Just hours before the Summit High School cross-country team’s meet in Grand Junction on Friday, Oct. 10, uncertainty loomed over whether the team would even make the trip. 

Steadily becoming known as one of the fastest meets in the state, the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic routinely attracts teams from across Colorado looking to post quick times before the regional and state meets. 

Traditionally held at the flat Lincoln Park Golf Course, this year’s event was relocated to Central Grand Junction High School due to heavy rain.

Not sure if the new course would be as fast, Summit debated attending the meet. After discussing the matter amongst themselves, the coaches and runners ultimately decided to make the trip, hoping during the long bus ride that the pavement-heavy layout would still produce strong performances.

The Tigers made the right decision in choosing to make the drive to the race. Summit was not only able to compete well as a team in the pouring rain, but all 27 of its athletes were able to run a new personal-best time.

Junior Jay McDonald was just one of the many Summit athletes to set a new personal best at the race. Wanting to win his third race of the season, McDonald took off from the start line with Eagle Valley senior Dylan Blair and junior teammate Lukas Remeikis quickly in tow.

McDonald, Blair, Remeikis and Lewis Palmer High School senior Noah Thompson battled side by side for the majority of the race, but McDonald once again was able to find a way to develop a gap over the final portions of the race. 

McDonald crossed the finish line of the race in a time of 14 minutes, 18.79 seconds to take first overall.

The time shed over 21-seconds off of McDonald’s previous school-record mark of 14:39.80 that he set at the Liberty Bell Invitational in September. Beyond rewriting the Summit record books, McDonald set a new Colorado soil record and currently ranks second in the nation.

“It was exciting, and it was rewarding,” McDonald said. “All of the guys have put a lot into it. … The last two years were kind of tough, so it was nice to see such a fast time. I always thought I was capable of running that fast, but it is nice to be at the level I want to be.” 

Blair finished 9.75 seconds behind McDonald in second with Thompson taking third in 14:32.39. 

For the first time in his high school running career, Remeikis went under the 15-minute barrier, running 14:42.40. The performance secured fourth place overall in the boys varsity race and took 34 seconds off his previous best time.

Soon after Remeikis caught his breath, a strong pack of six boys sprinted across the finish line. Senior Carter Niemkiewicz led the group of Summit runners, taking 14th overall in 15:23.16. Junior Owen Fallon finished in 15th in 15:25.29 with junior Johnny Ryan taking 17th (15:27.18) and freshman Crosby Hume finishing in 18th (15:33.54). Senior Cain Steinweg and junior John McDonald were also able to run sub 15:45. Steinweg finished in 21st in a time of 15:39.66 and McDonald took 23rd with a time of 15:42.79.

With a total of 45 points, the Summit boys easily won the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic. Durango High School took second (111) with Ponderosa High School finishing in third (124). 

The team has now won a total of four meets this season and will look to continue to rack up wins at the championship meets over the next several weeks.

“We are just going to keep on training and be as smart as we can,” McDonald said, “stay healthy so we can be ready for regionals, qualify for state and then perform at state. We then have a couple weeks until Nike Cross Regionals, which we have some pretty big goals for.”

The fireworks continued for Summit in the varsity girls race. Displaying her desire to fight for a podium spot at the state meet at the beginning of November, freshman Kayla Broecker put herself at the front of the race early on.

Broecker wisely queued off the older competitors around her which included Cheyenne Mountain High School junior Reagan McRae and Coal Ridge High School junior Effie Fletcher. When it was time for Broecker to make a move, she made it decisively, opening up her stride and kicking across the finish line in second place in a new personal-best time of 16:59.54. 

The time marks a 32-second personal best for Broecker and further solidifies her as one of the premier runners in the class of 2029. Broecker was preceded by McRae in first (16:52.91) and followed by Fletcher in third (17:03.08).

Four more Summit runners were able to go under the 19-minute barrier in Grand Junction. Sophomore Sophie Dinse finished in 17th (18:40.17), freshman Leah Noble took 19th (18:43.55), junior Lily Benbow took 20th (18:44.77) and junior Milla Phaf finished in 21st (18:45.79). 

Freshman Lucy Greenwood came within a few seconds of going under 19 minutes herself but barely missed the mark by five seconds. Putting together perhaps her best race of the season thus far, Greenwood took 41st in a time of 19:05.07.

Freshman Lucia Templeton took 47th (19:13.38), and Ashley Adkins finished in 50th (19:15.05). 

The Summit girls narrowly took third overall in the team rankings with a total of 75 points. Durango High School took first with 73 points and Battle Mountain finished in second with 74 points. 

The Summit cross-country team will now enjoy a week off from meets before traveling to Gypsum for the 4A Region 1 cross-country meet on Thursday, Oct. 23. The top four teams will advance to the 4A cross-country state championships in Colorado Springs on Nov. 1. Last year, Summit made program history by sweeping the team race at regionals.