The Summit High School cross-country team is quickly making the rest of Colorado take notice.

After opening the season with a string of strong results at the Vista Nation 2-Mile Invitational in Highlands Ranch on Aug. 23, the Tigers continued to climb the regional and 4A rankings on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Fresh off its first meet victory of the season, the Summit boys cross-country team lined up at the Eagle Valley Cross-Country Invitational in Gypsum determined to seize a second-straight team title.

With the crack of the starter’s gun, the field surged down one of the fairways at Siena Valley Club before falling into a sustainable rhythm for the 5-kilometer course. At the front of the fairly large race field was Summit junior Jay McDonald and Eagle Valley senior Dylan Blair. 

Familiar with competing against each other in Western Slope meets, the two talented distance runners opted to run alongside one another at a controlled, tempo pace before opening it up over the latter half of the race.

With the rest of the race field hot on their heels, McDonald and Blair bided their time near the front of the pack. After running just over 5 minutes through the first mile, Blair made a move near the 2-mile mark that put a gap on a trailing McDonald.

Although Blair was perhaps more familiar with the course, McDonald took advantage of the slight downhill over the last mile, floating past his competitor and kicking hard to the finish line. Displaying his desire to finish high on the podium at the 4A state meet later this fall, McDonald crossed the finish line as the champion of the race in a new course record time of 15 minutes, 58.4 seconds. 

With recent graduate Ella Hagen still owning the girls’ course record, the Tigers now claim the top times at the meet.

Blair, the previous boys’ course-record holder, finished in second place in a time of 16:02.4 and Central Grand Junction’s Broly Watts took third in 16:19.4.

Summit junior Lukas Remeikis kicked hard to the finish line to be Summit’s second runner at the meet. Marking his best finish so far this season, Remeikis clocked a time of 16:22.9 to place fourth overall.

Summit put an additional two runners within the top 10. Junior Owen Fallon took sixth in a time of 16:51.8 with junior Johnny Ryan taking ninth in 17:16.2.

The Tigers final scoring runner was senior Carter Niemkiewicz who took 13th overall in a time of 17:22.2. Not far behind Niemkiewicz was senior Cain Steinweg in 15th place (17:31.5) and freshman Crosby Hume in 17th (17:35.4).

With all seven of the Tigers’ top seven runners across the finish line before every other team’s third, the Summit boys cross-country team remains undefeated. Summit won the meet with a score of 32, Eagle Valley took second at its home meet with a score of 86 and Central Grand Junction took third with 88 points.

“I think it is a really good starting block,” Remeikis said. “Coming out swinging. I believe that we haven’t really gotten as much recognition as the team deserves. We are all coming off strong summer training blocks and it is really good to see the team shaping up to how all of us want the team to be shaping up.”

The Summit girls cross-country team was just as impressive as the boys. Competing against some of the teams that will be present at the 4A Region 1 meet in October, the Summit girls proudly put three athletes within the top 10.

Sophomore Sophie Dinse recorded the highest finish for Summit. The talented runner took fifth overall in a time of 20:51.7. Dinse was preceded by Battle Mountain sophomore Eden DeMino (19:48.7), Central Grand Junction senior Sage Siegrist (19:53.0), Rangely High School junior Taya Wren (20:39.2) and Battle Mountain junior Isla Elton (20:48.2).

Dinse was soon followed by two of her Summit teammates. Junior Lily Benbow took seventh in a time of 21:08.7 with junior Milla Phaf taking eighth in 21:10.9. 

Summit had two more of its runners finish within the top 30. Leaning on her deep aerobic fitness level, sophomore Paige Ratliff took 19th in a time of 21:52.4. Junior Ashley Adkins was Summit’s final scoring runner, finishing in 27th in a time of 22:23.2.

Freshman Leah Noble took 31st in 22:30.0 and freshman Lucia Templeton finished in 36th in 22:50.6.

The Summit girls recorded a team score of 63 to take second overall. Battle Mountain High School took first (47) and Grand Junction High School took third (80).

Summit will now prepare for the Liberty Bell Cross-Country Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 13 in Littleton. Regarded as one of the most competitive and fastest cross-country meets in Colorado, the event will give Summit a true measure of how it stacks up against some of the state’s top teams.

“The obvious answer is that we want to run good fast times, but I think the more important thing for all of us is to win,” Remeikis said. “This is the first major meet that is on a lot of team’s maps. It looks more impressive than other races. Run fast and win.”

Both the Summit boys and girls will race in the sweepstakes race — which features just two other 4A teams in each gendered race. The Summit boys will race at 7:45 a.m., and the girls will race at 8:15 a.m.