With a varsity roster finally returned to near full strength, Coronado women’s cross country snagged an elusive first place victory, the Cougars’ first overall victory of the 2017 season at their host meet, the Cougar Classic on 9/21.

For senior Chloe Cassens, the difference was in the roster, saying, “This week we finally got to run 5 healthy runners from our top 6! Taylor [Dutton, 12,] and Grace [Abernethy, 10,] were back which made an immense difference. I think we all felt this was our comeback week. And what a better week for that than the week of our home meet!” Dutton, back from an IT band injury, and Abernethy, returning from a persistent knee injury, took 13th and 8th places respectively, at 20:33 and 20:10, but it was Cassens that led the Cougars to the finish line, taking fourth among 150 women’s varsity runners, at a time of 19:48.

The key to Cassens’ race? Her second mile. “I was mainly thinking about mile two the whole time,” said Cassens, “I knew the first mile would all be adrenaline and the last one is downhill so it’s easier…I was preparing myself the whole time to just hammer it. Once in it I was thinking about dropping my arms, increasing my turnover, pushing it up that final hill.” This was the first win for new head coach Grant Stoughton.

“It means a lot to win your home invite and for the girls to put it together today was amazing. It was nice to have Grace back, but I can’t wait until Layla [Roebke] is back in action, too.  The girls ran well, especially the trio of Roth, Dutton, and Morland working together throughout the race.”

On Cassens’ heels, all of the scoring Cougars finished within 50 seconds of the senior, Abernethy taking 8th overall at 20:10,  junior Faith Roth snagging 13th at 20:32, Dutton placing 14th at 20:33, junior Madeline Morland coming in at 17th overall at 20:37. Senior Hannah Besse captured 44th place at 22:29.

On the times, Coach Stoughton said, “Tight pack running is essential to success.  With a 49 second 1-5 split and a 5 second 3-5 split, the girls are looking to stay close and move up.”

On the men’s side, the Cougars placed just outside the top three, sliding in at fourth place, and were once again lead to the finish by a senior; this time, Conor Strizich, who took tenth overall at a time of 17:12. Strizich spoke to the Cougar Classic’s unique atmosphere saying, “The Cougar Classic is always a special meet for the team.  The course is fast and the school spirit is high, which makes the meet something to look forward to every year.” Following Strizich to the finish were seniors and multi-sport athletes Ben Swanson, 11, and Andrew Burton, 12, and Ben Hayes-Lemmon, 10 finishing at 14th, 22nd, and 23rd respectively, then sophomore Charlie Schroeder at 25th Senior Tyler Kluzak came in at 45th place, and sophomore Mark Bloomfield came in at 81st place.

Coach Stoughton said, “The guys were just tough today.  Big Ben [Swanson] had a bloody nose and was kind of a mess, but he was a trooper.  Little Ben [Hayes-Lemmon] has come on very strong; Conor has been a real leader and got in Ben’s ear about breaking 18.  That was a tall order, but Ben dropped more than 40 seconds off his PR to run a 17:58.”

Both Strizich and Cassens are optimistic for their teams’ prospects as they near not the only the Colorado Springs Metro League meet, but the Regional and State cross country meets. Cassens sights are set at the top five teams in 5A, but not without noting talented league and regional teams, predicting Rampart and Pine Creek to be the Cougars’ fiercest competition in pursuit of a metro league title. As for her state aspirations, the senior says,   “I’m excited to see what happens when the end of the season comes and we all get the chance to run fresh. It would be nice to be back in the top 5 at state, and I think we can. I know we can.”

Catch the Cougars at the Salida Invite on 9/30 at Vandaveer Ranch.  Best of luck, Cougars!