Leading the way
Top Mountain View, Loveland runners excel at Sweetheart Invitational
Maybe it’s the pride that goes along with hosting an event.
Or quite possibly the chance to show off against familiar talent while racing on a course they’ve grown accustomed to over the years.
Whatever the reason may be, local cross country runners always appear to crank their strides up a notch when the annual Loveland Sweethear t Invitational rolls around. Fittingly, the 2020 edition of the event on Friday certainly didn’t disappoint pre-meet expectations as LHS and Mountain View dashed to respectable finishes amid a competitive, six-team field.
“This course is what we know best and where we love to run, which is important,” LHS senior Stephen Ritschard said. “I definitely felt a little something extra during the first mile. Like, man, I really want to do well today at our meet.”
Commencing the festivities with a bang, the girls race featured quite a few front-running Indians and Mountain Lions as four of the top six placers tallied points for one of the two squads.
Despite a trio of Fair view athletes dictating the pace over the first quar ter mile or so, LHS’ dynamic duo of Elena Torres and Cadence Lapp quickly proceeded into the front upon working hand-in-hand to command the tempo for a good chunk of the remaining portion.
Torres, the Indians’ starstudded freshman who entered the meet with three wins under her belt, eventually extended a hefty gap
between herself and oncenearby adversaries en route to seizing Friday’s gold medal in 19 minutes, 12 seconds.
Though she’s no stranger to standing atop the podium, doing so at the Sweetheart holds extra significance considering the array of prolific runners she bested on Friday.
“Winning at our home course was really cool,” Torres said. “I’m proud of how I did. I know these girls pretty well. They’re great runners, and they pushed me. Being able to go out and beat them feels really good.”
Besides her teammate Lapp, who finished in four th (20:10), the blistering athletes behind Torres included MV’S Kiera Shorten –– a rising first-year contributor who crossed the tape in second overall (19:46).
The final results mark the second outing this season where Torres and Shorten have placed 1-2 as both are evidently in position to lead their squads for years to come. Meanwhile, speaking of glimmering futures, a fellow Mountain Lions underclassman in Brooklyn Ewer t posted another strong showing in complement to Shor ten.
Amounting to what the sophomore described as her strongest 5K of the season, the sophomore snagged the sixth-place prize in 20:20.
“This will help keep me moving forward and hopefully get me to place well at regionals,” Ewert said. “I feel like I had a really good kick at the end today. And I think this is definitely one of my better races so far this year. I just ran a lot stronger overall.”
Collectively, LHS constructed a runner-up finish as MV placed fifth.
On the boys side, the seemingly untouchable Jackson Shorten exited the race following a humbling experience in which MV’S two-time state-qualifying junior placed second (15:53) behind Fairview’s Henry Murphy (15:34).
Heading into the Sweethear t, Shor ten proved victorious in all four of his races this year by an average of 67 seconds per meet.
Despite suffering a rare defeat, the veteran believes Friday will pay dividends by the time state arrives, given how he finally obtained an opportunity to endure a back-and-forth battle from star t to finish. Plus, Shor ten still managed to maintain pace with Murphy while suf fering stomach pain.
The resilient effort could very well benefit his ability to persevere when push comes to shove at state.
“I dug down to a new level that I hadn’t reached yet,” Shorten said. “So I’m still happy with how it went even though it wasn’t my best day. I knew Henr y Murphy was a really good athlete, and he just caught me and I didn’t have the energy to catch him. But I feel like this for sure gives me motivation going into our next meet.”
As a team, the Mountain Lion boys placed fourth as the Indians, led by an 11thplace performance from Ritschard (17:21), checked in at fifth overall.
Eddie Herz: eherz@prairiemountainmed ia.com or on Twitter @Eddie_herz.