Heavy, wet shoes and a saturated course made the Bayfield Invitational the most challenging course the GHS cross country teams had ever faced.
“It was insane,” said top boys finisher Ian Baker. “We ran on the course the day before and were like, ‘ok, it’ll be pretty muddy.’ We didn’t realize the challenge that awaited when we started up this massive hill.”
Unfazed by the challenge and buoyed by their first road trip of the season, the girls team finished first as a team, and freshman Jordan Callahan finished second overall, just .01 seconds behind the winner.
“It was a hard course with so much mud and a lot of hills,” Callahan said. “It was a pretty close race, the leader was pretty fast on the downhill and had cleats on, too”
GHS coach Blake Davis backed up the course assessment from his top runners. Constant rain had brought out the most challenging conditions imaginable. The turf and soil rendered into a sludge loaded with puddles, holes from other runners' footprints and slippery hills that beckoned a fall to anyone that lost their balance.
“It was raining, it was muddy and it was probably the hardest course I’d ever seen,” Davis said. “It rained all day, there was mud, there was clay and it was super hilly. Their shoes were covered in mud and it was hard to run, but it was a fun opportunity.”
(James Nokes writes for Colorado Preps.)
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