Oliver Horton tapped his watchless wrist as he crossed the finish line.

The gesture was not lost to anyone who was eyeing the clock as the Coronado junior cruised into the finish shoot of the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational Friday evening.

While Horton frequently races without a watch and relies on feel, the clock was as objective as ever: He had just torched the previous course record by 25 seconds, dropping a mind-boggling 14 minutes, 47 seconds.

There were plenty of facts that made Horton’s performance all the more impressive.

Like the fact that he took down Cerake Geberkidane’s course record, which was run back when Pharrell’s “Happy” (and his infamous hat) topped the charts, when Taylor Swift officially took a nose-dive into pop with her album “1989,” essentially launching the Age of the Swiftie, and when Christopher Nolan turned back holes into eye candy in his space epic Interstellar.

Or when spectators didn’t have to park and walk over half-a-mile away to watch the race.

Horton’s time not only led the state of Colorado by 24 seconds, but it was the first sub-15 minute clocking of the season. Additionally, it was run on a course that had rarely seen a sub-16 clocking — only three boys broke 16 minutes Friday evening.

Add that thunder roared over Centennial just 10 minutes before the start of the boy’s varsity race, which delayed it for over 40 minutes. Athletes had to re-warm up after the delay.

Regardless, nothing could stop or slow Horton down from rewriting the record books.

“I just came out to race,” Horton explained. “I knew the course record was around 15:15, but I wasn’t looking at it too much. The main focus was to get in a hard effort and get ready for the season.”

Xavier Campos made it a 1-2 Coronado punch by finishing second in 15:23, while Lewis-Palmer’s Noah Thompson rounded out the top three as the final sub-16 clocking on the day, finishing third in 15:53.

In the team race Coronado was just as dominant as Horton was in the individual race.

The Cougars put four in the top eight, and all scoring five in the top 17 to tally 34 points.

Keeping with the theme of domination, Emily Cohen ran away with the girl’s race.

The Cherry Creek senior sat patiently early on before dropping the hammer to run the fourth-fastest time on the course, clocking 17:51.

“I think I just race my best when I stay a little conservative in the beginning,” Cohen explained. “After the first water crossing, I pushed up the hill and told myself to take three big strides, and then just give it all I could.”

A year ago Cohen finished second at the 2024 edition of the Arapahoe Warrior Invite in 18:30 before going on to finish third at the 2025 Colorado state cross country meet. Clearly, she’s way ahead of where she was this time last year.

Regis Jesuit freshman McKenna Groen continued to impress in her first weeks of high school, running 18:15 to finish second. The performance proved that last week’s sub-18 clocking at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede was no fluke — Groen is definitely a runner to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

Rounding out the top three was Cherry Creek’s Kylee Hu, who finished seven seconds behind Groen, in 18:22.

The girls team race was much, much tighter than the boys — this one came down to single digits. And it was Denver East who emerged victorious, tallying 62 points, which was just ahead of ThunderRidge’s 64.

While ThunderRidge had three in front of Denver East’s two, East had five in front of ThunderRidge’s four, which made the difference.

Run around the state

John Martin XC Invitational: Eaton’s Delaney Reuter dominated the field, and her own course record, scorching a state-leading 17:05. Rocky Mountain’s Nora Ebel also dipped under 18 minutes, running 17:52. The Fossil Ridge girls took a tight win over Loveland, tallying 72 to 74.

On the boy’s side of the competition, Rocky Mountain’s Trent Gabrielson turned heads with a course record of his own, clocking 15:11. Fort Collins’ Cadel Ruthven was second in 15:21. The Thompson Valley boys took the team race tallying 46 points, while Fort Collions was second with 62.

Rocky Ford Invitational: Lamar’s Joel Davis ran away with a 15:45 win — over a minute ahead of the competition.