For the third time in her career, senior Ella Hagen has punched her ticket to the Nike Cross National meet in Portland, Oregon. 

Last fall at the Nike Cross Southwest Regional meet, Hagen improved upon her seventh-place finish during her sophomore season, taking fifth overall and being one of the five individual athletes to qualify to the national meet.

Knowing it was the final Nike Southwest Regional meet of her career, Hagen took to the start line and prepared to give it her all over the flat, 5-kilometer course weaving its way through Toka Sticks Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona.

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Leaning on the confidence she gained from claiming her second state cross-country title a few weeks ago, Hagen charged from the start line with the rest of the field in the girls championship race.

Within the first kilometer, it became apparent that Timpview High School senior Jane Hedengren was going to try to drive the pace up front. Running stoically, Hedengren of Provo, Utah split a blazing fast time of 5:04.00 through the first mile of the race.

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Wisely deciding to let Hedengren do her thing up front, Hagen sat in the chase pack with Niwot High School junior Addy Ritzenhein, Eaton High School sophomore Delaney Reuter and Riverdale Ridge High School junior Payton Meineke.

Hagen followed the trio of Colorado athletes through the mile mark, recording a time of 5:15.50 and sitting in fifth overall.

“It went out pretty fast and part of it was expected in a field of girls as strong as it was,” Hagen said. “I told myself to stay with the pack, stay relaxed and keep my composure.”

Over the second mile of the race, Hagen began pushing the pace a little bit, passing Meineke and moving into fourth. With a little over a mile left in the race, Hagen let her legs roll over the short, manicured grass and tried to reel in Reuter. Not letting up until she was across the finish line, Hagen finished in fourth place overall in a time of 16:48.7.

“I was very proud of the performance and being able to show the consistency,” Hagen said. “This course didn’t really play to my strengths necessarily, so I knew it was going to be one where I was going to have to really dig in. At the end of the day, I was super happy with the performance and excited to be able to head back to nationals to have fun on that course one last time.”

With the top five individuals not on a qualifying team earning a spot to nationals, Hagen secured the fourth spot. Reuter took the third spot by placing third (16:42.87) and Ritzenhein claimed the second spot by taking second (16:31.72). Hedengren won the race in a record-breaking time of 15:50.01, taking the first individual qualifying spot.

Boys medium school race

Beyond Hagen’s performance in the girls championship race, Summit also brought the majority of its cross-country team in order to compete on the fast course. All of the Summit boys that came on the trip raced in the boys medium school race which was composed of competitive clubs and programs from across the Southwest region. 

Feeling slighted for not making it into the boys championship race, senior Josh Shriver rapidly took off from the start line and began trying to put together a race that would make a statement. 

With sophomore teammate Jay McDonald following closely in his footsteps, Shriver led through the mile mark of the race in a time of 4:45.30. Shriver continued to lean into the pace over the second mile, urging McDonald and junior Carter Niemkiewicz to come with him as he did so.

Spurred on by his teammates behind him, Shriver lengthened his stride over the final mile. Celebrating by acting like he was sleeping, Shriver crossed the finish line as the champion of the boys medium school race in a time of 15:14.94. The time marked a new personal best time for Shriver.

“I think that I have always kind of been slept on,” Shriver said. “That is kind of where the celebration came from. … It is hard, especially in the Southwest region to make a name for yourself and be a favorite. You have to show up every single time and put together a good race. … Being able to show that I was better than people thought was a goal of mine going in, and I feel like I did a good job of doing that.”

McDonald secured the Summit sweep of the top, two spots on the podium, taking second in a time of 15:25.56.

Niemkiewicz shaved 53 seconds off his previous best time to place 11th overall in a time of 15:55.59. Joining the personal-best party, sophomore Lukas Remeikis took 30th overall (16:15.84 ), taking 27 seconds off his previous best time.

Remeikis was then followed by junior Cain Steinweg and sophomore Owen Fallon. Steinweg finished in 53rd (16:36.21) and Fallon took 54th (16:37.03).

Sophomore Malachi Love dropped 22 seconds off his previous best time to take 103rd (17:22.88), sophomore John McDonald set a six-second personal best to place 132nd (17:49.22) and freshman Cooper Levi finished in 138th (17:56.02).

The biggest improvement among the Summit boys belonged to sophomore Max Klein who set a 59-second personal best in order to take 149th (18:09.49). Freshman Bodhi Adnan finished in 159th, (18:16.68) and junior Gavin Benedict took 162nd (18:19.27).

Scoring a total 75 points, the Summit boys cross-country team placed second overall in the boys medium school race. Although Shriver was left out of the championship race, he felt like it was special for him to run with the whole team one last time.

“After state I thought that was it,” Shriver said. “I remember we were all disappointed collectively after state, and I had kind of accepted that was how it was going to end on a team basis. The silver lining was that I was going to be with them again, so I tried to take it as one last opportunity to toe the line with that whole group. We had a ton of fun at that race. … It was a great way to end it, and it will be something I remember moving on from this era.”

Girls medium school race 

Similar to the boys, the Summit girls dazzled in the girls medium school race. 

Leading the way was sophomore Lily Benbow. In the middle of a standout second season with the Tigers, Benbow worked alongside her teammates —senior Avery Eytel and freshman Sophie Dinse — all the way to the finish line.

Trying to out sprint one another over the final 100-meters of the race, Benbow ran 19:41.40 to place 33rd overall. A few seconds after Benbow crossed the finish line, Eytel capped off her Summit cross-country career by placing 35th in 19:43.34. Dinse finished a spot behind Eytel in 36th, running a time of 19:43.73.

Narrowly missing out on going under the 20-minute barrier, freshman Paige Ratliff placed 44th overall in a time of 20:01.42. Senior Cece Miner took 87th (21:16.40), freshman Anna Stafford finished in 101st (21:43.75), junior Claire Jackson took 121st (22:41.04) and junior Lila Ellison finished in 134th (23:45.02).

Stafford had the biggest personal best of the entire season for the program, running nearly two-minutes faster than her previous best time.

The Summit girls placed sixth overall in the race with a total score of 153 points.

Six Summit athletes will now prepare to compete at the Foot Locker Cross Country Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 30. With snow and cold temperatures in the forecast, Summit is expected to feel right at home. 

“I am excited to prolong the cross season for as long as possible really,” Hagen said. “Foot Locker is going to be an awesome experience. Definitely like true cross-country out there, getting to have some fun.”

The top 10 runners in both the boys and girls championship race will qualify to Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego on Dec. 14.