COLORADO SPRINGS — Many times, races don’t go according to plan and that was a good thing for Benjamin Anderson in the Class 5A boys state cross country race Saturday afternoon.
While on the Norris Penrose Event Center course, the Mountain Vista senior improvised on a more conservative race plan he had coming in and went on to win the state championship with extremely enjoyable bonus to boot.
Anderson pulled away in the second mile and crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 9.5 seconds, which not only got him a title, but clipped the existing course record of 15:10.4 set in 2020 by former Cherry Creek star and current University of North Carolina standout Parker Wolfe.
“It’s super special,” Anderson said. “The goal coming in was definitely to attack that and I had it in the back of my mind, especially being held by Parker Wolfe, who is one of the top guys in the NCAA right now. It means a lot to come out and break that.”
Anderson got a bonus when he crossed the finish line alone and turned in time to see sophomore teammate Benjamin Adams come into the stadium and cruise in for second place to help Mountain Vista to fifth.
It was the exact same way the majority of the Golden Eagles’ races went this season, but it as more special coming in the biggest race off the year.
“I’m super pumped, super grateful, especially finishing 1-2 with one of my best friends behind me,” said Anderson, who was a runner-up himself last year. “It’s a phenomenal feeling.”
Niwot moved from 4A to 5A and became the classification’s fourth team state champion in as many seasons, following Rock Canyon (2023), Valor Christian (2022) and Mountain Vista (2021).
Cougars coach Kelly Christensen thinks his team sometimes has a little too much fun, but when on the course, they are a locked in, competitive force to be reckoned with.
Ranked third in the country, the Cougars were in dominant form with four runners in the top 12 for a score of 44 points.
Junior Ryder Keeton led the way in fourth with a time of 15:32.3, followed closely by junior Hunter Robbie in sixth, while they were joined on the medal podium by junior Gabriel Marshall in eighth place. Just outside the top 10 was senior Keegan Golden in 12th, while the 25th and 26th-place finishes for senior Cole Mazurana and sophomore Quinn Sullivan sealed the victory.
“It’s hard to be disappointed when you win,” Christensen said. “To have that many guys in the top 12 and knowing we can run better is a great place to be. They ran hard and they celebrated.
“Honestly when we talked about this (moving up) years ago, we wouldn’t have thought it would go this well. That’s why sports are cool and every year is a new story. Every team gets to write its own journey, so it’s pretty exciting.”
Keeton finished 11th last season, but felt much better about his individual race this year and how it contributed to the success of the team, which he enjoys.
“We like to have a lot of fun and there’s some great things we do on the course and off of it,” he said. “It’s a great thing to be part of this team. …This year we got to go against the highest competition on Colorado and just showed people what we can do.”
The win also provided a good measuring stick for Niwot with some high level national races coming up in the next few weeks.
Led by senior Kaeden Dendorfer — who finished fifth individually — Valor Christian finished with 87 points to take second, a two-spot jump from the previous season. Castle View’s score of 121 was good for third place.
ThunderRidge senior Ben Lee earned the third position on the podium with a time of 15:29.7, while the top 10 also included the trio for Niwot plus Valor Christian’s Dendorfer and Griffin Mazeski (ninth) in addition to Castle View’s Evan Dann (seventh) and Grandview’s Colton White (10th).