Summit head coach Heather Quarantillo says these are the glory days for the Summit High School boys cross country team.

“This is a banner year for the boys,” Quarantillo said. “Our boys team has never had this amount of success.”

For the first time in memory, the Tigers boys team won their second consecutive meet on Friday night, down at the Dave Sanders Invitational at Clement Park in Littleton in the Division 2 race complete with 4A, 3A and 2A schools.

The Tigers were led by senior Max Bonenberger, who in Friday evening’s hot and windy conditions on the 5,000-meter course broke 17 minutes with a time of 16 minutes and 55 seconds.

Bonenberger ran with fellow Tiger senior Jeremiah Vaille for the majority of Friday night’s race, as Vaille finished in sixth place with a time of 17:16.

“Max ran a really, really strong race,” Quarantillo said. “All of his races have been pretty amazing. He definitely had to dig deep down yesterday for his place. Him and Jeremiah ran the first two-and-a-half miles of race together, then Max pulled out ahead. But they were pacing together the whole race trying to chase the top-3 runners the whole race, who were really just right in front of them.”

The Tigers boys team also benefited Friday from the return of freshman Dom Remeikis. Remeikis’ time of 18:04 paired him with Summit veteran Sam Wescott, who ran to 16th place with a time of 18:02. The Tigers also received strong showings from veteran Pauls Hans (19th, 18:13), freshman Zach McBride (33rd, 18:37) and Korben Long (43rd, 18:53).

Quarantillo said she is excited and encouraged by Remeikis and McBride’s success so early in their careers, as it is helping the Tigers this season while also setting them up well for the long term.

“It means everything,” Quarantillo said. “Because when we have strong seniors graduate this year, they are the guys who are going to be taking over the program, really. We’ll have some other kids returning who aren’t seniors, but the program is going to be in their hands, which is exciting. And they are fortunate to be able to have these seniors to learn leadership from.”

The Tigers finished with a boys team score of 62, which placed them well ahead of Green Mountain (90) and Evergreen (148).

In the girls race, senior Grace Staberg returned with a vengeance after she was absent from last week’s race, running to second place with a time of 19:53.

“It’s neat to see Grace kind of hold her ground where she wanted,” Quarantillo said. “She ran a nice strategic race, solid and evenly paced throughout.”

Paced by Staberg, the Tigers girls finished in 11th place in the team competition, including top finishes from Alice Wescott (50th, 23:14), Logan Reid 63rd, 23:44), Lexie Morici (80th, 24:28), Nika Dassatti (93rd, 25:17), Kaelin Love (99th, 25:32 and Paige Wescott (118th, 27:20).

The Tigers also had a freshman runner on junior varsity, Lily Weitke, post a strong enough time on Friday to bump up to race for the varsity at next Friday’s Warrior Classic Meet at the Lincoln Park Golf Course in Grand Junction. The meet, scheduled for a 5 p.m. start, will give the Tigers the opportunity to race on the same course as the Oct. 17 regionals course.