former national champion Melody Fairchild, and featuring two standout runners in Kelsey Lakowske and Sam Lewis, Boulder is not a team to take lightly.
Reunited with her team, Hooker and the rest of her teammates finish their warm-up on the grass, change into flats, and wait for their wave to start. The Boulder girls look strong and confident, every ounce as fit and imposing as their esteemed coach was in the 1980s. Rachel Viger breathes as deeply as she can lining up at the front of the starting box. Ravaged by the flu, Viger is only now making her season debut. If it’s affecting her confidence, she’s not showing it. The course is so narrow that they have to line up single file. The starter is barking into a megaphone almost no one can hear, giving final instructions, waiting three minutes after the boys race has started to fire the gun again.
He does, and then they’re gone.
When they pass at the mile it’s obvious both teams have brought their A-games. Lakowske is simply running away from the field (right), her gait both formidable and elegant. Behind her a chase pack has formed, with Fort Collins’ Viger and Boulder’s Lewis right in the midst. A few strides behind them Follett and Hooker and Witczak roll, Chilson and the two other freshmen back a little bit.
The course is fast but not spectator friendly. I rush to the three mile mark as quickly as I can, mindful of my own leg pain (beware of stress reactions, youngsters). As I settle into my position I see Boulder’s Lakowske absolutely clear of the field, on her way to missing a course record by a mere one second (17:35). There’s a pause, then Viger is rounding the corner, passing the three mile mark and pushing uphill for the last tenth of a mile. She has put her health issues aside and is holding on now. Follett and Hooker are right behind, Follett kicking hard to just narrowly miss catching Boulder’s Lewis. Viger, Follett, and Hooker have all set major PRs, running 18:11, 18:16, and 18:21 in the process. Chilson, bound and determined to break 19 minutes for 5K, comes up just short in 19:08, finishing right behind Witczak, who runs 19:03. Maddie Staab and Taleah McClintock also finish well below 20 minutes. Afterwards, Taleah is in absolute ecstasy, running around and giving high fives of excitement to all her coaches and teammates. She, like most everyone else, is beyond excited. Not only did nearly everyone PR, but the team’s final score of 48 points is some 51 points lower than Boulder’s.
For one day, at least, they feel on top of not only the state, but the world, too.
Restless Blabbering
October 1, 2009 – 5:30 p.m.
The setting here is anything but inspiring. In two days we’ll be in a lush park framed by a magnificent view of Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, but right now we’re in a cinderblock office, whitewashed walls meeting a concrete floor. It is the first day of October, the month that determines state champions. Sectioned off behind us by a chain link fence is the computer server that serves the entire high school. It hums quietly as Chris Suppes holds court to the three senior girls and me, an assistant coach in my first full season working with the Lambkins. We’re propped up on whatever items we can find – stools, edges of desks, an old couch the track coach brought in. This room may not strike Martha Stewart’s heart in any warm way, but it is the central nervous system to the entire team. I refocus my attention on the conversation just as Suppes is beginning to get animated.
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| Fort Collins CO coach Chris Suppes.
Photo by Kevin Follett
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“They’re giggly, happy, and excited,” says Suppes to the three seniors. “That’s why freshmen have so much success. It’s because there’s no expectations for freshmen. Whatever they accomplish, if it helps the team, then awesome. If you’re not there, it’s because you’re a freshman. That’s just the way it works. So what we need to focus on is that the stress, the fear, and the pressure is on the team, it’s not on us as individuals.”
This has been a focus of his all week. Spare the individuals their burden by placing the expectations on the team alone. Be focused and excited, not nervous and overwhelmed. Suppes turns to Kirsten Follett. “Nobody is expecting you to go top 5 [at State]. Nobody is.” She starts to question this assertion but he turns his attention to Rachel Viger. “Nobody is even expecting you to finish the race.” Viger raises her hands in a “that’s not fair” gesture, this being yet another reminder that at the 2008 State Championship she was a dubious DNF. The girls won the state title despite her absence, but the memory still stings.
