Photos by Bryan Oller
If the first cross-country meet of the season is any kind of indication, Manitou Springs is in for an historic season. While running in the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede at Norris Penrose Event Center, the annual state meet venue, the Mustangs put on a heck of a performance.
Henry Ilyasova took second overall in the boys race and led the team to a second-place finish, sending a clear message to the field that the Mustangs will be a contender in October.
Although the girls overall didn’t match the finish, the results were very encouraging and a sign to coach Anna Mack that the whole team is faring the way she hoped it would.
“Where they finished was right where I had expected,” Mack said.
“So that was the perfect starting point to the season. Anna Kilpela did a lot better than I expected so the overall team dynamic with her and Atlee (Barrow) will be interesting because they’ll want to
beat each other. That’s a good thing.”
Kilpela took 29th in the race with a time of 25 minutes, 24.5 seconds. Bella Coscetti marked the best overall finish for the girls, running in 23:53.8 to take 20th.
Since it was the Mustangs’ first real race of the season, Coscetti admitted the nerves were there, but settled in and just focused on performing her best.
“It was definitely something,” she said. “I was told to watch out for mile two because of the hills and I come from somewhere that’s pretty flat. It was tough.”
The highlight of the day was Ilyasova. He finished in second place with a time of 16:28.8, losing to Lamar’s Branden Davis.
Although he wanted to get the win, Ilyasova knows that the work he has been putting in over the past few months will pay off when he returns to Norris Penrose for the state meet on Oct. 30.
“I have so much motivation,” he said. “I want to win state. I want to beat these other guys. I think I can do it so I just need to show that I can.”
Cody Kelley finished sixth while Kian O’Boyle took eighth to help the Mustangs finish second as a team