COLORADO STATE MEET

Riley Stewart Wins Third But US#3 Arapahoe Girls Claim 5A Title Over US#4 Cherry Creek

By DyeStat

Erik Boal Photos

As one of the most highly anticipated state meets in the country unfolded on Saturday at Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs, the Arapahoe girls got the day started off with a huge win in the Class 5A girls cross country final. 

The No. 3 Arapahoe girls beat No. 4 Cherry Creek, 42-60. The Warriors erased an early deficit -- the 1-mile split had them in third at the mile -- and claimed the Class 5A state title. In recent weeks, Cherry Creek had beaten Arapahoe by a point for the Centennial League title, and Arapahoe won the Region 1 title 29-39. 

Cherry Creek's chances were hurt when usual No. 4 runner Addison Price did not finish.

INTERVIEWS

Riley Stewart of Cherry Creek, however, capped an illustrious career by winning her third consecutive individual title in 17:20.9. 

The Stanford-bound star improved her best time on the challenging state meet course by 13 seconds. 

In the Class 5A boys race, US#16 Mountain Vista put its best race of the season together and beat US#10 Valor Christian 59-61. 

Luke Urban and Aaron Yocom, Mountain View's fifth and sixth finishers at 20th and 21st, passed and finished in front of Valor Christian's fifth, Dane Eike, to help tip the scales in the team race. 

Sophomore Tanner Brown of Chaparral made an impressive tour of the course in 15:44.7 to claim the individual 5A title and defeating Valor Christian junior Ty Garrett by three and a half seconds. 

Cheyenne Mountain Boys, Niwot Girls Hit On All Cylinders In 4A

The US#2 Cheyenne Mountain boys put together a dominant performance and rolled past No. 3 Niwot with 26 points and put four runners in the top seven. After Niwot standout Zane Bergen's winning performance in 15:17.4, Cheyenne Mountain brought in three with Erik Le Roux (15:31.0), Kaden Levings (15:34.5) and Knox Exton (15:40.2). 

The US#2 Niwot girls were led by senior Eva Klingbeil's victory (17:58.9) and put all seven in the top 16 on the way to 20 points. Battle Mountain was second with 138.

MERGE 

Team Champions - 

Class 5A - Mountain Vista boys 59 points, Arapahoe girls 42 points - RESULTS

Class 4A - Cheyenne Mountain boys 26 points, Niwot girls 20 points - RESULTS

Class 3A - Classical Academy boys 32 points, Classical Academy girls 65 points - RESULTS

Class 2A/1A - Heritage Christian Academy boys 54 points, Lake County girls 48 points - RESULTS