The girls protest his oversimplification, but Suppes stands pat. He wants a team of underdogs and unknowns. Lately, anonymity has been hard to come by.
In 2007 after a disappointing finish at the state meet, Fort Collins shocked themselves by finishing 7th at Nike Cross Country Nationals. They repeated the feat in 2008. Their run two weeks ago at Liberty Bell has done nothing to dampen those expectations. Despite these accomplishments, Suppes wants to maintain the air of the underdog.
“This Saturday is pretty big,” Suppes says, talking to his trio of seniors about the Titan Thunder Invitational where Fort Collins will go up against the 5th ranked team in the country. “Can we knock off Classical Academy? I don’t think we can. We’re a bit banged up, we’re tired.
“[Marci Witzcak’s] got a sore knee, she’s been out of it. Accept that. It’s the same thing I told Rachel. ‘You’ve had the flu. 18:12 (at Liberty Bell) – it’s a beautiful time for a girl who’s had the flu and been half bedridden.’ Instead of trying to find the negative things going on, look at the positives. Embrace the positives. We’re ranked nationally for the third straight year.”
But as any college football team can tell you, rankings mean nothing once you step out on the field.
One Point
Saturday, October 3rd – 9:27 A.M.
“Seriously, there’s frost on the grass?” David Garcia asks. Captain of the boys’ team, he seems stupefied that the ground could be this frozen on such a sunny day. The team has had ample time to watch the sun rise, having departed Fort Collins at 5:30 A.M. for the two-plus hour bus ride down to Fountain, just south of Colorado Springs. Suppes spent the majority of the ride narrating the various points of interest: Castle Rock, the visitor’s center atop Pikes Peak glimmering in the sun, NORAD’s command center deep in the granite heart of Cheyenne Mountain. Everyone else just tried to sleep.
I warm up with the boys team to preview the course. One thing becomes almost immediately apparent – this, too, will be a fast, though honest course. Starting off on grass, the course quickly winds down to a series of interlocking canal paths. The crushed limestone surface make for easy footing and the path is wide in most spots. Only the turns and final hill slow the course at all.
When I return to the warm-up area I’m amazed at how quiet and focused the girls are. This is by far the most serious they’ve looked before the race, and it’s clear the seniors have imparted knowledge of the race’s importance to the youngsters. The Classical Academy is not a team to be taken lightly, particularly on their home course.
They line up, steady now, steady, and then the gun is off, starting yet another challenge to be answered.
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| Marci Witzcak charging up the final hill in 16th place
Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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Kirsten Follett surges to the front. This is not a tactic I have ever seen out of her before, either in cross country or track. She is tracking TCA’s lead runners, sacrificing her normal strategy to ensure good placement. Rachel Viger gets pushed around a bit at the start then surges on the outside of the field, making up ground on the leaders. The rest of the Lambkins follow in suit, towed along by the race’s momentum. As they find their rhythm, every runner looks perfectly placed except Denise Chilson. Coach Suppes’s wife idly comments to me that she looks out of it. I hope she is wrong.
I scamper down a canal bank and cross on some old metal planks that take me over to the canal path. By the time I get to the mile Rachel is locked in a duel with The Classical Academy’s number one runner. She is shadowing her and looks good doing so. Her mile split is 5:42. The top 20 places through the mile are a mix of TCA’s dark red and Fort Collins’s purple, only a smattering of blues and greens breaking it up. Chilson is looking better and moving up, while Follett, Hooker, and Witczak (right) are right in the thick of the race. All splits are below 6:00.
Mile 2 is clearly slower and the course has now begun to take its toll on some of the front runners. TCA’s Hanenburg is now well clear of Fort Collins’s Viger, who is all alone in second but still holding form. When Follett and Hooker pass, they are behind TCA’s number three runner, but look to be closing the gap. I scream loudly as Marci, Denise, Maddie, and Taleah all pass. “Every place counts! Two miles! You’re almost there!” Then I’m off again, running against the flow of the race, ensuring I make it to the base of the hill before Rachel does.
