It’s all happening.
This time next week we’ll have crowned eight individuals and eight team state champions. But for now, we’ve got a full week to fend off the nervous energy that accompanies the most sought-after week of the cross country season: state week.
Being nervous this week means you’ve earned it.
There’s nothing to be gained (in terms of fitness) at this point. It’s all about calming the mind, and reminding yourself that the work is done. All that’s left is going out there and doing it on the day that matters the most: Saturday, November 1.
While the date of the 2025 Colorado state cross country championships will throw a wrench into any Halloween plans, I’m sure delaying the ingestion of copious amounts of sugar a day will be worth it.
Here are some of the top storylines heading into this week’s state meet at the Norris Penrose Event Center.
Class 4A
How dominant will Oliver Horton and the US No. 26 Coronado boys be?
In the individual race, Horton will head to Penrose as the favorite. He’s raged over the course all season long, consistently breaking 15 minutes on courses that hadn’t seen sub-15 performances — ever. His 2025 fall resume includes multiple course and meet records, and he’ll head to Colorado Springs with an undefeated streak.
But, he’ll likely have a worthy challenger in Summit’s Jay McDonald.
Several weeks ago McDonald ran 14 minutes, 18 seconds on a modified course at the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic. As mentioned previously, it was found after the race that the course was indeed short of 3.1 miles (most Strava accounts had the course between 3.0 and 3.05 miles.) Had it not been short, McDonald’s performance would’ve been a Colorado soil record by 12 seconds. Regardless, McDonald is definitely in the conversation for an individual state title. Likewise, Eagle Valley’s Dylan Blair could be in the mix.
Additionally, spectators will want to keep an eye on the clock — Aiden Le Roux’s Colorado state course record of 15:01 from last year could be threatened.
Coronado’s Horton and Summit’s McDonald facing off mirrors the team competition, where Coronado is ranked a 4A No. 1, and Summit is a 4A No. 2. Both squads are coming off dominating region victories.
On the girls side of the competition, Timnath looks to be in the prime spot to defend their state title. And there’s a potential for them to sweep in the individual race as well, with Izzy Schimmelpfennig. She ran 17:34 at Liberty Bell. Cheyenne Mountain’s Raegan McRea, and Summit’s Kayla Broeker will likely be in the mix. This race appears up for grabs.
Class 3A
Eaton’s Delaney Reuter has put together an impressive season of her own. She’s been undefeated among 3A runners, and has one loss to date — a runner-up finish to Heritage’s Emry Schwalm at Liberty Bell. Most recently, Reuter torched a 17:07 to win the 3A Region 4 meet by well over a minute. Her performance would’ve placed her sixth in the boy’s race — that’s how dominating she was.
While it seems that Reuter will likely be in a race of her own, The Classical Academy’s Vivian Jack is likely to challenge — and lead TCA to a team title.
In the team race TCA looks to be a clear favorite to claim the title.
An additional storyline here is TCA as a whole — they have the potential to sweep both team races. And if they do, the dominant program bylaw passed last spring will catapult the Titans into 4A next year.
Class 2A
We’ve got a battle brewing in the boy’s individual race. On paper (time), Soroco’s Nick Clark looks to lead the way. He ran 15:08 on that abbreviated course at Warrior Lincoln Park Classic several weeks ago, but even if we estimate time added, he’s likely to still be in the mix. Loveland Classical’s Antheney Herre will likely make this a battle worth watching — he ran 15:22 at Liberty Bell.
On the girls side of the competition, we’ll likely see a new star emerge. Rangley’s Taya Wren is the top returner from the 2024 state meet, and she’s run 17:56 on the abbreviated course at the Warrior Lincoln Park Classic.
Class 5A
Titans will clash in 5A. And when I write “titans,” I literally mean the best in the country.
The US No. 1 Niwot will look to dominate the team race, and attempt a sweep of the individual race. In fact, there’s a possibility Niwot could sweep 5A entirely with Addy Ritzenhein, and the US No. 5 girls squad, but we’ll come back that.
The Niwot boys look as dominant as ever — they’re coming off an impressive region victory where they scored 16 points and put all five scoring runners inside the top-6 overall, beating a strong US No. 14 Boulder squad.
While the team race looks about settled before anyone has launched off the starting line, the individual race is loaded with fireworks, and appears to be up for the taking.
Niwot’s Rocco Culpepper, Hunter Robbie, Ryder Keeton, and Quinn Sullivan haven’t raced The Bens at all this season — The Bens as in Mountain Vista’s Ben Adams, and ThunderRidge’s Ben Lee.
Lee is coming off a razor-thin 5A Region 2 victory, where he handed Adams his first loss of the season, as both were clocked at 15:02. The victory was Lee’s first big win of the season, and solidified that he’s peaking right in time for state.
What makes the individual race all the more wild before it’s even been run, is when we take a step back to look at the 2025 track season.
Lee was the 5A 800 and 1,600 state champion, while Adams was the 5A 3,200 state champion. Culpepper was the 4A 800 and 1,600 state champion, while Keeton was the 4A 3,200 state champion.
While all eyes are likely to be on Niwot, and The Bens, a Dark Horse in the race could be Golden sophomore Jackson Ferguson, who finished five seconds behind Lee and Adams at regionals. Throw Niwot freshman Jude Ritzenhein in the mix as well, as he seems destined to be a name we’ll be talking about.
We could also see a splitting of strategies in the individual race — Culpepper and Lee are two of the best kickers in the state, while Robbie, Keeton, and Adams tend to prefer a hot pace to take the sting out of any kick.
On the girls side of the competition we’ll have two-time defending state champion and course record holder Niwot’s Addy Ritzenhein toeing the line at Penrose for the final time of her high school career. She’s torched every course she’s run on this fall, picking up big wins at Desert Twilight, Granite Peaks League, and regionals. She’ll head to State unbeaten. Additionally, she’s currently ranked No. 2 in the country, and will be eyeing to reclaim the Nike Cross National title in December.
She’ll likely have a challenger in Heritage’s Emry Schwalm — the only other runner to head to state undefeated this fall. Scwalm has raced through a dream season, running a state-leading 16:43 in a wild kick finish at Liberty Bell, and she also won the Nike Portland XC.
Also in the mix will likely be Mountain Vista’s Claire Guiberson, and Cherry Creek’s Emily Cohen.
Dark Horses in the girls race are Air Academy’s Chamorra Cooper and Jordan Banta.
As with previous years, the team race will play host to some of the best squads in the country, led by US No. 5 Niwot. They’ll have a worthy challenger in US No. 10 Heritage — like the individual race where we’ll likely see Niwot’s Ritzenhein versus Heritage’s Schwalm, we’ll see these two squads square off, along with US No. 15 Mountain Vista, who are the defending Nike Cross National champions.
