Coronado’s Oliver Horton’s record-setting day highlights state cross country

Oliver Horton was straight out of the dryer.

Hot. Fresh. And anything but static.

The Coronado junior exploded off the starting line of the Class 4A Colorado State Cross Country Championships as a man on a singular mission.

The mission: explore the depths of his abilities.

Three minutes into the race it was well known to anyone watching that Horton didn’t just intend to win a state title; he wanted to be the fastest ever on the course.

And that’s exactly what he got.

Horton didn’t just become the first Colorado runner to break 15 minutes on the tough Norris Penrose course, he obliterated the previous course record, clocking 14 minutes, 48 seconds to the cheers of the crowd.

“It was soo loud, it carried me through the finish,” Horton explained of entering Penrose. “Once I got up the hill and heard everyone cheering and the announcer, it just gave me a big boost of energy.”

For comparison, 2024 NCAA 5,000 National Champion Parker Wolfe (formerly of Cherry Creek) ran 15:10 in 2020. At the time, that was the course record. Horton’s performance rewrote Aiden Le Roux’s previous course record of 15:01, run just last year.

“I wanted to go after that state record, obviously,” Horton explained. “But I think I was just focusing on racing hard, and getting into that rhythm like I have all season. We knew that the time would come if I raced to my full potential, so I just had to get after it from the gun.”

What made Horton’s performance all the more impressive was how he raced — from the front, and mostly solo, just as he has all season long.

“I give all the credit to my coach (Lisa Rainsberger),” Horton shared. “I’ve been running under her for 10 years now. I just couldn’t be more happy.”

The cherry on top for Horton was the fact that Coronado took the Class 4A team title as well, tallying 53 points.

Summit took second with 71, while Thompson Valley was third with 85.

While the girl’s race appeared wide open on the starting line, Raegen McRea had other plans.

The Cheyenne Mountain freshman left it all out on the course to win the Class 4A state title, clocking 18:05, which was just ahead of Summit freshman Kayla Broecker, who was a second behind in 18:06.

Written down McRea’s left arm in black marker were the words: “Make it hurt!!”

“One of my coaches said ‘I want you to make it hurt so bad, and it you’re not passing out at the finish line you didn’t work hard enough,’” she explained. “So I’ve been writing that on my arm almost every single race.”

The reminder clearly worked out for McRea, and the reward: the 4A state title.

Of additional note, the top three were all freshmen — Palmer Ridge’s Addison Michalak was third in 18:33. This means we’ve got some exciting years in front of us.

In the team competition pre-race favorites Timnath defended their state title, tallying 107 points. Behind them, however, it was insanely close. Battle Mountain took the runner-up spot with 122 points, which was just two points ahead of Summit’s 124.

Class 3A

Highlighting the 3A state championships were The Classical Academy. While “The” is already embedded into the school name, it applies here with dominance.

TCA swept the boys and girls team races, and the reward will be moving up to Class 4A next year.

On the girl’s side of the competition TCA tallied just 24 points and put all five scoring runners inside the top-8 for a dominating victory. Manitou Springs was a solid runner-up with 85 points, while Salida was third with 133.

As dominant as TCA was in the team competition, so was Delaney Reuter in the individual race.

The Eaton senior torched the field, soloing a 17:44. Vivian Jack took second, also dipping under 18-minutes, clocking 17:58, while TCA teammate Ellie Askew took third in 18:39.

In the boy’s competition The Vanguard’s Max Miller kicked to the Class 3A state title, clocking 15:50, while Alamosa’s Ethan Merrick was second in 16:06, which was just ahead of Lamar’s Joel Davis, who finished a second back in 16:07.

While no one really needed a calculator to tally the girl’s team champion, the boy’s 3A team race was tight.

The TCA boys took the title, tallying 110 points, which was just ahead of Salida’s 113. Manitou Springs was a close third with 126.

Class 2A

Meanwhile, the boy’s 2A competition saw the tightest finish in over a decade. And when I write “tight,” I literally mean that no one knew who the victor was for several minutes as timers went to work on the answer.

St. Mary’s sophomore Ethan Kiptui nearly went horizontal at the line to lean for the Class 2A state title over Soroco’s Nick Clark. Both were clocked at 16:20.1, but Kiptui’s lean made for a hundredth-of-a-second difference.

