Lyons siblings reach 2A podium
Lions place 2nd in boys, 3rd in girls team races
COLORADO SPRINGS — Awaiting her last state run, Lyons senior Hannah Thomas heard her brother Cole’s name announced on the overhead speaker.
He’d climbed his way into a podium finish for the Lions’ boys team Saturday afternoon at Norris Penrose Event Center.
Now, she would, too. “The way he runs sets the tone for me,” Hannah said. “If he has a good race, I have a good race.”
The Lyons siblings finished inside the top 10 in the Class 2A races with Cole placing seventh and Hannah finishing ninth. Reigning champ Quin Gregg added an eighthplace finish as the Lions took third in the girls race and second in boys.
For sophomore Cole, he led a boys group that went through a massive overhaul following its team title a year ago. Gone was reigning individual champ Isaac Roberts as well as allstate runners Simon Stone and Jordan Shackelford.
But the young core was magnificent on this day, and despite all they lost (and even with the classification’s move from scoring three runners to four), they finished just five points behind winner Heritage Christian.
Cole finished in 17 minutes, 45.3 seconds a season after taking 16th. Junior Arjen Wyjna finished 15th (18:25.3), freshman Sage Wyjna 26th (18:41.2), senior Nick Parker 34th (18:57.6) and Hunter Powell was 88th (21:13.6).
“We lost three incredible seniors and to even qualify for state this year was a huge thing,” Cole said before taking a pause. “Of course, we all knew we were going to qualify for state. But still, it felt so good to go out there. We all had a good race, all ran smart races. I feel like we all gave it the best we could.”
His sister included. Hannah — who’d been just outside the 2A podium the previous two seasons — crossed in 21:08.9, finishing a place and a little more than a second behind junior teammate Gregg (21:07.1).
Gregg’s eighth-place finish came after winning the individual title in 2019. It was her third straight podium finish.
Overall, the girls — off back-to-back state titles — finished third with 93 points. Freshman Claire Lisse was third on the team and 52nd overall (23:56.90), junior Katie Roberts was 58th (24:06.1) and Emma Johnson 65th (24:30.8).
Buena Vista won with 31 points and Lake County was second at 41.
The podium ceremony looked different than past years with winners announced in front of the stadium instead of inside, which allowed no spectators due to CHSAA’S COVID-19 regulations.
As excited as Hannah was hearing her brother’s name while at the start line less than an hour before, Cole was front and center when his sister was called up.
“I love my brother so much,” Hannah said. “I’m getting emotional about it. But he’s — he works so hard. He’s my best friend. He’s my training buddy and we ran every day through quarantine.”