Colorado XC Thread 2024

I'm sure they are great kids.

The issue comes down to what happens when multiple chefs enter the kitchen. Different coaches have different philosophies and different messages they wish to impart on their teams.

Lets say your daughter had a mediocre early-season race. Maybe because her coach did not think that race was a priority. But the girls of the parent-coach ran lights out. And the workouts they did that week were vastly different than the workouts the rest of the team did - maybe because it was a priority for the parent-coach. It's possible your daughter would begin to question the validity of what her actual coach was doing.

Or maybe there was a team fundraiser or something that the coach needed the kids to do. But the parent-coach sees the event as something that would get in the way of the kids dinner time, so they don't attend. Would your daughter understand?

Maybe team pictures are on a Thursday, and honestly, none of the kids want to do it, but they do anyway. But that's the workout day for the parent-coach's kids, so those kids can't be there.

Or maybe the conference meet is the same time as some big out-of-state meet that the parent-coach wants to take the kids to instead. Sorry, school, no conference title for you.

Maybe another family comes to the school and sees this parent-coach situation. Dad of this new family ran in college and decides he's going to get in on the action to and coach his kid. Now you've got yet another family doing their thing. I mean, if one family gets to do this, why not anyone?

Any or all of these scenarios could easily play out on any team anywhere that ends up accepting a model where a parent is coaching some, but not all, kids on the team. As I said, the family may still be great, but teams simply can't function like this.

If I had five daughters and wanted them all to run on the same team and have the experience of competing at the HS level, I would consider applying to actually be the coach somewhere. Of course, that would come with the additional responsibility of being the coach of more than just my daughters. And coaching more than just the people who have been groomed over the better part of a decade to excel could likely be a frustrating endeavor. Another can of worms.

Who are these Lattas and why are there so many of them? This is the first I'm hearing of them.

Perhaps those of you who are obsessed with the Lattas can start a separate thread and leave this thread to discussion of actual Colorado cross country runners.

I agree. I have never heard of these girls before, but it seems like there is someone on here who really has something against the family. It doesn't belong on this thread. In all honestly, the personal attacks against hs girls/individual parents should be anywhere on this message board.

**meant to say should NOT be anywhere on this message board.

LOL; we heard what you said the first time.

Dang, vista has 10 girls in the varsity race!!

And their boys team has 7.

Niwot has 11 in the boys varsity race, and as of now, they have 2 in the girls varsity race, though the entries could change which they did just today

Valor Christian beat Cheyenne Mountain. Both teams have a large 4-5 gap it looks like

New girls course record for Addy Ritzenhein at the Vista 2-Mile: 11:07 and won by 11 seconds.

But, wait, she is injured... Hilarious the person/people posting that gem.

Vista nation 2 mile

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Niwot is much faster than last year.

First weekend impressions:

5A boys
Niwot are head and shoulders above the rest, which we knew.Valor looking like a #2. Could be a NXN dark horse *if* they can have someone emerge in the #5 role. Unless they were holding something back, Mountain Vista looks like they’re in for a down year. Watch out for Castle View.

5A girls
Mountain Vista, by quite a bit. Air Academy #2. Niwot #3, then Heritage?!? Heritage wasn’t even ranked in pre-season but crushed pre-state. Good for them.

4A boys
Coronado swept at the Elmwood 9. They’re a clear #1 with Cheyenne Mountain and Thompson Valley close behind if they falter (as they did last year at state).

4A girls
I have absolutely no idea on this one. Summit didn’t run their full team. Pueblo West was the top 4A finisher at pre-state, and they weren’t ranked in the coaches’ poll. Timnath was close behind PW. Conifer looked fine at the Standley Lake Race. If TCA were still 4A, they’d be the clear favorites in this class, too.

3A boys
TCA and Jefferson Academy both looked solid. I’d give a slight edge to Jefferson Academy, based on first week’s results. Salida didn’t race, but I think they’ll be in the mix too. No one else looks ready to contend 3A 1-5, but Coal Ridge and Prospect Ridge both looked surprisingly good 1-4.

3A girls
TCA by a landslide. Salida and Gunnison are ranked 2 and 3, and neither raced this weekend. Of those that did race, Prospect Ridge looked second-best to TCA.

2A boys
Golden View Classical Academy represented their class well in the championship race. Clear favorite here. Thomas McClaren won the boys small school, in a surprise result. Crested Butte won’t be racing for another couple of weeks.

2A Girls
Don’t think Heritage Christian ran their full squad at pre-state, but Lake County looked solid. Centauri wasn’t far behind. Still think that Heritage Christian has their edge with their full squad but we’d be naïve or stupid or both to count out Lake County.

Those running clubs are doing great

Gilbert can probably shrink the gap for Valor Christian. At NXR, he ran a 16:15, beating Mazeski. He also ran a 9:52 last spring. Probably an off race here, finishing 7th on the team.
It would be awesome if Valor makes NXN because this year is basically their last chance. Their senior class is very good (many of them were varsity as sophomores too), but not much talent in other classes.

For Cheyenne Mountain, a 5th man that can make the gap smaller can probably be….Krasovec? He ran a 16:24 at NXR. Also less than 10 seconds behind the 4th man at CM twilight

Niwot girls team at Vista Nation
Ritzenhein - 11:07
Prok - 11:39
Hagen - 12:10
Parks - 12:36
Boyd - 12:52
They also have Beltran (17:38 at Desert Twilight & Participated in NXN) but did not run at the Vista Nation invitational.
I wonder if this is enough to get the 4th spot in the Southwest (behind Mountain Vista, Air Academy, and Lone Peak). TullyRunners did have them at #5 in the preseason national rankings though.
What’s even more amazing is none of them are seniors.

Addy Ritzenhein had an injury several months ago.

Did someone say that she was currently injured?

Niwot, Pueblo West and Durango all moved up to 5A.

Castle View has 2 freshmen leading the team