“The last hundred meters I saw my parents, I saw my coaches, I saw my friends, I had to dive for it, I had to go for it, I couldn’t give up.” Kiptui shared. “I saw them, I felt their cheering, I’m like hey, they brought me here, they did everything for me. I’ll do this for them.”

Likewise, the boy’s team competition was almost as close, with Golden View Classical Academy taking the title with 30 points, which was four points ahead of Thomas Maclaren’s 34. Forge Christian took third with 41 points.

On the girl’s side of the competition it was a Ridgeway sweep of the individual and team titles.

Natasha Hessler kicked to claim the 2A state title, clocking 18:49, which was just ahead of Heritage Christian’s Emma Lukens, who was second in 18:54.

“Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat, and I’m still feeling a bit sick,” Hessler explained. “I thought my meet was going to be over. It was far from ideal. But on the starting line I felt really calm, and that whatever was going to happen, I’d be ready for it.”

Ridgeway ran away with the team title, tallying 38 points. Lake County took second with 77.

Class 5A

The boy’s 5A race saw some historic performances of their own, and some unfortunate circumstances.

The race lived up to the hype as a hard-pace versus kickers race played out, and this one went to the hard-pace strategy.

In a highly strategic race, Mountain Vista’s Ben Adams kicked down Niwot’s Hunter Robbie in the final 300 meters to take the individual title, clocking 15:03. The time would stand as a new State course record for several hours (until Horton torched a 14:48 in the afternoon.)

“I had a plan going in, but I didn’t follow it at all,” Adams admitted. “I was hoping someone would take it out quick, and I’d follow for a while, and make a move the last mile. It ended up that I was the one who took it out and led for most of the first two miles. When I was going to make a move Hunter just blew right by me.”

Niwot’s Robbie owned a substantial lead heading across the creek crossing, but as fate would have it, the creek took its first victum of the day in the first race of the day.

Robbie slipped and fell up the muddy bank. Momentum lost, Adams pounced up the final double-hill.

“My plans went out the window, and it just went to grit,” Lee said. “Trying to hang on to Hunter, he had an insane second half of the race, and then I just kicked as hard as I could at the end.”

Despite the loss of momentum, Robbie battled onwards into Penrose, and still took second in 15:06.

To clarify the hard-pace versus kickers line above — Adams and Robbie are well known for preferring a harder pace, as opposed to kicking late. And while Adams did kick down Robbie, both were rewarded for pressing the pace, thus taking out the state’s best kickers (Ben Lee and Rocco Culpepper) out of the race.

On the back of Robbie’s runner-up finish, the US No. 1 Niwot squad came pouring into the finish to make history.

Niwot put all five scoring runners inside the top-10 to tally 28 points. But the historic part of the day came in their depth. The Cougars’ 1-5 average was a jaw-dropping 15:18 — that’s the fastest 1-5 average ever run at the Colorado state meet. Add that their 1-5 spread was just 20 seconds.

Behind Niwot’s historic run, Erie shocked the field with a runner-up finish, tallying 141 points, while Castle View was third with 152.

As dominant as the Niwot boys were in the team race, so was Addy Ritzenhein in the individual race.

The Niwot senior dominated the field to run away with her third-consecutive state title, clocking 17:08 — a 30-second victory.

“It was definitely an emotional day,” Ritzenhein shared. “It’s such a surreal moment (to win an individual title and a team title). There are no words to describe how happy I am, especially with our team title.”

For Ritzenhein, the moment came with a more personal touch, as just an hour earlier she was able to witness her younger brother (Jude) finish sixth in the boy’s race.

“I think it’s so special to get to see my little brother out there,” she shared. “I’m pretty sure my parents are about as happy as they could ever be right now. I’m just speechless, I’m so happy.”

Riverdale Ridge’s Peyton Meneike paced her way to a runner-up finish, clocking 17:38, while Air Academy’s Chamorra Cooper took third in 17:48.
Meanwhile, the team race went down the single digits.

US No. 5 Niwot tallied 104 points to claim the 5A state title, which was four points ahead of Heritage’s 107. Mountain Vista took third with 122, which was just ahead of Boulder’s 126.