And then it’s there. One last hill. Viger is still in second when I see her, but her efficient marathoner’s stride is now labored. She looks smooth, but moves slower than the less efficient looking girls behind her. As they crest the hill she is passed by TCA’s number two girl, and I yell at her to sit and kick, as if that were a simple proclamation anyone could follow. Follett and Hooker appear right after Rachel. They are at no risk – they will catch no one and be caught by no one. I put energy into my cheers just the same, though. Complacency is deadly in this sport, and even when a spot is locked up I don’t want to ever give that impression.
Denise is the one who is stunning me. Fifteen minutes ago we thought she was done, now she’s running the race of her life. Up the hill she goes, not conceding an inch to TCA’s number 3 runner that she has somehow caught and passed. I am truly in awe of her effort. She is a true light switch runner – some days she’s on, other times she’s off. I’m just glad the switch is in the right place today.
Ten seconds behind Denise, Marci is giving everything she has left. It’s obvious she’s not at full strength, but there are no excuses to be made at the end of a race. She goes as hard as she can for as long as she can. Our last two freshmen come up the hill and then I’m off, cutting a tangent through the weeds to try and see if we did it. Could we really knock off The Classical Academy with a banged-up Marci and still recovering Rachel? Did Erin’s surprise rise to fame, Kirsten’s incredible consistency, and Denise’s run of the day somehow lead us to beating the number 5 team in the country?
I run up to the girls, high fives and excited comments all around. I learn Rachel got outkicked by not just a TCA girl but also one from Moffatt County. I learn Marci lost 4 spots in the final 200 meters. I also learn that Denise placed 9th, that we put 4 runners in front of TCA’s number 3. I run out to find Suppes, to see what he knows, when he catches me from behind.
“One point,” he says.
I can tell from his expression who the victor is.
“One?”
“That’s our guess from counting them at the chute. One point.”
“Wow.”
Bus Rides
Saturday, October 3rd – 12:20 p.m.
The back of the bus is quiet until I get there. Most of the girls are listening to music or working on homework. I have a recorder in my hand. They’re not too certain about that.
“Here,” I say, handing a microphone to Kirsten. “Just clip it on your shirt. You won’t even know it’s there.”
“This is weird,” she says. I tell her I can take the mic out. She says no, it’s fine this way. I ask her the question I most want to know. How did it feel to lose by one point, one measly point, to one of the best teams in the country?
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| The Lambkins with Pikes Peak in the background (Denise Chilson, Maddie Staab, Taleah McClintock,
Erin Hooker, Kirsten Follett, Rachel Viger, Marci Witczak) - Photo submitted by Phil Latter
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“I was upset at first,” she says, “but the more I thought about it I think that it’s better because then we go in with a better head on our shoulders of being the underdogs. I think it makes us work harder, so I think it’s good in a way.”
I ask Rachel about how she ran so hard knowing she’s missed so much training time with the flu. “It has a lot to do with our team and going against Classical Academy and just having the motivation of possibly beating them.”
Graciousness in defeat is an aspect I’m proud to see in this team. After the awards ceremony they’d gone up to Classical’s coach, Alan Versaw, and thanked him for inviting them to his meet and having such a wonderful course. He in turn thanked them and said he looked forward to seeing them at State and Arizona, the next place they will square off head-to-head at the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Regional Meet (TCA competes in a different division than Fort Collins at State).
Although they lost, I see a glimmer of something in most of their eyes. They’re not content with losing, but they also see how close they are to winning. There is no arrogance, only confidence. Confidence that when they meet again, it will once again be a race to remember. As a final question, I ask freshman Maddie Staab what it’s like to go from being a good runner in junior high to being on a nationally ranked team her first year in high school. Her answer sums up the positive attitude of the team quite well.
“It’s pretty cool actually,” she says. “You come from junior high where you rock and here you rock, too.”
We all laugh at her answer as we wind our way up I-25, ever following the mountains to our left. The hope of another day, another chance, shines brightly off the snowcapped Pikes Peak. Even in defeat, it is a good, good day.
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