{"id":1316152,"date":"2019-10-27T20:36:01","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T02:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/state-xc-course-plays-to-glenwood-harrier-ella-johnsons-strengths-in-top-5-showing\/"},"modified":"2019-10-28T09:02:43","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T15:02:43","slug":"state-xc-course-plays-to-glenwood-harrier-ella-johnsons-strengths-in-top-5-showing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/state-xc-course-plays-to-glenwood-harrier-ella-johnsons-strengths-in-top-5-showing\/","title":{"rendered":"State XC course plays to Glenwood harrier Ella Johnson\u2019s strengths in top-5 showing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5676959619952\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-990183-382\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/XCJohnson-gpi-102819-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/XCJohnson-gpi-102819-1021x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Bobby Reyes\/Milesplit Colorado | Glenwood Springs sophomore Ella Johnson cruises toward a fifth-place finish in the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Glenwood Springs sophomore Ella Johnson cruises toward a fifth-place finish in the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.<\/strong><br \/>Bobby Reyes\/Milesplit Colorado<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/XCJohnson-gpi-102819-1021x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Glenwood Springs sophomore Ella Johnson cruises toward a fifth-place finish in the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/XCJohnson-gpi-102819-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/XCJohnson-gpi-102819-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\" | Glenwood Springs freshman Sophia Connerton-Nevin took 16th at the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Glenwood Springs freshman Sophia Connerton-Nevin took 16th at the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/10\/XCJohnson-gpi-102819-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Glenwood Springs freshman Sophia Connerton-Nevin took 16th at the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/preps\/state-xc-course-plays-to-glenwood-harrier-ella-johnsons-strengths-in-top-5-showing\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/preps\/state-xc-course-plays-to-glenwood-harrier-ella-johnsons-strengths-in-top-5-showing\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A slow, strategic pace set by the lead pack to begin the Class 4A girls state cross country race Saturday in Colorado Springs played right into the feet of Glenwood Springs sophomore Ella Johnson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Demons harrier, who along with freshman Sophia Connerton-Nevin has been piecing together a solid fall season race by race, hung with the lead pack and worked her strengths to finish fifth with a time of 18:37.4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Connerton-Nevin, Glenwood\u2019s only other representative at the state championships held at the Norris Penrose Event Center, crossed the finish line in 19:19.8 to place 16th overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI didn\u2019t really know what to expect with the course, but I went with lead pack see where it would take me,\u201d Johnson said Sunday, reflecting back on her first state meet experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI like going out slower and working up to that faster pace. And the hills are usually my strong area, so having those hills on the course helped me out while it was hard for some of the other runners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Glenwood coach Justin Baum said both Johnson and Connerton-Nevin ran impressive races. Connerton-Nevin led the race for a while before fading, and Johnson just waited for her opportunity to secure the top-five spot, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBy about a mile and half, there\u2019s a good downhill, and it really started to string out, and Ella responded really well,\u201d Baum said. \u201cThe course is really set up to her strength with the rolling hills, and she\u2019s a strength runner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Going to state as a freshman and placing in the top 20 was a great experience for Connerton-Nevin \u2014 something that will pay dividends for both young runners next season, Baum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a slower course than they\u2019re used to, but it was a fast day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt\u2019s Sierra Bower had the fastest girls time of the day out of all classifications, <a id=\"N0x13d53a0N0x13d8160:N0x13d53a0N0x15a2fb0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/preps\/basalts-sierra-bower-breaks-course-record-to-win-girls-3a-cross-country-title\/\">winning the 3A championship<\/a> in 18 minutes flat. Johnson\u2019s time would have placed her second in that race, and was the same as the fifth-place time in the 5A race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Niwot\u2019s Samrawit Dishon won the 4A title with a time of 18:11.9, followed by Eagle Valley\u2019s Blair sisters, Samantha in second (18:15.1) and Joslin in third (18:27.9).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/sports\/preps\/state-xc-course-plays-to-glenwood-harrier-ella-johnsons-strengths-in-top-5-showing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Glenwood Springs sophomore Ella Johnson cruises toward a fifth-place finish in the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs.Bobby Reyes\/Milesplit Colorado Glenwood Springs freshman Sophia Connerton-Nevin took 16th at the state 4A girls cross country championships Saturday at the Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 15:51:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316152"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316164,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316152\/revisions\/1316164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}