Ian Hans / Special to The Daily
Summit High freshman runner Dom Remeikis re-wrote a portion of the Tigers record book Friday evening as the boys and girls cross-country teams ran to 6th- and 16th-place finishes at the highly-competitive Pat Amato Classic in Northglenn.
Remeikis’ time of of 16 minutes and 54.42 seconds was the fastest of any freshman in the huge 298-athlete varsity boys race at the Open Spaces cross-country course in Northglenn. The 33rd-place time, which earned the Tiger boys 33 points in the 43-school varsity boys race, also was the fastest freshman time on a 5,000-meter cross-country course in the school’s history and the first time a Summit freshman has ever broken 17 minutes.
“We were all really proud of him,” Summit senior Grace Staberg said. “I think we weren’t that surprised, because in the past he’s always been close to (Summit seniors) Max (Bonenberger) and Jeremiah (Vaille). He has so much potential. As a freshman, he can do some great things in the next three years.”
The senior trio of Staberg, Bonenberger and Vaille also led Summit on Friday.
In the 278-athlete girls race, Staberg nearly broke her own personal-record time. Her pace of 18:49 was just one second behind the personal record she set earlier this year at the Liberty Bell Invitational.
Staberg described Friday’s race as one of the most interesting yet this season. She said the Pat Amato Classic is a good preparation race for regionals and states later this month, as runners from all different school sizes and divisions from across the state compete in one large competition.
Staberg said she felt good going into the race, which she led for about the first mile. The senior said she decided to run out to the start of the pack after she looked down at her watch and saw a 6-minute-mile pace, slower than her usual speed. Though she knew she may not be able to keep the lead, she knew the pace would speed the pack up, helping her to challenge for a personal record.
Staberg ended up running her first mile in 5:23, much faster than she usually goes out in races.
Christine Staberg / Special to The Daily
With the strong start, Staberg was on pace for a record. But halfway through the race, Staberg and the rest of the lead pack took a slight, 5-second detour after the biker serving as the race’s rabbit got out of sight. In the end, Staberg’s 11th place finish earned the Tigers 11 points and gave her confidence that her goal of qualifying for states is within reach. Thus far this season, Staberg has been running about 90 seconds faster than her 5,000-meter times last fall, when she missed states qualification by just a few spots.
In the boys race, Remeikis was joined in the top 35 by Summit’s top finisher Bonenberger (21st place, 16:35.17) and runner-up Vaille (27th, 16:45.44).
Vaille said with all of the competition in Friday’s race, it was much harder to keep a lead spot. Unlike Staberg, Vaille paced himself slower after a fast first mile. He and Bonenberger were both still able to break the 17-minute mark.
Both are on pace for their two primary goals toward the end of the season. The first: To help earn enough top finishes and points for Summit at the Oct. 17 regional meet to qualify the Tiger boys, as a team, to the Oct. 26 state meet for the first time in years. The second, if and when they qualify, is for both to finishing top-10 in their divisional race at states.
“We’re excited to see if that can happen,” Vaille said.
Behind the trio of Bonenberger, Vaille and Remeikis, the Tigers boys earned the strong sixth-place finish at the Pat Amato via senior Paul Hans (60th, 17:20.91) and freshman Zach McBride (118th, 18:03.52). Summit’s top five varsity boys runners totaled 258 points, just behind Western Slope rival Battle Mountain (244). Los Alamos High School won the meet with 94 points.
In the girls race, Staberg was joined in the Tigers’ varsity top-5 by junior Alice Wescott (96th, 21:13.61), freshman Logan Reid (137th, 22:10.56), freshman Paige Wescott (151st, 22:22.37) and sophomore Aubree Confer (165th, 22:38.63). Reid and Confer’s times were personal records, as was the time of Summit sophomore Kaelin Love (168th, 22:43.85).
The Tigers boys and girls will next run on Wednesday at the Rifle Golf Course in Rifle, before turning attention to regionals and states to end the month, and season.
Ian Hans / Special to The Daily