It has reached the point in the fall cross-country season where runners are quickly reaching their peak fitness levels and are well prepared to take on the final meets of the season. 

After winning its home meet at Copper Mountain Resort on Oct. 4, the Summit High School cross-country team traveled to Colorado Springs for its last meet of the regular season — the Air Academy Kadet Invitational. 

Taking place on an unseasonably warm fall day on Saturday, Oct. 12, Summit continued to display why it is regarded as one of the top programs in Class 4A, placing several runners within the top 10 and earning podium finishes in the team race.

The morning of racing was led off by the Division 1 varsity girls race, which consisted of teams from 4A and 5A. At the front of the race pack was senior Ella Hagen, who looked to continue her winning streak after being crowned the individual champion in her last four races.

With confidence in her fitness, Hagen positioned herself among several Air Academy High School runners and stuck with them as the course weaved through the campus.

Eventually, Hagen and Air Academy senior Tessa Walter pulled away from the pack, making it a two-person race to the finish line located on one of the school’s fields. Hagen and Walter battled for much of the race until the Air Academy senior was able to pull away. Walter crossed the finish line in first place in a time of 17 minutes, 34.1 seconds and Hagen took second overall in 17:54.3.

Hagen was followed by two Air Academy runners including Jordan Banta in third (18:40.1) and Chamorra Cooper in fourth (18:40.1). Alamosa High School’s Elizabeth McQuitty rounded out the top five in fifth with a time of 18:53.0.

Summit put an additional three runners within the top 25. Displaying their ability to race as a team, sophomore Lily Benbow ran an impressive race to place 16th (20:32.4), freshman Sophie Dinse followed in 17th (20:38.4) and senior Avery Eytel took 18th (20:39.9).

Rounding out the top five scoring runners for the Tigers was sophomore Ashley Adkins. Adkins took 29th overall in 21:06 while freshman Paige Ratliff took 32nd (21:13.4) and senior Cece Miner took 51st (22:08.4). Sophomore Milla Phaf was the eighth runner across the line for the Tigers, taking 70th in 22:51. Freshman Iyla Kuruvila rounded out the performances for the Summit girls, taking 82nd in 23:23.3.

Placing a spot behind the nationally ranked Air Academy girls, Summit took second out of 17 teams with a total of 82 points. Cheyenne Mountain High School filled out the podium in the girls race, placing third overall with a total of 112 points.

Similar to the girls, the Summit boys team put a large swath of its varsity roster within the top 25 the Division 1 varsity boys race. Leading the charge for the Tigers was senior Josh Shriver who pinned himself next to Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Brogan Collins.

Shriver stuck close to the Cheyenne Mountain senior for the majority of the course until Collins opened up his stride and began to pull away. Collins was the first athlete to cross the finish line in 15:49.2 while Shriver took second in 16:09.1.

Central Grand Junction’s Yishai Trowbridge took third (16:37.7) before Summit sophomore Jay McDonald placed fifth overall (16:40.9). Following the top-five performances from Shriver and McDonald, Summit put the remainder of its top-five scoring runners within the top 25. Senior Will Bentley was the next Summit runner to cross the finish line in 15th overall (17:17.9) before junior Cain Steinweg finished in 20th (17:27.1) and sophomore Lukas Remeikis placed 22nd (17:39.7).

Finishing just outside the top 25 was sophomore Owen Fallon in a 28th place (17:50.0). Freshman Levi Ryan took 41st (18:08.3), junior Carter Niemkiewicz placed 50th (18:28.4) and sophomore Malachi Love placed 76th (19:05.8).

With all five of its top five scoring runners within the top 15% of the race field, Summit ran away with the boys team title with a total of 58 points. Lutheran Parker High School took second with 102 points and Air Academy High School finished in third with 136 points.

Summit will now prepare to race in its first championship race of the season, traveling to Golden on Oct. 25 for the 4A Region 1 championship meet. At the meet, Summit will look to return to the 4A state cross-country meet on Nov. 2 by being one of the top four teams in each gendered race.

The regional race will take place at North Area Athletic Complex and is slated to begin at noon.