Anna Shults, Quinn McConnell, Lily Tomasula-Martin, and Kiara Mattern form a human wall behind Cassie Unruh's early lead pace, waiting for someone to take over the race. Photo by Alan Versaw.
For Salida, this one was a long time coming. An entire year coming, to be precise.
But is was evident even before the season started that, no matter how hard Salida tried, redemption would not come easily. The freshman class at Peak to Peak Charter School would see to that.
Salida and Peak to Peak met once during the season--at the St. Vrain Invitational on September 12. And, it's hard to say who won that showdown. St. Vrain adopted a score-4 format for that race, and Peak to Peak took the official crown from the small-school division of that meet.
But, if you took the scoring for that race to five runners, then Salida prevailed. And 3A, after all, does score five.
The point, however, was missed by nobody in the state who follows cross country. Both teams were excellent. Both teams were head-and-shoul...
