It is officially championship season for the Summit High School cross-country team and the Tigers did not disappoint in its first championship meet of the season: the 4A Region 1 cross-country meet in Grand Junction on Thursday, Oct. 19. 

With warm fall conditions in the high-desert terrain that makes up much of Grand Junction, the Summit High boys and girls cross-country teams jogged to the startling line eager to claim one of the four team spots to the Class 4A state cross-country meet on Saturday, Oct. 28, in Colorado Springs. 

A year ago, the Tigers made history at Lincoln Park Golf Course in Grand Junction by qualifying both the boys and girls teams to the state championship event for the first time since 2008. In the same race, the boys and girls team both placed second in the region with then-sophomore Ella Hagen laying claim to her first regional cross-country title.

Despite facing several improved and stacked teams in 4A Region 1, the Tigers showed they haven’t been coasting since last year, competing well against some of the top teams in the state and ultimately securing team spots for both the boys and girls in next week’s state cross-country meet.

The girls race went to plan for Hagen as the junior effortlessly strode her way to the front of the pack and did not look back once in her pursuit for a second consecutive regional title. All alone at the front of the pack, Hagen ran the course in 17 minutes, 8.40 seconds, placing first overall and cutting close to seven seconds off of last year’s time.

Hagen finished 1:20 in front of Battle Mountain senior Lindsey Whitton who placed second (18:28.10). Hagen was soon followed by a strong pack of neon-yellow Summit uniforms. Junior Avery Eytel and freshman Lily Benbow fiercely fought their way to the finish line and placed back-to-back to one another in eighth and ninth place respectively, with a near-identical time of 19:37 each. 

Freshman Ashley Adkins crossed the finish line as Summit’s fourth-finishing girl of the day, placing 21st (20:09.30) while freshman Mila Phaf had another strong performance and placed 27th (20:57.20). 

Senior Adaline Avery and sophomore Claire Jackson rounded out Summit’s top seven runners with Avery placing 32nd (21:18.70) and Jackson placing 49th (22:21.10). 

With top-15 finishes, Hagen, Eytel and Benbow earned all-region honors.

Summit scored a total of 64 points to place third overall and qualify for the state cross-country meet. With three girls in the top 15 and five girls in the top 20, Conifer placed first overall with 56 points while Battle Mountain placed second with 59 points. 

The Summit boys cross-country team was just as impressive.

Junior Josh Shriver and freshman Jay McDonald led the way for the Tigers, running stride by stride for the first few miles before Shriver broke away. 

Shriver finished the race in 15:25.90 to place fourth overall, shaving over 23 seconds off his time from last year and improving his finish by three places. McDonald finished two places behind Shriver in sixth place (15:44), earning all-region honors and ending up as the top freshman in the race.

Will Bentley placed 10th (16:19.80), earning all-region honors.

Among Summit’s more impressive racing of the day were the performances by sophomore Carter Niemkiewicz and freshmen Lukas Remeikis, John McDonald and Owen Fallon.

The group of underclassmen leaned on each other throughout the race and all notched top-50 finishes. Niemkiewicz improved on his time from last year by 40 seconds (17:03),finishing 14th and jumping up nine places from his 23rd-place finish in 2022.

Remeikis made his debut at the regional meet and placed 29th in a new personal best time of 17:22.60. John McDonald and Fallon also beat their previous personal best times, running 17:55.90 and 18:01.30 to place 41st and 44th respectively. 

Sophomore Gavin Benedict rounded out the top 50 with a 50th-place time of 18:19.60, a nearly 1:13 improvement and 28-place improvement from last year’s meet. 

The marked improvement across the board for the Summit boys cross-country team led to another second-place finish for the Tigers at regionals. Summit scored a total of 72 points, trailing Eagle Valley High School’s 47 points. 

Summit will now begin its final preparations for the Class 4A state championship meet on Saturday, Oct. 28, at Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs. Hagen will look to defend her individual 2022 state cross-country title while both teams will look to improve upon last year’s sixth and 10th-place finishes. 

The 4A boys race is scheduled for 9:40 a.m. with the 4A girls race taking place at 11 a.m.

Be more informed in 2025.

Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at SummitDaily.com/newsletter