![Azalia Quinn fills out a mock ballot. On Thursday, Oct. 24 AP Government students did a pretend election to experience what it’s like. “If you can get [students] enthused about voting at a young age, the chances are higher that they’re going to continue this process throughout their adulthood,“ Brian Brown, the AP Gov teacher said.](https://mshsprospector.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/18FGwFbMo8mtfWGnVEvaqiODxDZhuV9ipRw3DAgL-1200x960.jpg)
Every Manitou cross-country runner at the Tri-Peaks League Championship on Friday, October 12 ran a personal record for the season.
Almost all of the runners bested their PRs by at least a full minute, if not more.
Among those who broke their previous records was junior Jake Bartlett, who accomplished his high school goal of breaking the 20-minute mark.
In fact, Bartlett nearly broke the 19-minute mark, running an impressive 19:07.
Junior Zo’e Welz demolished her record by a larger margin than any other runner.
Her previous PR was around 28 minutes; she knocked of nearly four whole minutes at Leagues, running in the high 24-minute range and finishing hand-in-hand with fellow junior Allie Eastep.
“It was amazing,” said Welz. “I feel like I really contributed to the team.”
Leading the pack for the boys was senior Garrett Finn, who ran a lifetime best of 17:12, placing 7th overall at the meet.
His sister, Freshman Taylor Finn, led the girls and also ran a PR of 22:55, finishing 15th overall.
Both Finns were honored with ribbons for placing in the top 15.
Coach Timothy Hilt said, reacting to the times, that he felt “very proud. It was unexpected in a good way. I expected a handful of runners… to PR. I did not expect, from front to back, a PR.”
The only Mustangs not to PR at Leagues were junior Holly Benight, who was absent, junior Ryan Carpenter and senior Keegan Bockhorst, who were designated to rest for the upcoming Regionals race in Pueblo on Thursday, October 18.
Hilt justified his decision, saying, “I needed to give a confidence boost to a couple of runners […] that have either been not racing as much or not racing as consistently. I think we got that today.”
Despite the impressive showing at Leagues, the Manitou boys still have a lot of work to do to make State as a team.
“We’re going to need four guys under 19 [minutes] to make it to State,” said Hilt.
As of now, only Finn is under 19 minutes.
The way State qualification works is that a runner’s place in a race equates to points.
At Leagues, Finn finished 7th, meaning that the team received seven points.
The lower the score, for the team, the better.
“Two weeks ago I thought that it was very, very out of our reach to go to State,” said Hilt. “But, after this race, it shows that we’re running our best times when we need to.”
The team will travel to Pueblo on Thursday, October 18 for Regionals, which will determine if they go to State or not.
By Keegan Bockhorst
