Keeghan Edwards crossed the finish line at the Norris Penrose Event Center Saturday afternoon with a tremendous sense of relief.

Not the same sense of relief that every cross country runner feels with 3.1 miles behind them and the chance to stop taxing their minds and bodies, but relief that she had not only made it through the race, but that she had contributed in a major way to something very special.

Edwards got onto the medal podium with a fifth-place finish that led the way in an awesome showing by the Mountain Vista girls cross country team on its way to the program’s first Class 5A state championship since 2018 and its third all-time.

“I’m just so happy I was able to be out here and have this opportunity, because a few weeks ago, I couldn’t run at all,” Edwards said after she clocked a time of 17 minutes, 46.8 seconds, that was 0.03 better than junior teammate Claire Guiberson for team-best honors.

“Three weeks ago, I would have never believed this day would come and this would be possible.”

The reason for that doubt was a hip injury that threatened the rest of her season.

It was relatively minor — at the time a 1 on a scale of 10 according to her doctor — but was in a vulnerable area and had the potential to cause further damage.

With a future of competition lying ahead at the University of Florida, it would have been reasonable for Edwards to shut it down for the whole season. But she very much wanted to see things through with a team full of special athletes and coaches.

So Edwards did what she could over six weeks, including a lot of cross training, to see if she could give it go. She was amazingly able to compete in the 5A Region 2 race Oct. 24 in which she finished fourth (nearly a minute behind teammate Guiberson) and without complications, was the fifth-best runner in 5A at state nine days later.

“I did my longest run on land two days ago and it was 30 minutes,” she said. “It was the longest I’d run in eight weeks. So I’m just really glad to be out here. Honestly I didn’t believe it until I was on the starting line. Even today, I could have warmed up and not felt good and even in the race, my coach was like ‘if it hurts at all, just drop out because it’s not worth the risk to push through it.’

“It really sunk in once I crossed the finish line that I did it.”

Edwards’ race went off without a hitch and she executed her plan the entire way.

Her hope coming into the season was to be a bit higher on the medal podium, but that didn’t matter in the end given all she’d been through.

“Given the circumstances, this is 100 percent my best effort,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever put as much effort out there as I did today. It was a battle, a real grind, but this time it was done in ultimate joy.”

Coach Jonathan Dalby’s Mountain Vista team is ranked second in the country and likely could have won the state title without Edwards, but was able to put on a dominant performance with her in the lineup.

Guiberson finished sixth, senior Peyton Adams 12th — in a huge move up from 2023, when she was 72nd — senior Zoe Brandt 19th and junior Brenna Jorde 21st as the Golden Eagles finished with a score of 63 points for a comfortable victory over Air Academy, which had a bid for a third consecutive 5A title snapped.

It was a special day for the entire Mountain Vista cross country program, as the girls state championship was combined with a 1-2 finish for senior Benjamin Anderson and sophomore Benjamin Adams in the 5A boys race. Anderson’s victory came complete with a course record-setting performance. He clocked a time of 15:09.5 to clip the 2020 mark of 15:10.4 set by former Cherry Creek star and current University of North Carolina standout Parker Wolfe.

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2024 Cross Country Winners:

Class 5A

  • Boys individual champion: Benjamin Anderson, Mountain Vista
  • Boys team champion: Niwot
  • Girls individual champion: Addison Ritzenhein
  • Girls team champion: Mountain Vista

Class 4A

  • Boys individual champion: Aiden Le Roux, Cheyenne Mountain
  • Boys team champion: Thompson Valley
  • Girls individual champion: Ella Hagen, Summit
  • Girls team champion: Timnath

Class 3A

  • Boys individual champion: Jackson Fagerlin, Resurrection Christian
  • Boys team champion: Salida
  • Girls individual champion: Delaney Reuter, Eaton
  • Girls team champion: The Classical Academy

Class 2A

  • Boys individual champion: Andrew Bell, Colorado Springs Christian School
  • Boys team champion: Golden View Classical Academy
  • Girls individual champion: Taya Wren, Rangely
  • Girls team champion: Heritage Christian Academy