States - DyeStat high school track and field and cross country

Colorado Front Range Conference and Northern Regional Meet
October 22nd, 2005
Adams County Regional Park - Brighton, CO

Report by Kevin Follett
Additional Story by Steve Lurie

Storyline by Regional Editor Steve Lurie

"Do not forsake me, oh my darlin'....."

You'll have to forgive one very far away observer who thought he heard Frankie Laine singing the theme song from "High Noon" Friday during the girls 5A Colorado Northern Regionals at Adams County Fairgrounds. Was that Gary Cooper coming out from a trail? Or just one's imagination?

If there were Academy Awards for quality and competitiveness at a high school cross country meet, the girls from SW#2/US#5 Rocky Mountain and SW#8 Fort Collins would have been the winners, based on this shootout.

"Wow," said Rocky Mountain assistant coach Mike Maher. " Were the Rocky Mountain and the Fort Collins girls teams pumped up and ready to get after it today. What would anyone really expect...? Both teams came out prepared, fired up, and ready for battle."

Katie Follett of Fort Collins and Dani Parry of Rocky Mountain have been friends for years and were junior high teammates. Now they battle tooth and nail with some frequency. Less than two weeks ago, Parry won the Centarra Classic, finishing 32 seconds ahead of Follett, who was back in fourth place.

But this time Katie opened about a 10-second gap a little past the midway point of the 5,000-meter race and never was seriously challenged, winning her fourth straight Regional title in 18:09. Parry was next in 18:18. But by the time the smoke had cleared, Rocky Mountain had run to a stellar 26-40 win, its second in a row.

"We re just so proud of how these girls are running," Maher said. "I know I say it every time, but this was our best team performance of the year. Four girls under 19:00! And a top 5 time average of 18:48. Remember this was at 5,000 feet and the NCAA gives our local colleges Colorado and Colorado State 25 seconds off their 5K times for NCAA qualification times at this altitude.

"Keep in mind that both Katie and Dani are elite runners who have won major invitationals this year," Maher continued, "which makes the following Rocky Mountain pack behind them so exciting for us."

That pack consisted of Ellie Rastall in 3rd in 18:32, McKynzie Maher 4th in 18:40, Kristi Thomas 5th in 18:49, and Kelli Briedenbach 12th in 19:41 to complete the scoring. For good measure, add #6 Sammie Overholser 20th in 20:12, #7 Ali Poppe in 20:18, and JV runner Emily Felton at 20:20.

"I have to give Fort Collins their due respect," Maher reflected. "They ran tough and so well. They put their top five all under 20:00, and had some big improvements from some of their key girls. I can't imagine that 7 other schools in the SW region would have beat Fort Collins (SW#8) today."

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Course and conditions: 3.1 miles of mostly grass and gravel with some bike path around the Adams County Regional Park. Cloudy and low 50s.

SW#2 Rocky Mountain and SW#8 Fort Collins go 1-2 in Northern Regional Meet

SW#2 Rocky Mountain girls placed 4 in the top ten, and SW#8 Fort Collins placed 3 in the top ten to outdistance the field at the combined Front Range Conference and Northern Regional Meet held Friday, October 21, 2005. Fort Collins’ Katie Follett took her fourth regional title in 18:09, followed by the Rocky foursome of Dani Parry, Elli Rastall, McKenzie Maher, and Kristi Thomas. Fort Collins’ Alicia Holt took 6th and Miranda Benzel took 9th.

Katie Follett (FCHS), and Dani Parry (RMHS)

The four teams qualifying for the State Championships from this race were Rocky Mountain High School (26 pts), Fort Collins High School (40 pts), Monarch High School (103 pts), and Loveland High School (121 points).

Rocky Mountain Girls Team

Individual Results:

Follett, Katie

FORT COLLINS