The Harrison Invite gave a very clear picture over what the Manitou Springs cross country team is about in 2021.
After coming so close to a win at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, Henry Ilyasova made sure no one was ahead of him when he crossed the finish line on Sept. 10. He finished the race in 16 minutes, 22.6 seconds and it marked the first win for a Manitou runner this year.
Cody Kelley finished 11th and Kian O’Boyle finished 16th to highlight another solid event for the boys.
With Ilyasova setting the pace, the others are quickly finding that competitive edge and using it to make themselves better, which produces better results for the overall team.
“It’s definitely a team thing,” Kelley said. “We’re all just finding our sport and figuring out what that is and how we can get there.”
The Mustang boys finished fourth as a team, just behind Coronado, Thomas MacLaren and Littleton. They were ahead of league opponents such as Lamar. Lamar’s Branden Davis was the lone runner to beat Ilyasova at the Cheyenne Mountain Stampede, but Ilyasova bettered his rival by over 40 seconds this time.
This week the team heads to the Trojan Invite at Fountain-Fort Carson and will expand its roster for the race. This expansion will mark the season debut of Lairden Rogge, who made the shift from soccer to cross country this year. A noted sprinter for the track team, he’ll try his hand at distance running for a bit before jumping into basketball, then track.
“He’s a big question mark right now,” coach Anna Mack said. “We’re really unsure of what he’s going to do. He’s gotten in shape pretty quickly but he’s just such a question mark and everyone is excited to see what he adds to the team.”
On the girls side, Anna Kilpela and Atlee Barrow were about 30 seconds apart in their finishes at Harrison. With both early races for Manitou involving a lot of hills, they’re trying to utilize their practice time to cut precious seconds off their races.
“I’m trying to keep pace with Atlee because she’s one of the faster girls,” Kilpela said. “She’s good at keeping a good pace and we’ve attacked some hills which has helped.”