COLORADO SPRINGS — Battle Mountain senior Will Brunner’s prep for the snowy CHSAA cross country state championships on Saturday? Shoveling snow off the field for the Huskies’ state soccer playoff game on Friday.

A day later, he kicked his way to the Class 4A boys state title with a winning time of 15 minutes, 19.9 seconds, as he hung on to beat Mullen’s Jacob Sushinsky (15:21.7) in a tightly contested race at the Norris Penrose Event Center.

“I am from Vail, so I would say we might have a little advantage. I spent all of yesterday shoveling the field for a soccer game for my school, so, I’m pretty used to the cold,” Brunner said of the frigid conditions Saturday morning.

Brunner and Sushinsky ran against each other for the first time at last weekend’s regional, where it was also neck-and-neck. On Saturday, once the pack broke away in the hill section, Brunner only focused on his kick.

“Someone told me freshman year that you have to end every workout with the fastest rep, so I was thinking about that during the whole race. … I prepped for it and went all-out in the last 100 meters.”

Brunner won the 4A 3,200-meter run at the state track and field meet in the spring, and also won a national championship in trail running last summer.

Vanguard’s Campos  3-for-3

Don’t bet against The Vanguard School’s Nahdia Campos when she gets inside the Penrose Events Center.

The junior is now 3-for-3 in state tiles and set the Class 2A girls course record each of the last two years, including Saturday, when she won in a record-breaking time of 18:19.1 (18 seconds faster than in 2022).

“My work is paying off at this time and I’m just really happy I was able to break my record again,” Campos said. “That was the goal coming in, just doing better than last year.”

The junior is already looking forward to next year, when she can go for a rare four-peat.

3A proves elite

The 3A races were runaways, as The Classical Academy’s Matthew Edwards set a new boys course record, while Notre Dame-bound Isabel Allori of Liberty Common won going away in 17:32.33. She entered the race as the eighth-best runner in the nation.

Meanwhile, Edwards wanted to match his friend, the 4A winner Brunner.

“I was gunning for Will’s time. I mean, we run together a lot and have similar fitness levels right now,” Edwards said after his winning time of 15:20.7, which helped his team to the boys title. “I know I can get the 3A (record) and did that one earlier in the year at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, and I just had to come out here and do what I do best.

“I led out from the front and pushed the whole time, and coming into the final mile I looked behind my shoulder and knew I couldn’t let go and had to keep fighting.”

It was Edwards’ second title. He won in 2021 and took third last fall.

CHSAA state cross country meet

Norris Penrose Event Center

Distance: 5 kilometer

BOYS

Class 5A

Team results: 1. Rock Canyon, 96; 2. Mountain Vista, 105; 3. Fairview, 118; 4. Valor Christian, 123; 5. Grandview, 213.

Class 4A

Team results: 1. Niwot, 58; 2. Cheyenne Mountain, 104; 3. Thompson Valley, 146; 4. Coronado, 151; 5. Eagle Valley, 190.

Class 3A

Team results: 1. The Classical Academy, 48; 2. Berthoud, 81; 3. Frontier Academy, 88; 4. Salida, 150; 5. Jefferson Academy, 162.

Class 2A

Team results: 1. Wiggins, 41; 2. Clear Creek, 73; 3. Banning Lewis Prep, 102; 4. Golden View Classical Academy 104; 5. Rocky Ford, 106.

GIRLS

Class 5A

Team results: 1. Air Academy, 26; 2. Fossil Ridge, 120; 3. Chaparral, 134; 4. Cherry Creek, 135; 5. Mountain Vista, 143.

Class 4A

Team results: 1. Niwot, 20; 2. Cheyenne Mountain, 150; 3. Northfield, 150; 4. Conifer, 155; 5. Summit, 183.

Class 3A

Team results: 1. The Classical Academy, 69; 2. Peak to Peak, 133; 3. Holy Family, 134; 4. Alamosa, 146; 5. Salida, 162.

Class 2A

Team results: 1. Heritage Christian, 37; 2. Lake County, 47; 3. Banning Lewis Prep, 69; 4. Caprock Academy, 84; 5. Denver Christian, 100.

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